Assistant City Attorney

The City of Racine, Wisconsin, is seeking a talented attorney with two to five years of experience with the ability to balance the roles of counselor and prosecutor. The ideal candidate will have a sincere interest in practicing law in code enforcement, specifically the prevention, detection, investigation, and enforcement of violations of statutes or ordinances regulating public health, safety, and welfare, public works, business activities, building standards, and land use, and have experience in or exposure to those areas of law. The selected attorney will represent the City as opportunities are delegated by the City Attorney. 

Applications will be accepted until the position is filled. Initial application review will commence February 24, 2025.  Applicants must hold a minimum of a juris doctorate degree from an ABA-accredited law school, have a Wisconsin law license, and have at least two years of legal experience. Superior research and writing skills and attention to detail are required.  

The 2025 salary range for the position will be $89,107.20 to $121,784.00. Starting salary is negotiable and commensurate with experience, with an anticipated range of $89,107.20 to $94,203.20.  Candidates may be required to complete one or more panel interviews. Qualified applicants must submit a cover letter, resume, and application

POSITION PURPOSE:

Under the direction of the City Attorney, each Assistant City Attorney performs legal duties as assigned. The Assistant City Attorney to be hired under this recruitment will principally be responsible for Code Enforcement. Code Enforcement broadly is the prevention, detection, investigation, and enforcement of violations of statutes or ordinances regulating public health, safety, and welfare, public works, business activities, building standards, and land use.

At the City of Racine, we are passionate about building and improving our community. Our City employees work hard every day to keep our residents safe; keep our City clean and maintain, build, and improve our City’s infrastructure, regional assets such as our zoo and public library, and natural resources such as our dozens of parks; enhance Racine’s sustainability and smart city connectivity; ensure that our residents have meaningful access to the ballot box; protect our financial and economic well-being; and tackle our most pressing community challenges. The City Attorney’s Office is integral to all of those efforts by service as in-house counsel to the City of Racine as a municipal corporation. The City Attorney’s Office handles all legal issues in which the City is interested. Due to the unique mix of corporate and government interests in a City, the small team of attorneys and staff must provide a wide variety of legal services in order to best serve the community.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES: (These examples do not list all the duties that may be assigned. Duties are assigned at the discretion of the City Attorney.)

• Serves as prosecutor of Municipal Court actions including traffic and ordinance violations.
• Tries a variety of cases in Racine Circuit Court; prepares pleadings and briefs; conducts discovery and other litigation as necessary.
   Pursues appeals through the courts as necessary.
• Responsible for prosecuting and defending claims for and against the City including, but not limited to, small claims actions, personal property taxes, slip and fall, traffic accidents, and other personal property and personal injury actions. 
• Responsible for reviewing and responding to Wisconsin Public Records Law requests. 
• May serve as a member of and as advisor to City commissions and committees as needed.
• Renders legal opinions and advice to aldermen and department heads, and researches and answers questions from the public regarding city business. 
• Conducts legal research, drafts legal briefs and opinions, writes correspondence, and performs general office duties on matters pertaining to the City. 
• Maintains a consistent and reliable attendance record 
• Assists as requested in other activities of City Attorney's Office. 
• Performs other duties as assigned by City Attorney.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS:

• Minimum of a juris doctorate degree from an ABA-accredited law school, have a Wisconsin law license, and have at least two years of legal experience.
• Experience working in government law, administrative law, and litigation.

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, AND ABILITIES REQUIRED:

• Considerable knowledge of the operation of municipal government.
• Considerable knowledge of municipal, state, and federal law affecting Wisconsin municipalities.
• Considerable knowledge of administrative and civil procedure, and of the rules of evidence.
• Considerable knowledge of the principles, methods, and materials in legal research and legal research.
• Considerable knowledge of the methods of pleading cases and of effective techniques in the presentation of cases; knowledge of the proceedings of appellate courts.
•  Ability to apply legal principles, practices, methods, and techniques to solve difficult legal problems.
•  Ability to analyze, appraise and organize facts, evidence, and legal precedents in difficult cases, and to prepare such materials in clear and logical form for oral or written presentation as briefs, opinions, orders, or decisions.
•  Ability to understand and interpret constitutional provisions, statutes, municipal ordinances, administrative regulations, and legal precedents.
•  Ability to analyze legal documents and instruments.
• Excellent communication skills to express oneself clearly and concisely, orally and in writing.
•  Ability to deal tactfully and effectively with state administrative officials, local governmental officials, employees, court officials, and the general public.
•  Ability to work with limited supervision.
• Ability to supervise administrative staff as necessary.
•  Proficiency with Microsoft Office products and other legal and administrative software.

PHYSICAL DEMANDS OF POSITION:

This work requires the occasional exertion of up to ten pounds of force; work regularly requires sitting, speaking or hearing and using hands to finger, handle or feel and occasionally requires standing, walking, stooping, kneeling, crouching or crawling, reaching with hands and arms, pushing or pulling, lifting and repetitive motions; work has standard vision requirements; vocal communication is required for expressing or exchanging ideas by means of the spoken word; hearing is required to perceive information at normal spoken word levels; work requires preparing and analyzing written or computer data, operating machines and observing general surroundings and activities. Stationary fatigue from lengthy sedentary work and visual concentration.

ENVIRONMENTAL/WORKING CONDITIONS OF THE POSITION:

• Work has no exposure to environmental conditions; work is generally in a moderately noisy location (e.g. business office, light traffic).
• Work may be stressful. 
• Work more than forty hours per week occasionally may be required.

 EQUIPMENT USED: Personal computer, telephone, photocopier, scanner, telefax, and ordinary office equipment. 

This job description is intended to identify essential duties and also illustrates other types of duties that may be assigned. It should not be interpreted as describing all of the duties that will be required of an employee or be used to limit the nature and extent of assignments that an individual is required to perform. In addition to the responsibilities and duties listed, it is expected that employees maintain a consistent and reliable attendance record. Job descriptions are subject to revision at any time at the discretion of the City of Racine.

Salary : $89,107 - $114,587