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: November 20, 2025
Application Deadline: Continuous, earliest close 5:00 p.m. Thursday, December 4, 2025
Compensation Range: $99,840 - $121,316 (https://careers.sf.gov/classifications/?classCode=8173&setId=COMMN)
Recruitment ID: RTF0161061-01122387
The San Francisco City Attorney's Office is looking for a qualified and motivated legal assistant to join its Health & Human Services 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 nearly 350 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, and 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, 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/
The Office provides a hybrid work schedule for eligible employees.
To learn more about the City Attorney's Office please visit: https://sfcityattorney.org
About the Health & Human Services Team
The Health & Human Services Team provides counsel to a number of City Departments: The Department of Public Health, including Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center and Laguna Honda Hospital and Rehabilitation Center and the Human Services Agency, and their respective commissions, advisory boards, and councils on the myriad legal issues that arise in the operation of two of the City's largest departments. Additionally, the Health & Human Services Team is counsel to the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing and the Office of the Medical Examiner.
The Health & Human Services Team's work includes general advice; drafting and approving contracts and ordinances; preparing motions, medical probate and TB petitions; administrative petitions, hearings and appearances related to subpoenas in criminal cases; and standard client advice for DPH, including policy work, support on litigation and labor issues, and regulatory matters.
Legal Assistant Position and Responsibilities
Legal Assistants work under the direction of attorneys and paralegals, and provide a variety of paraprofessional legal duties in a fast-paced, high-volume civil litigation and advice practice. The responsibilities listed below represent the range of duties that may be assigned and are not intended as an exhaustive list.
Review and proofread contracts, legislation, responsive pleadings, various discovery documents, subpoenas, legal memoranda, and correspondence for accuracy
Assist with review and disclosure of documents responsive to public records requests and third-party subpoenas
Assist with implementing document litigation holds across various City departments
Draft and issue subpoenas
Assist with discovery, particularly electronic discovery, including the review and production of documents obtained from litigants and City departments maintained in IPRO Eclipse; prepare privilege logs
Conduct searches and manage documents in document databases such as IPRO Eclipse, Concordance, CaseMap and Text Map, and review documents within these programs for relevance, responsiveness, and privilege
Assist in preparing various motions and ensuring that filings are accurate, properly formatted, and filed in a timely manner, including filing electronically
Organize and prepare documents, exhibits, and other materials for discovery, hearings, and trials, assist in maintaining team files, including an electronic database of key written advice
Work on multiple projects simultaneously and prioritize work assignments from multiple attorneys
Maintain calendars for multiple attorneys
Assist with other projects and duties as assigned
Minimum Qualifications
Compliance with California Business & Professions Code Section 6450 by possessing at least one of the following:
A certificate of completion of a paralegal program approved by the American Bar Association
A certificate of completion of a paralegal program at, or a degree from, a postsecondary institution that requires the successful completion of a minimum of 24 semester, or equivalent, units in law-related courses and that has been accredited by a national or regional accrediting organization or approved by the Bureau for Private Postsecondary and Vocational Education
A baccalaureate degree or an advanced degree in any subject, a minimum of one year of law-related experience under the supervision of an attorney who has been an active member of the State Bar of California for at least the preceding three years or who has practiced in the federal courts of this state for at least the preceding three years, and a written declaration from this attorney stating that the person is qualified to perform paralegal tasks
A high school diploma or general equivalency diploma, a minimum of three years of law-related experience under the supervision of an attorney who has been an active member of the State Bar of California for at least the preceding three years or who has practiced in the federal courts of this state for at least the preceding three years, and a written declaration from this attorney stating that the person is qualified to perform paralegal tasks. This experience and training shall be completed no later than December 31, 2003
Desired Qualifications
One year of litigation experience as a legal assistant or paralegal, or five or more years as a legal secretary providing proof of performing high-level duties as described under Responsibilities section above
Excellent verbal and written communication
Able to communicate effectively and tactfully with attorneys, office personnel, court personnel, vendors and representatives of other governmental departments/entities and the general public; and to accept and implement written and oral instructions
Ability to work independently, as well as collaboratively with attorneys, other paralegals, secretaries and others
Ability to analyze legal problems, and perform detailed analytical work with accuracy and initiative
Ability to manage multiple tasks and deadlines, and prioritize and complete multiple assignments
Working knowledge of civil legal procedures, legal terminology and court rules
Adept in Microsoft Office Suite
Experience with Adobe Professional, Cisco WebEx, Microsoft Teams, TextMap, IPRO Eclipse, CaseMap, Trial Director, or other similar software. Experience with Relativity a plus
Strong interpersonal skills and a positive attitude
Commitment to valuing diversity and contributing to an inclusive working and learning environment
Desire and ability to work successfully as part of a team
Bachelor's degree from an accredited college or university
Verification
Applicants may be required to submit verification of qualifying education and experience at any point during the recruitment and selection process.
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 position has a five-step salary scale ranging from $99,840 - $121,316. The successful candidate will be placed at a salary step based on years of experience and additional relevant degrees, certifications, credentials or skills. The City offers robust health, retirement and other benefits. For more information please visit: https://sfdhr.org/benefits-overview. Legal Assistants are represented by the International Federation of Professional & Technical Engineers, Local 21, which has a Memorandum of Understanding with the City that can be found at MOU (https://sfdhr.org/memoranda-understanding) .
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
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.
