Senior Counsel - Compliance

Closing Date: 21st April, 2024

Description:

Looking For Experienced Compliance Superstar! The Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission, a national leader in public parks, recreation, and the regulation of real estate development, is searching for a seasoned lawyer with real world legal experience to join our in-house team located in Riverdale, Maryland. Montgomery and Prince George's Counties are the two largest counties in Maryland, with a growing and diverse population, which is served by a robust and award-winning system of parks, recreation, and urban planning in both Counties.

As the newest Senior Counsel in the Office of the General Counsel, you will join a team of lawyers responsible for finding sophisticated legal solutions to a variety of litigation and employment, administrative, and corporate policy matters. Your work will be a key component in delivering superior in-house legal services to a large and diverse corporate client, ensuring our clients' compliance with: federal and state employment law, state open meetings and public information laws, the ethics code and internal Merit Rules, Practices and Procedures spanning the entire bi-county region. You may have opportunities to work with planners, park and recreation officials, police department administrators, department directors, human resources professionals as well as directly with our Commissioners. You can have fun practicing law while advancing our agency's remarkable mission and making a real difference in the communities we serve.

Our ideal candidate for Senior Counsel (Compliance) has:

• A solid track record of frontline experience handling sophisticated administrative, litigation and/or employment matters for private or public clients, along with a demonstrated familiarity with state or local government and/or administrative law.
• In-house experience working with other lawyers and managing client expectations while aligning competing priorities within a demanding portfolio.
• Experience with public retirement systems, public merit or civil service systems, and counseling clients on general employment matters.

• Advise the Commission, Planning Boards, Department Directors and Commission Staff regarding compliance with federal and state employment laws, state open meetings and public information acts, merit rules and administrative practices and procedures, ethics code and ethics complaints, statutory interpretation, constitutional questions, Office of Inspector General audit findings and recommendations, and legislation affecting the Commission's operations in Prince George's and Montgomery Counties.
• Review for legal sufficiency: draft policies and resolutions, draft procedures, ethics opinions, agreements, and other instruments.
• Draft policies, motions, orders, agreements, summaries, correspondence, and other legal documents and memoranda.
• Serve as the Commission's Ethics Officer.
• Work independently with limited supervision, exercise good professional judgment, and work well with outside counsel, as well as in-house team members.
• Report directly to the General Counsel.

Minimum Qualifications:

• Law degree from a law school accredited by the American Bar Association.
• Six (6) years progressively responsible experience in the practice of law, including two (2) years of specialized legal experience in land use, legal transactions, civil litigation, administrative litigation, or employment law.
• A valid license, in good standing, to practice law in the state of Maryland, or in another state, subject to attainment of a valid license to practice law in Maryland during initial probationary period.
• Valid driver's license in accordance with both State and Commission rules and regulations. Driver's licenses must be unencumbered by restrictions, revocations, suspensions, or points that could limit the employee's ability to drive Commission vehicles or perform driving duties required of their position.

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