SUPERVISING ATTORNEY – COMMISSION INITIATED

Job Description

The New York City Commission on Human Rights (CCHR) works every day to implement the city’s Human Rights Law (NYCHRL) through enforcement, education, and outreach. The Commission seeks to address historic and contemporary inequities to cultivate a city where everyone can live, work, and thrive free from discrimination.

Through training, education, and policy initiatives, the Commission aims to root out discrimination. The Commission proactively identifies patterns of discrimination through testing employers, housing providers, and providers of public accommodation. The Commission also uses investigations, litigation, and other enforcement tools to address allegations of discrimination. In addition to investigating claims of discrimination brought to the agency by members of the public, the Commission also has the ability and obligation to affirmatively initiate its own investigations and complaints.

Reporting to the Associate Commissioner for Law Enforcement, the Supervising Attorney will help manage the process by which the Law Enforcement Bureau (LEB) enforces the New York City Human Rights Law. This position involves overseeing the investigation and prosecution of agency-initiated investigations and complaints. The Supervising Attorney will guide the work of staff attorneys and other personnel investigating allegations of discrimination in cases initiated by the agency across all jurisdictions and representing the Commission in mediations, settlements, and litigation of cases at the Office of Administrative Trial and Hearings (OATH). The Supervising Attorney will also work with the rest of the LEB leadership including the Deputy Commissioner and Assistant Commissioners for Law Enforcement, to identify and develop affirmative litigation and Commission-initiated investigations stemming from cases filed by the public.

Responsibilities include:

- Oversee and manage a team of staff attorneys and other staff handling agency -initiated cases.
- Supervise LEB attorneys and other staff in the investigation of agency- initiated investigations and complaints of violations of the NYCHRL.
- Supervise LEB attorneys in negotiating resolutions of claims of agency -initiated cases and drafting conciliation agreements and/or stipulations and orders.
- Supervise LEB attorneys in the litigation of agency-initiated cases before the Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings from discovery and trial through and including issuance of an
Administrative Law Judge recommendation and issuance of Commission order.
- Maintain personal caseload of agency-initiated cases under investigation and prosecution.
- Work with attorneys and other staff to ensure that information provided in the public complaint process is used to identify systemic discrimination and repeat violations that may warrant Commission-initiated investigations.
- Monitor compliance with LEB policy and procedures including those relating to recordkeeping and to filing.
- Work on statistics and reports related to the agency’s reporting requirements as well as guidance on compliance with the NYCHRL.
- Collaborate with the Commission’s Community Relations Bureau to provide trainings and targeted community outreach programs and to engage in coordinated approaches to rooting out systemic discrimination.
- Represent the Commission at community events, speaking engagements, and at bar associations.
- Advise the Deputy & Associate Commissioner on proposed legislation and other policy matters.
- Other responsibilities assigned by the Deputy Commissioner to help effectively and efficiently run LEB.

EXECUTIVE AGENCY COUNSEL - 95005

Qualifications

Admission to the New York State Bar; and four years of recent full-time responsible, relevant, satisfactory legal experience subsequent to admission to any bar, eighteen months of which must have been in the supervision of other attorneys, in an administrative, managerial or executive capacity, or performing highly complex and significant legal work.

Incumbents must remain Members of the New York State Bar in good standing for the duration of this employment.

Additional Information

The City of New York is an inclusive equal opportunity employer committed to recruiting and retaining a diverse workforce and providing a work environment that is free from discrimination and harassment based upon any legally protected status or protected characteristic, including but not limited to an individual's sex, race, color, ethnicity, national origin, age, religion, disability, sexual orientation, veteran status, gender identity, or pregnancy.