Deputy City Attorney II/III

The Port of Los Angeles (POLA) Division attorneys work closely, under the supervision of the Division’s General Counsel, with the members of the Board of Harbor Commissioners (Board) and Harbor Department management and staff on a wide variety of legal matters pertaining to the operation of the Port. The selected candidate is expected to focus on *one or more* of the following subject matter areas. - The POLA Division routinely handles civil litigation and disputes in the following areas: environmental (including California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA)); real estate (including commercial unlawful detainer and landlord-tenant litigation); land use as impacted by applicable law, including the Tidelands Trust Act and the California Coastal Act; disputes arising from commercial transactions and competitive solicitations for construction, real estate, and other opportunities at the Port; insurance coverage under liability and other forms of specialized policies; employment and personnel matters; and tort and contract claims not covered by insurance. Litigation in such areas could be both defensive and affirmative and involve appeals. - The POLA Division also frequently handles issues arising under environmental laws and with environmental regulatory agencies from projects or initiatives that POLA or its tenants wish to undertake, oftentimes in the pursuit of entitlements for such projects and initiatives, and addressing the application of such environmental laws to operations at POLA. Such environmental laws include the California Environmental Quality Act, the National Environmental Policy Act, the California Coastal Act, and the state and federal Clean Air Acts, Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, and CERCLA. Such environmental agencies include the California Air Resources Board, the South Coast Air Quality Management District, the California Coastal Commission, the Water Quality Control Boards, the Department of Toxic Substances Control, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. - To the extent that POLA is a landlord port, the POLA Division frequently handles land use, zoning, real property, and real estate transactional issues as impacted by the application of other applicable law, including the City Charter and Administrative Code. Such issues frequently arise in negotiations of lease documents and amendments of lease documents, and in providing advice and counsel to POLA management and Board regarding the costs, benefits, risks, and opportunities associated with such issues. POLA’s operations are specialized and applicants with prior experience representing ports and/or municipal agencies are preferred. While the selected candidate is expected to focus on one or more of the aforementioned areas, he or she will also handle assignments involving other areas of law, depending on their skills and/or qualifications and the operational needs of the Division. Examples of these areas include: - Municipal governance - primarily pursuant to the Tidelands Trust Act, California Coastal Act, Los Angeles Charter and Administrative Code, California Public Records Act, Brown Act and Ethics laws. - Real estate transactional - typically relating to real property entitlements for property the Port holds in trust for the State. - Transactional, contracting, financial, and business - relative to service contracts, Requests for Proposals, and other competitive solicitations undertaken by the Port; insurance and other agreements related to Harbor Department operations; strategic commercial matters; tariffs setting rates and charges and operating rules for use of Harbor Department facilities; and revenue bonds. - Regulatory and environmental - in relation to National Environmental Policy Act, California Coastal Act, Clean Water Act, CEQA, CERCLA, and RCRA, among other laws. This practice requires frequent work with the Regional Water Quality Control Board, Depar…