General Counsel

Position Summary:

Under the guidance of the General Manager, General Counsel conducts legal research, advises executive staff and board of directors, coordinates utilization of external legal services, and provides legal assistance to department-level management and staff on a variety of legal issues.

Essential Functions and Responsibilities:

The duties listed below are intended only as illustrations of the various types of work that may be performed. The omission of specific statements of duties does not exclude them from the position if the work is similar, related, or a logical assignment to this position.

• Conducts legal research, analysis, and writing to issue legal opinions and advice on various legal and policy matters, including but not limited to environmental law, water rights, permitting, real estate acquisition, election laws, construction contracts, open government laws, etc.
• Conducts review of legal documents, board agendas, public information requests, subpoenas, discovery, contracts, grant agreements, letters, motions, briefs and correspondence.
• Negotiates, drafts, reviews, and provides legal advice on a variety of contracts, agreements, ordinances, resolutions, deeds, and other legal documents. Coordinates retention and monitors work of external counsel as required.
• Ensures compliance with local, state, and federal law.
• Ensures compliance with the Texas Open Meetings Act and Texas Public Information Act.
• Ensures compliance with all policies adopted by the Board
• Leads legal analysis on environmental issues, water rights, permitting,
• Reviews the legality, policy implications, and operational impact of proposed laws.
• Drafts TRWD ordinances.
• Provides staff assistance.
• Prepares and presents reports to the Board of Directors as needed.

Qualifications Required:

• Juris Doctorate from an accredited law school and 10+ years of increasingly responsible experience in city or related government law, including relevant transactional experience.
• Possession of a license from the Supreme Court of Texas to practice law
• Valid Texas driver’s license.
• Strong judgment and creative problem solving skills, including negotiation and conflict resolution skills.
• Excellent written, oral, interpersonal, and presentation skills. 

Desired Experience:

• Knowledge of the Texas Constitution, the Texas Water Code.
• Transactional experience for/with water districts or other public entities in Texas, and/or experience supervising outside counsel in the areas of: drafting and negotiating construction and real estate contracts; contested construction and/or real estate related litigation; construction bond issues; eminent domain matters; and intellectual property laws, including copyrights, trademarks, licensing, trade secrets, and patents.
• Experience advising or counseling Texas public entities on compliance with state procurement laws.
• Experience advising or counseling Texas public entities on compliance with state ethics laws, the Texas Open Meetings Act, the Texas Public Information Act, and other state law applicable to municipalities or political subdivisions of Texas.
• Experience working with or advising a board of a public entity.
• Knowledge of or experience with state and federal employment laws.

Physical Demands and Work Environment:

• The physical demands and work environment characteristics described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of the job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.
• Physical demands: While performing duties of job, employee is occasionally required to stand, walk, sit, and use hand to finger, handle, or feel objects, tools, or controls, reach with hands and arms, balance, stoop, talk or hear. Employee must occasionally lift and/or move up to 25 pounds. Specific vision abilities required by the job include close vision, distance vision, color vision, peripheral vision, depth perception, and the ability to adjust focus.
• Work environment: While performing the duties of this job, the employee typically resides within an office or cubicle and may have occasional fieldwork that will expose the employee to weather conditions prevalent at the time.

Please use the link below to apply.

https://www.trwd.com/job/legal-counsel/