CIU - Attorney I - VI

Job Summary

Are you looking for career opportunities that provide top-notch benefits including paid vacation and sick leave, parental leave, outstanding health, vision, and dental insurance, an on-site health clinic for you and your dependents, a generous retirement plan, and much more? Then bring your talents to Travis County!

Attorneys practices civil or criminal law for Texas County or District government.

The Travis County District Attorney's Conviction Integrity Unit was recently awarded a grant to review over 100 murder convictions to determine whether or not the conviction was based on an unreliable confession. The grant came about due to the Unit's work on another old case from the 1990s. The TCDA recently discovered that a previous investigation into Austin Police Department Homicide Unit uncovered a pattern and practice of coercing false confessions during the late 1980s and early 1990s. This grant position will be reviewing past homicide cases from that era and working in partnership with the Texas Innocence Project to determine whether there have been wrongful convictions as a result of false or coerced confessions.

The grant is for an attorney, investigator, and office specialist.

This is a grant-funded position ending on September 30, 2025 with possibility of renewal. This grant position will work in partnership with our current CIU staff.

Previous post-conviction, CIU, or innocence work preferred. Previous defense work litigating false confessions or knowledge of the current state of the law on false confessions preferred.

The Travis County Conviction Integrity Unit, under District Attorney Garza has litigated a number of wrongful convictions over the last three years, including: Rosa Jimenez, Andre Causey, and Billy Faircloth. The CIU is committed to ensuring that justice is served for all of Travis County.

DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERISTICS:

This is the sixth in a series of seven attorney-related job classifications within the Attorneys job family. This classification handles cases and matters that are the most complex and that may result in moderately severe consequences without supervision and handles cases and matters that may result in the most severe consequences with supervision.

Duties and Responsibilities

• Performs legal research. Searches resources and studies legal records and documents to obtain information applicable to case or issue under consideration.

• Drafts briefs, motions, orders, subpoenas, contracts and other legal documents, as well as correspondence and reports.

• Takes depositions and responds to discovery requests. Oversees the creation and issuance of legal documents, including subpoenas, motions, orders, writs, warrants, contracts, official policies and other related documents. Represents the State at docket calls.

• Prepares cases for trial. Collects, organizes and prepares evidence, information and other legal materials.

• Performs other job-related duties as assigned.

Minimum Requirements

Education and Experience:

Attorney I:J.D./LL.B. from an accredited law school.

Attorney II: J.D./LL.B. from an accredited law school AND eighteen (18) months licensed attorney work experience.

Attorney III: J.D./LL.B. from an accredited law school AND three (3) years licensed attorney work experience.

Attorney IV: J.D./LL.B. from an accredited law school AND four (4) years licensed attorney work experience.

Attorney V: J.D./LL.B. from an accredited law school AND six (6) years licensed attorney work experience.

Attorney VI: J.D./LL.B. from an accredited law school AND eight (8) years licensed attorney work experience.

Licenses, Registrations, Certifications, or Special Requirements:

Licensed to practice law in the State of Texas.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:

Knowledge of:

• Jurisprudence, criminal and civil law and procedures, including constitutional and statutory law.

• Federal, State, Local and County applicable laws, rules, regulations and guidelines.

• Methods and practices of pleading cases and of effective techniques for presentation of cases in court or to effectively present facts and precedents verbally and in writing in law related matters.

• Policies, practices, procedures and legal terminology related to court system.

• Computer equipment to include word processing, spreadsheets, databases and a variety of software packages.

• Business letter writing, grammar and punctuation, and report preparation.

• May be required to develop knowledge of and adhere to federal and state laws requiring the confidential handling of certain health information.

Skill in:

• Problem-solving and decision-making.

• Analyzing and appraising facts, policies, procedures and legal precedents in area of specialty.

• Both verbal and written communication, including presentations.

Ability to:

• Conduct legal research and analysis, both manually and electronically.

• Present facts, precedents and arguments verbally and in writing and apply negotiation skills.

• Communicate effectively, both verbally and in writing.

• Work independently.

• Manage time well and perform multiple tasks, and organize diverse activities.

• Work well under pressure and exercise tact in trying situations.

• Establish and maintain effective working relationships with departmental clientele, representatives of outside agencies, other County employees and officials, and the general public.

Work Environment & Other Information

Physical requirements include the ability to lift/carry up to 25 pounds occasionally, visual acuity, speech and hearing, hand and eye coordination and manual dexterity necessary to operate a computer and office equipment. Subject to standing, walking, sitting, repetitive motion, reaching, climbing stairs, bending, stooping, kneeling, crouching, crawling, pushing, pulling, balancing, client/customer contact, squatting to perform the essential functions.

Travis County employees play an important role in business continuity. As such, employees can be assigned to business continuity efforts outside of normal job functions.

This job description is intended to be generic in nature. It is not necessarily an exhaustive list of all duties and responsibilities. The essential duties, functions and responsibilities and overtime eligibility may vary based on the specific tasks assigned to the position.

Work Hours: 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM; Monday through Friday

Department:District Attorney

Location:416 W. 11th Street, Austin

Criminal, Education, and EmploymentCheck Required.