Attorney in Charge - PDD Lawrence

Overview

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Job Description - Attorney in Charge - PDD Lawrence (260000LR)

The Public Defender Division of the Committee for Public Counsel Services (CPCS), the Massachusetts public defender agency, is seeking to fill the Attorney-in-Charge position in the Lawrence Office. The PDD provides legal representation and zealous advocacy to indigent clients who are charged with criminal offenses in both the District and Superior Courts.

The PDD Lawrence Office is located inside of the historic and stately Union Mills building that harkens back and is reminiscent of an era of great industrious growth, for the city of Lawrence. The area also offers a variety of wonderful local shops, eateries, and sites of great historic interest.

Please take a moment and click on the link below for more information about the staff and the courthouses where we practice in the Public Defender Division Lawrence Office.

The Attorney-in-Charge of the Lawrence Office is expected to perform a multitude of functions and responsibilities that are unmistakably attendant to being the leader of a high functioning trial office within the agency.

The Attorney-in-Charge supervises and assists staff Trial Attorneys to ensure the zealous advocacy and effective representation of every assigned client entrusted to our legal care. The Attorney-in-Charge is responsible for managing the Supervising Staff Attorneys, along with all other defense team members assigned to the office, which is comprised of Social Service Advocates, Investigators, Staff Interpreters, and highly trained Administrative Assistants.

The Attorney-in-Charge is expected to maintain an active, albeit reduced caseload, and it is also incumbent upon the Attorney-in-Charge to provide the same fullness and excellent representation to assigned clients, no different than any other staff Trial Attorney, while consistently striking a balance between those responsibilities, and the required managerial duties and obligations of an Attorney-in-Charge.

The Attorney-in-Charge must be able to supervise, and be available to serve as a second chair alongside the entry level staff attorneys when necessary, as well as to assist in the development of trial strategies, motions practice, and myriad other tasks that trial lawyers must also competently perform. The Attorney-in-Charge is also responsible for the supervision and development of non-attorney support staff in the office.

The administrative responsibilities include, but are not limited to:

• Understanding, communicating, and ensuring compliance with the agency’s Personnel Policies;
• Being thoroughly familiar with the CPCS case management system, including the ability to generate and interpret case statistics and reports;
• Ensuring that attorneys’ schedules and caseloads are reasonable and conform with CPCS guidelines, performance standards, and practice advisories;
• Ensuring case files are properly maintained and scanned at the conclusion of each case;
• Assigning all cases promptly;
• Ensuring that all cases are promptly opened and closed in the agency’s case management system;
• Ensuring that all cases are promptly checked for conflicts of interest, and when discovered, reassigning those cases immediately;
• Ensuring that detailed running sheets for each case are current and electronically maintained;
• Ensuring that annual performance evaluations are completed for all staff in a timely and comprehensive manner; and
• Other duties as assigned.

In addition, the Attorney-in-Charge is responsible for:

• Ensuring that information about recent developments in the law, CPCS policies and practices, and other relevant matters are disseminated to staff in a timely manner;
• Providing ongoing in-house training to ensure continued excellence by all staff in furtherance of the CPCS mission statement;
• Fostering positive relationships within the community and courthouses, and ensuring that a professional relationship and leadership role is maintained with the assigned private bar in the county;
• Providing zealous and effective representation of the AIC’s own clients consistent with PDD guidelines and performance…