Appointment Type: Permanent Exempt (PEX) position; individuals who are appointed to Exempt Positions are appointed at the pleasure of their appointing officer and are considered to be "at-will."
Application Opening: August 11, 2025
Application Deadline: Continuous, earliest close 5:00 p.m. Monday, August 25, 2025
Compensation Range: $153,140- $268,320 (https://careers.sf.gov/classifications/?classCode=8177&setId=COMMN)
Recruitment ID: RTF0158082-01076927
The San Francisco City Attorney's Office is looking for an experienced and motivated civil litigator to join its Complex & Affirmative Litigation Team.
About the Office
The San Francisco City Attorney's Office is an innovative, nationally-recognized municipal law office working to protect and advance the rights and interests of the City and County of San Francisco and its residents. With over 300 talented and dedicated employees, the Office provides exceptional legal services to the City's Mayor, Board of Supervisors, officials, and departments. Our work empowers City leaders with effective, responsive, and creative legal solutions and representation so they can deliver critical public services, and our affirmative advocacy enhances the lives and wellbeing of San Francisco's residents and visitors.
The Office recognizes that diversity in the backgrounds, identities, ideas, and lived experiences of our employees enriches our workplace and enhances our work. We aspire to recruit, employ, retain, and promote talented individuals representing the full spectrum of our community, and welcome all candidates, including candidates of any race, religion, national origin, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, and age, and candidates with disabilities. We have a clear vision: to be the place where a diverse mix of people want to come and stay, grow professionally, and find purpose and engagement, and where all employees feel welcomed and respected for their full authentic selves, and valued for their work and contributions to the Office and the City. To learn more about the Office's efforts to provide an inclusive workplace where employees feel they belong and can meaningfully contribute, please visit: https://www.sfcityattorney.org/aboutus/dei/
Currently, the Office offers a hybrid remote work schedule for eligible employees, with three days onsite and up to two days remote. This schedule may change to conform to Citywide standards of four days onsite work.
To learn more about the City Attorney's Office please visit: https://www.sfcityattorney.org/ (about:blank)
About the Complex & Affirmative Litigation Team
The team is a collaborative, nimble, and dynamic group of attorneys, paralegals, and legal secretaries. The team handles both affirmative and defensive matters, in state and federal court, in trial and on appeal. The team's docket is broad, and matters generally involve one or more of the following: novel legal issues, constitutional concerns, statewide and/or nationwide remedies and public policy reforms, or a large volume of litigants, witnesses, and/or evidence. In addition to representing the City and County of San Francisco, the team pursues affirmative litigation as determined by the City Attorney on behalf of the People of the State of California, to remedy unlawful, fraudulent, and unfair business practices throughout the state and public nuisances. The team also participates in the San Francisco Affirmative Litigation Project, a partnership between the City Attorney's Office and Yale Law School, which pairs Yale law students with lawyers across the Office who are developing and/or litigating complex affirmative litigation matters.
Deputy City Attorney Position and Responsibilities
Attorneys on the team handle both affirmative and defensive matters. The vast majority of matters require team members to work collaboratively with lawyers and staff across the Office. Attorneys on the team manage all aspects of their cases, including case development and assessment, litigation strategy, discovery and document review, motion practice, settlement evaluation and negotiation, trial and appeal.
Minimum Qualifications
Licensed to practice law in California
Desired Qualifications
Ten or more years of complex civil litigation experience
Excellent written and oral communication and advocacy skills
Experience with e-discovery
An interest, comfort, and good working knowledge of sophisticated document review tools
Ability to assume responsibility quickly, work both collaboratively and independently, and think deeply and thoroughly about novel substantive and procedural legal issues
Ability to work effectively and efficiently within ambitious internal deadlines, and adjust to last minute assignments and workload increases with agility and adaptability
Ability to identify, investigate, and litigate large affirmative cases as well as vigorously defend complex defensive matters in both state and federal courts
Ability to work effectively and collaboratively with paralegals, legal assistants, and other colleagues
Ability to exercise excellent judgment, multi-task, and be curious
Commitment to valuing diversity and contributing to an inclusive working and learning environment
Excellent interpersonal skills and a positive attitude
Interest and ability to work successfully as part of a team
Verification
Applicants may be required to submit verification of qualifying education and experience at any point during the recruitment and selection process. If education verification is required, information on how to verify education requirements, including verifying foreign education credits or degree equivalency, can be found at https://sfdhr.org/how-verify-education-requirements.
Note: Falsifying one's education, training, or work experience or attempted deception on the application may result in disqualification for this and future job opportunities with the City and County of San Francisco.
All work experience, education, training and other information substantiating how you meet the minimum qualifications must be included on your application by the filing deadline. Information submitted after the filing deadline will not be considered in determining whether you meet the minimum qualifications.
Resumes will not be accepted in lieu of a completed City and County of San Francisco application.
Applications completed improperly may be cause for ineligibility, disqualification or may lead to lower scores.
Selection Procedures
The selection process will include evaluation of applications in relation to minimum requirements. Applicants meeting the minimum qualifications are not guaranteed advancement to the interview. Depending on the number of applicants, the Department may establish and implement additional screening mechanisms to comparatively evaluate the qualifications of candidates. If this becomes necessary, only those applicants whose qualifications most closely meet the needs of the Department will be invited to participate in the oral/performance interview.
Salary and Benefits
The Deputy City Attorney position has a 16-step salary scale ranging from $153,140 - $268,320. The successful applicant is appointed to a salary step based on years of experience as a lawyer. The City offers robust health, retirement, and other benefits. For more information please visit: https://sfdhr.org/benefits-overview. Attorneys are represented by the Municipal Attorneys Association. Information about compensation and benefits can be found by entering Classification Code 8177 at https://careers.sf.gov/classifications/.
Additional Information Regarding Employment with the City and County of San Francisco:
Information About the Hiring Process (https://sfdhr.org/information-about-hiring-process)
Conviction History
Employee Benefits Overview (https://sfdhr.org/benefits-overview)
Equal Employment Opportunity (https://sfdhr.org/equal-employment-opportunity)
Disaster Service Worker (https://sfdhr.org/disaster-service-workers)
ADA Accommodation
Right to Work (https://sfdhr.org/information-about-hiring-process#identification)
Copies of Application Documents
Diversity Statement (https://sfdhr.org/information-about-hiring-process#diversitystatement)
HOW TO APPLY
Applications for City and County of San Francisco jobs are only accepted through an online process. Visit https://careers.sf.gov/ and begin the application process.
Select the "Apply Now" button and follow instructions on the screen
Make sure to include your CA Bar Number in the education section on your application
Upload a Cover Letter and a Resume
Applicants who advance in the selection process must submit three references and one writing sample.
Applicants may be contacted by email about this recruitment and, therefore, it is their responsibility to ensure that their registered email address is accurate and kept up-to-date. Also, applicants must ensure that email from CCSF is not blocked on their computer by a spam filter. To prevent blocking, applicants should set up their email to accept CCSF mail from the following addresses (@sfgov.org, @sfcityatty.org, @sfdpw.org, @sfport.com, @flysfo.com, @sfwater.org, @sfdph.org, @asianart.org, @sfmta.com, @sfpl.org, @dcyf.org, @first5sf.org, @famsf.org, @ccsf.edu, @smartalerts.info, and @smartrecruiters.com.
Applicants will receive a confirmation email that their online application has been received in response to every announcement for which they file. Applicants should retain this confirmation email for their records. Failure to receive this email means that the online application was not submitted or received.
Human Resources Analyst Information: If you have any questions regarding this recruitment or application process, please send your inquires to Asa Nojd, HR Analyst, at asa.nojd@sfcityatty.org.
The City and County of San Francisco encourages women, minorities and persons with disabilities to apply. Applicants will be considered regardless of their sex, race, age, religion, color, national origin, ancestry, physical disability, mental disability, medical condition (associated with cancer, a history of cancer, or genetic characteristics), HIV/AIDS status, genetic information, marital status, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, gender expression, military and veteran status, or other protected category under the law.
