Deputy Legislative Counsel

The Office of Legislative Counsel is looking to hire one full-time, continuing Deputy Legislative Counsel. The subject matter responsibilities of the Deputy Legislative Counsel position that is the focus of this recruitment will primarily be land use, real property and landlord/tenant law . The position begins January 1, 2018.

A deputy legislative Counsel assists members of the legislature and legislative committees by drafting proposed legislation and preparing amendments in assigned subject areas. A Deputy Legislative Counsel also performs legal research and provides formal and informal legal advice to legislators, legislative committees and legislative branch staff concerning the deputy’s subject areas and within the deputy’s legal expertise and responsibilities. This work is done on a confidential and nonpartisan basis. Deputies are also frequently asked to testify before legislative committees. In addition, deputies may be asked to advise legislatively created committees, commissions and task forces.

Deputies also draft bills for state agencies and review the administrative rules of the agencies for consistency with the relevant enabling legislation and the state and federal constitutions. If a rule is found to be outside the scope of enabling legislation or contrary to state or federal laws, deputies prepare negative determinations which are presented by the deputies to the relevant interim policy committee of the Legislative Assembly.

Deputies may also be asked to participate in special assignments or to assist in litigation affecting the Legislative Assembly or a member of the Legislative Assembly.

Following an odd-year legislative session, deputies are responsible for assigning statute numbers to new permanent laws that they drafted in the previous two legislative sessions, writing leadlines for new statutes and modifying leadlines for amended statutes. Deputies are also responsible for determining which temporary laws should appear as notes in the printed volumes of Oregon Revised Statutes. Deputies also assist in engrossing, completing second edits of chapters outside of their subject areas, assist in proofreading and performing such other tasks as may be required for the editing and compilation of the next edition of the Oregon Revised Statutes. In addition, deputies may be responsible for supervising the drafting of annotations to the statutes. The annotations are short reports of appellate court cases, opinions of the Attorney General and law review articles that interpret statutes. They are published annually as supplements to two separate volumes of Oregon Revised Statutes.

Deputies must have strong interpersonal skills and be able to maintain professional nonpartisan relationships with many people of diverse views and backgrounds, in a highly charged political environment. Conversely, however, deputies must also possess the ability to work independently and spend extended periods of time engaged in writing, without significant interaction with others.

This position is located in the Capitol Building, in Salem, Oregon.

Duties & Responsibilities

BILL AND AMENDMENT DRAFTING

The Legislative Counsel assigns each bill drafting request to the deputy having responsibility in the subject area. While all deputies must possess a general knowledge of state statute law and state and federal constitutional law, deputies are expected to have specialized knowledge of the subject areas which are assigned to them. A successful candidate for this position should have significant knowledge and experience in the areas of land use, real property and landlord/tenant law .

Because the bill drafting requests vary in the extent of detail supplied and in the accuracy of the supplied information, a deputy must be skilled in ascertaining from the requester the exact nature of the problem presented. Once the deputy has determined the initial outlines of the problem, the deputy is expected to analyze the issues, seek additional information either from the requester or elsewhere, ascertain the current state of the law on the subject, including applicable constitutional provisions and federal law, prepare a draft conforming to office form and style requirements that accomplishes the requester’s desire, review the draft’s provisions with the requester, revise the draft if required and note any legal problems that the draft may raise. When appropriate, a member may request that a deputy assist in the member’s decision making process by offering examples from other laws, other states, past experience or observation. The deputy must respond in a nonpartisan manner. All of this must be done within the time limits set by the requester or by legislative rules. When the draft has been completed to the satisfaction of the deputy, it is delivered electronically to the requester; there is no required in-house review by a supervisor, although peer review is available.

Once a draft has been introduced and has become a bill, legislators or legislative committee staff often request that the deputy appear before the appropriate legislative committees to explain the bill and to discuss legal or other issues raised by the bill, by persons testifying about the bill or by any proposed amendments to the bill.

During a legislative session, the deputy is required to prepare amendments to bills drafted by the deputy. Although the form of amendments differs from the form of bills, the drafting and other responsibilities are the same. Time deadlines for producing amendments are often very tight and the deputy is responsible for seeing that deadlines are met.

Bills and amendments are prepared at the request of members and committees. Close consultation with committee staff, lobbyists, stakeholders or others is often required. Individuals that a deputy frequently interacts with in bill and amendment drafting may or may not be attorneys or be familiar with the legal principles at issue and a deputy must be able to communicate to them any legal problems that may arise out of the draft or amendment.

Deputies must be responsive to the needs of legislators, their staff and constituents, the staff of legislative committees, legislative branch staff, government agencies and, to a more limited extent, the public. Much of the drafting work is performed under unyielding time constraints and deadlines. Deputies must comply with all applicable laws and the ethical standards for attorneys, the legislative rules of both houses and the practice and personnel rules of the Legislative Counsel Committee.

LEGAL RESEARCH AND OPINION WRITING

Requests for legal research and opinions come from legislators, legislative committees and legislative staff. A deputy is responsible for analyzing the issues and applicable law and preparing written opinions or written or verbal legal advice that is clear, concise and persuasive to both attorneys and non-attorneys. Extensive research of the statutes and case law of Oregon and other jurisdictions, including federal law, may be required. A deputy must be thoroughly familiar with the tools of legal research.

ADMINISTRATIVE RULES

Pursuant to ORS 183.710 to 183.725 all agency-adopted administrative rules are submitted to the Legislative Counsel. Under Legislative Counsel Committee policy adopted pursuant to ORS 183.720, all administrative rules are reviewed for consistency with the intent and scope of the enabling legislation and constitutionality of the rule.

Each rule is docketed and assigned to a deputy for review. The review process involves reading the rule to determine whether it is consistent with legislative policy as expressed in statutes and with applicable state and federal constitutional provisions. If a deputy determines that a rule is not consistent with the applicable law, the deputy writes a report detailing the ways in which the rule fails to conform to the law. The deputy may present the report to committees of the legislature. The deputy may be asked by the committee to take further action as a result of the report.

Qualifications, Required & Requested Skills

To be considered for this position, applicants must attach to the application answers to the supplemental questions below, a cover letter, resumé and writing sample that does not exceed 5 pages.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

A deputy must have:

• Three years’ post-juris Doctor legal experience; or
• One years’ experience as a staff attorney working for the Legislative Counsel Committee; and
• Admission to the Oregon State Bar within 12 months of hiring;

OR

• A combination of experience and education that demonstrates the ability to perform the job

DESIRED SKILLS

• At least three years’ experience as a land use, real property or landlord/tenant law attorney , or equivalent experience.
• Knowledge of legal principles and practices, particularly as they apply to legislation.
• Skills in analyzing legal problems and policy issues and devising legislatively appropriate responses that are consistent with the requester’s intent.
• Ability to communicate complex ideas and concepts both verbally and in writing in a clear, concise and persuasive manner.
• Ability to work effectively with legislators, their staff and constituents, other legislative personnel, agency personnel, lobbyists and the public. Relationships should be sustained at a nonpartisan, professional level.
• Ability to provide unbiased judgments on controversial issues and remain apolitical in a political atmosphere.
• Understanding of state government organization and legislative policies and procedures.
• Ability to work independently and under time pressures, including working long hours as priorities require.
• Advanced legal research skills and the ability to use a wide variety of reference materials, both electronic and print.

Additional Information
The Office of the Legislative Counsel provides legal and publication services to the Legislative Assembly. Working under the direction of the Legislative Counsel, legal, editorial and support staff are responsible for drafting measures for legislators, legislative committees and state agencies; providing research and legal services to the Legislative Assembly, legislative committees, legislators and legislative branch staff; drafting and publishing amendments to bills, engrossed bills and enrolled bills; reviewing administrative rules of state agencies to determine if the rules are within the intent and scope of the enabling legislation; and responding to public records requests. The Legislative Counsel also directs staff in editing, indexing, annotating and publishing Oregon Revised Statutes and publishing , Oregon Laws, Criminal Code of Oregon and other specialty publications.

WORKING CONDITIONS

Deputies are expected to manage their workloads to complete work by established deadlines. A deputy is expected to solicit help from the Legislative Counsel, Chief Deputy or Chief Editor if the deputy considers the deputy’s workload to be unreasonable or cannot be completed in a timely manner. The Legislative Counsel, Chief Deputy and Chief Editor each strive to assign work in such a manner as to achieve an objectively balanced workload among all deputies. However, various factors outside of the control of the Legislative Counsel may cause considerable variation in the amount of work each deputy is expected to perform. Such outside factors include legislative or public interest in particular issues, unanticipated demands of the legislative branch or its offices or a deputy’s level of experience and proficiency.

Deputies must be in the office whenever the legislature is in session or legislative committees are meeting, which may include nights and weekends. Additionally, deputies who have drafted specific pieces of legislation must be available when committees are considering the legislation.

Oregon Legislature

Management Service Benefits

Benefits with the Legislature

The Legislature offers its employees a range of benefits and rights. Employees have options when it comes to choosing a plan for core benefits such as a medical plan. The state also offers a variety of optional benefits, flexible spending accounts, retirement benefits, and paid leave options.

Core benefits

Medical, vision, and dental insurance

• Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision plans for the employee and qualified family members
• $5,000 in employee basic life insurance

Retirement benefits

• Membership in the Public Employees Retirement System (PERS) / Oregon Public Service Retirement Plan (OPSRP)
• Employer paid defined benefit and defined contribution programs

Paid leaves and other benefits

• Sick leave earned at a rate of 8 hours per month with no maximum accumulation
• Vacation leave earned at a minimum rate of 10 hours per month with accrual rate increases at 5-year increments
• 24 hours personal leave earned each fiscal year
• Ten paid holidays a year

The state also provides access to an innovative Employee Assistance Program that offers work-life counseling, along with homeowner, legal and family resources.

Optional benefits

• Term life (employee, spouse or domestic partner, and dependents)
• Long-term and short-term disability
• Accidental Death and Dismemberment
• Long-term care (self and eligible family members)
• Flexible spending accounts
• Option to enroll in the Oregon Savings Growth Plan, a deferred compensation program offering a wide variety of investment options.