Public Defender Attorney IV

GENERAL STATEMENT OF JOB

This position serves as a senior-level County Public Defender within the Fifth Circuit Public Defender’s Office. This position handles the most complex and serious criminal matters in General Sessions, Magistrate, Municipal, and Family Court; and participates in the planning and coordination of legal and administrative activities. This position provides legal representation to indigent clients charged with serious and violent offenses from arrest through trial or plea; meets with clients; negotiates with solicitors; prepares and tries cases; conducts and oversees investigations; and retains and works with expert witnesses as needed. This position may supervise and develop attorneys and support staff; provide guidance on complex legal matters; assign and manage caseloads within the assigned office; and review and process conflicts of interest. The position also contributes to the development and implementation of programs, policies, and procedures; monitors performance and service delivery; and reports progress and issues to senior leadership, exercising a high degree of independence and accountability for both legal outcomes and operational effectiveness.

SPECIFIC DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Essential Functions:

• Handles most serious violent and high-exposure cases to include capital cases.
• Represents clients in complex or sensitive legal matters; represents violent felony cases in General Sessions Court and Family Court.
• Provides mentorship and training to junior attorneys in specialized areas.
• Provides junior attorneys with meaningful trial experiences and mentorship.
• Acts as training coordinator, volunteer coordinator, or community liaison.
• May supervise the activities of legal and nonlegal staff; assigns caseloads; trains attorneys; may process conflicts of interest within the office; and reviews work product.
• Coordinates administrative matters with appropriate personnel within the office, including administration of dockets and case management.
• Meets with clerks, judges, solicitors, law enforcement, and jail on various issues.
• Engaged in office wide leadership and strategy.
• Performs other duties as assigned.

MINIMUM EDUCATION AND TRAINING

• Juris Doctor.
• Ten (10) years of related work experience. Experience in criminal law preferred.

-or-

• Any combination of education and experience that meets the requirements for performing the essential functions of this job.
• Mastery of full trial practice requiring no supervision and ability to manage most serious felony offense cases.

Licenses/Certifications/Other:

• Must possess a valid state driver’s license.
• Must have a license to practice law in South Carolina.
• Must possess and maintain current membership in the S.C. Bar Association.
• Requires transportation to attend court hearings in other locations and to visit clients in jails and prisons.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS AND STANDARDS REQUIRED

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:

• Data Involvement:  Requires synthesizing or integrating analysis of data or information to discover facts or develop knowledge or interpretations; changes policies, procedures, or methodologies based on new facts, knowledge, or interpretations.
• People Involvement:   Requires negotiating, exchanging ideas, information, and opinions with others to: formulate policy and programs; or arrive jointly at decisions, conclusions, or solutions. Requires client consultation in correctional and detention facilities
• Involvement with Things:  Requires handling or using machines, tools, or equipment requiring brief instruction or experience, such as computers, fax machines, copiers, telephones, or similar equipment; may service office machines, including adding paper and changing toner.
• Reasoning Requirements:  Requires performing work involving the application of principles of logical thinking or legal practice to diagnose or define problems; collects data; solves abstract problems with widespread unit or organizational impact; and requires the ability to interpret and apply law and judicial decisions and prepare opinions, briefs, memoranda, and other documents. Requires the ability to prepare motions, briefs, memoranda, and other documents in support of representation of individual clients with little to no supervision or oversight; requires the ability to formulate and make arguments to advance the interests of clients in court.
• Mathematical Requirements:  Requires using addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and/or calculating ratios, rates, and percentages.
• Language Requirements:  Requires reading and interpreting professional materials involving advanced bodies of knowledge related to law and other complex disciplines; writing extremely complex papers and reports; and speaking to high-level political, legal, or other such groups.
• Mental Requirements: Requires using advanced professional-level work methods and practices in the analysis, coordination, or interpretation of work of a professional, legal, or managerial nature; requires the ability to formulate important recommendations or make technical decisions that have an organization-wide impact; and requires sustained, intense concentration for accurate results and continuous exposure to sustained, unusual pressure.
• Computer Requirements:  Requires using MS Office Suite programs and knowledge and skills in general computer and web-based database systems.
• Judgments and Decisions:  Responsible for actions of others, requiring making decisions affecting co-workers, clients or others in the general public; works in a moderately fluid environment with guidelines and rules, but with frequent variations from the routine.

Physical Requirements:

The work is sedentary work which requires the person in this position to occasionally exert up to 10 pounds of force to grasp, lift, carry, push, pull or otherwise move objects, including the human body. Additionally, the following physical abilities are required:

• Grasping:  Applying pressure to an object with the fingers and palm.
• Hearing: Perceiving the nature of sounds at normal speaking levels with or without correction. Ability to receive detailed information through oral communication, and to make the discrimination in sound.
• Lifting: Raising objects from a lower to a higher position or moving objects horizontally from position-to-position. Occurs to a considerable degree and requires substantial use of upper extremities and back muscles.
• Manual Dexterity: Picking, pinching, typing, or otherwise working, primarily with fingers rather than with the whole hand as in handling.
• Mental Acuity: Ability to make rational decisions through sound logic and deductive processes.
• Speaking: Expressing or exchanging ideas by means of the spoken word including the ability to convey detailed or important spoken instructions to other workers accurately and concisely.
• Standing: Particularly for sustained periods of time.
• Talking: Expressing or exchanging ideas by means of the spoken word including those activities in which they must convey detailed or important spoken instructions to other workers accurately, loudly, or quickly. Shouting in order to be heard above ambient noise level.
• Visual Acuity: Have close visual acuity to perform an activity such as: preparing and analyzing data and figures; transcribing; viewing a computer terminal; and/or extensive reading. Including color, depth perception, and field vision.
• Walking: Moving about on foot to accomplish tasks, particularly for long distances or moving from one work site to another.

WORK ENVIRONMENT

May be required to work hours other than the regular schedule including nights, weekends, and holidays. This position requires regular and reliable attendance and the employee’s physical presence at the workplace. The job risks exposure to no known environmental hazards. Work is performed part of the time working in an environment where errors on this job can lead to significant physical or mental consequences for self or others.

EEO AND ADA MESSAGE

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform the essential job functions satisfactorily.  Reasonable accommodation may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the primary job functions described herein.  Since every duty associated with this position may not be described herein, employees may be required to perform duties not specifically spelled out in the job description, but which may be reasonably considered to be incidental in the performing of their duties just as though they were written out in this job description.

Richland County is an Equal Opportunity Employer.  ADA requires the County to provide reasonable accommodations to qualified individuals with disabilities.  Prospective and current employees are invited to discuss accommodations.

Richland County has the right to revise this job description at any time. This description does not represent in any way a contract of employment.