The Executive Chamber is the Office of the Governor that assists Governor Kathy Hochul in managing State government. The Executive Chamber is seeking a highly motivated and experienced attorney to serve as Deputy Counsel in the Office of the Counsel to the Governor. The Deputy Counsel serves under the general supervision of the Counsel to the Governor, and manages the Office of the Counsel’s staff, state departments, agencies, and operations staff on litigation, investigations, audits, ethics, risk, and compliance. The Deputy Counsel will play a key role in identifying and responding to any initiatives by the federal government that are in opposition to New York State law and policies, negatively impact State agency operations, or jeopardize the rights of New York State residents.
To succeed in this role, you must be an experienced litigator, proactive leader, effective manager, excellent writer and communicator, and facilitator of a collaborative environment. You must be able to identify legal issues and risk across various units and operations. You must possess excellent time management and organizational skills and be able to oversee a wide range of priorities and competing tasks. You must be able to exercise impeccable judgment in a high- stress and fast paced environment. You also must be creative, inspirational, and have a sense of humor.
Routine travel between NYC and Albany offices required, frequently overnight, and as often as
weekly.
Specific Duties Include:
- Oversee the work of Assistant and Senior Counsels within the Executive Chamber on all matters relating to litigation, investigations, ethics, risk, compliance, procurement, contracting, employment, and internal control matters.
- Serve as the primary liaison to the Office of the Attorney General and agency General Counsels. Develop an outside counsel strategy for Chamber and for Executive agencies.
- Provide strategic legal counseling, subject matter expertise, and identify the needs of the Governor’s Office, State agencies, and Counsel’s Office relating to federal and state litigation, legislation, rulemaking, and operations, including litigation against the federal government or in opposition to federal policies.
- Provide strategic legal counseling and subject matter expertise regarding the constitutional authority of the Governor related to acting on legislation and submission of the Executive budget.
- Provide strategic legal counseling and subject matter expertise regarding the constitutional authority and powers of New York State related to cases and controversies involving the federal government, including with respect to issues of preemption, state sovereignty, and executive powers.
- Proactively manage information flow between Assistant and Senior Counsels and the Counsel to the Governor to eliminate bottlenecks.
- Lead, manage, develop, and collaborate with Executive Assistant and Senior Counsels on the planning, drafting, and reviewing of litigation documents, regulations, policies, and legal memoranda.
- Collaborate with Executive Chamber Assistant and Senior Counsels in proactively identifying and mitigating legal risk on litigation, regulations, and policy.
- Provide programmatic legal support to Executive Chamber Assistant and Senior Counsels to ensure accuracy and timely implementation of policies, responses to issues, and programs.
- Develop and maintain strong working relationships with Executive Chamber Assistant and Senior Counsels, Deputy Secretaries, Agency General Counsels, outside organizations, experts, advocates, and other institutions.
- Conduct legal research and draft memoranda relating to litigation, operations, and compliance as requested.
- Report, summarize, and present information to the Governor, senior staff, executive, cross-functional teams, and outside stakeholders.
- Ensure accuracy in work-product from Counsel’s Office and cross-functional teams, maintain strong channels of communications, and develop detailed work plans for Counsel’s Office.
- Perform other related duties as assigned by the Counsel.
Minimum Qualifications:
Must have a Juris Doctorate from an accredited law school and be a member in good standing with the New York State Bar, and a minimum of 10 years of relevant and progressively responsible legal work experience. Previous experience in a leadership role in a Government agency or authority is strongly preferred.
Additionally, candidates should have the following knowledge, skills, and abilities:
- Knowledge of applicable local, state, and federal statutes, rules, regulations, internal controls, and processes.
- Knowledge of New York State executive agencies and their functions, preferred.
- Knowledge of federal statutes and federal agency processes as they pertain to state programs and operations is preferred.
- Prior team managerial experience preferred.
- Ability to make excellent judgments, and exercise critical, analytical, and problem- solving skills under pressure and at times with extreme time sensitivity.
- Ability to compile, evaluate and interpret information and data from a variety of information sources.
- Ability to independently discern priority projects.
- Ability to prioritize and complete work assignments in a timely manner.
- Ability to identify the most effective and efficient method to carry out duties.
- Excellent organizational skills to manage a varied and high-volume workload.
- Excellent written and oral communication skills with an attention to detail are required, including the ability to communicate complex information to a lay audience.
- Excellent interpersonal and communication skills including the ability to interact with colleagues and senior leadership inside and outside the Executive Chamber.
- Excellent record management skills with the ability to follow-up as necessary.
- Excellent familiarity with Microsoft software products including Word, Excel, OneDrive, SharePoint, Power Point and Outlook/Exchange. Strong proficiency in Excel is desired.
