Paralegal - Strategic Advocacy Team - City Attorney's Office (8151)

Company Description

Appointment Type: Temporary Exempt (TEX) position; individuals who are appointed to Exempt Positions are appointed at the pleasure of their appointing officer and are considered to be "at-will."

• Application Opening: January 27, 2026
• Application Deadline: Continuous, earliest close 5:00 p.m. Tuesday, February 10, 2026
• Compensation Range: $127,400 - $154,804
• Recruitment ID: RTF0162759-01150729

The San Francisco City Attorney’s Office is looking for a qualified and motivated paralegal with at least five years of experience, including litigation experience, to join its Strategic Advocacy Team.

About the Office
The San Francisco City Attorney’s Office is an innovative, nationally-recognized municipal law office working to protect and advance the rights and interests of the City and County of San Francisco and its residents. With nearly 350 talented and dedicated employees, the Office provides exceptional legal services to the City’s Mayor, Board of Supervisors, officials, and departments. Our work empowers City leaders with effective, responsive, and creative legal solutions and representation so they can deliver critical public services, and our affirmative advocacy enhances the lives and wellbeing of San Francisco’s residents and visitors.

The Office recognizes that diversity in the backgrounds, identities, and experiences of our employees enriches our workplace and enhances our work. We aspire to recruit, employ, retain, and promote talented individuals representing the full spectrum of our community, and welcome all candidates, including candidates of any race, religion, national origin, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, and age, and candidates with disabilities. We have a clear vision: to be the place where a diverse mix of people want to come and stay, grow professionally, and find purpose and engagement, and where all employees feel welcomed and respected, and valued for their work and contributions to the Office and the City. To learn more about the Office’s efforts to provide an inclusive workplace where employees feel they belong and can meaningfully contribute, please visit: https://www.sfcityattorney.org/aboutus/dei/.

The Office provides a hybrid work schedule for eligible employees.

To learn more about the City Attorney’s Office please visit our website.

Job Description

About the Strategic Advocacy Team
The Strategic Advocacy Team is a new team established to respond to complex and novel issues at the intersection of litigation and advice work. Currently the team is exclusively focused on developing, coordinating, and implementing strategies to respond to federal administration actions that threaten the City and County of San Francisco and its residents. In the future, the team may also address other major issues that require significant litigation and legal counsel. The team acts as a force multiplier that allows the Office to leverage internal and external resources to deliver meaningful results on high-priority matters.

Our litigation docket is currently in federal court and generally involves cases with significant public policy implications, constitutional claims, novel legal issues, and multiple parties. Our advice work typically addresses matters of citywide concern or issues that relate to pending or anticipated litigation. We also handle projects and assignments that extend beyond traditional legal work. No task is too big or too small for this team, and we aspire to be low ego, high energy, creative, collaborative, and nimble.

Paralegal Position and Responsibilities
Paralegals work under the direction of attorneys and provide a variety of paraprofessional legal duties in a fast-paced and varied practice. The responsibilities listed below are representative of the range of duties assigned and are not intended as an exhaustive list.

• Assist with drafting and implementing litigation holds across various City departments.
• Assist in drafting and reviewing responsive pleadings, various discovery documents, subpoenas, legal memoranda, and correspondence.
• Assist with discovery, particularly electronic discovery, and the organization, case management, collection, review and production of documents obtained from litigants and City departments and maintained in electronic databases.
• Conduct database searches in IPRO Eclipse, Concordance, CaseMap and Text Map, and review documents within these programs for relevance, responsiveness, and privilege.
• Assist in preparing various motions and ensuring that filings are accurate, properly formatted, and filed in a timely manner.
• Assist on appeals, including assembling the record and conducting fact and legal cite checking.
• Organize and maintain a wide variety of files and records to maximize cross-team access and functionality.
• Develop and maintain trackers, logs, spreadsheets and other systems for tracking case information, federal funding information, and other data.
• Prepare and distribute meeting agendas and background material; attend meetings and prepare minutes; communicate decisions and other action items to attorneys and professional staff; follow up as necessary.
• Correspond and communicate with members of the public, external partners, vendors, attorneys, and representatives of City departments regarding assigned matters.
• Manage multiple projects and prioritize work for several different attorneys.

Qualifications

Minimum Qualifications

• Compliance with California Business & Professions Code Section 6450 by possessing at least one of the following:
  • A certificate of completion of a paralegal program approved by the American Bar Association.
  • A certificate of completion of a paralegal program at, or a degree from, a postsecondary institution that requires the successful completion of a minimum of 24 semester, or equivalent, units in law-related courses and that has been accredited by a national or regional accrediting organization or approved by the Bureau for Private Postsecondary and Vocational Education.
  • A baccalaureate degree or an advanced degree in any subject, a minimum of one year of law-related experience under the supervision of an attorney who has been an active member of the State Bar of California for at least the preceding three years or who has practiced in the federal courts of this state for at least the preceding three years, and a written declaration from this attorney stating that the person is qualified to perform paralegal tasks.
  • A high school diploma or general equivalency diploma, a minimum of three years of law-related experience under the supervision of an attorney who has been an active member of the State Bar of California for at least the preceding three years or who has practiced in the federal courts of this state for at least the preceding three years, and a written declaration from this attorney stating that the person is qualified to perform paralegal tasks. This experience and training shall be completed no later than December 31, 2003.
• Five years of experience as a paralegal or legal assistant after meeting compliance requirements of California Business & Professions Code Section 6450.

Desired Qualifications

• At least two years of the experience as a paralegal or legal assistant to be litigation-focused
• Excellent verbal and writing skills, and an ability to work independently, as well as collaboratively with attorneys, other paralegals, secretaries, and others
• Ability to analyze legal problems and perform detailed analytical work with accuracy and initiative
• Ability to manage multiple tasks and deadlines, accept and implement written and oral instructions, and communicate effectively and tactfully with attorneys, office personnel, court personnel, vendors, and representatives of other governmental departments/entities and the general public
• Working knowledge of civil legal procedures, legal terminology, and court rules
• Adept in Microsoft Office Suite
• Experience with Adobe Professional, Microsoft Teams, TextMap, Concordance, IPRO Eclipse, CaseMap, Trial Director, or other similar software
• Bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university

Verification
Applicants may be required to submit verification of qualifying education and experience at any point during the recruitment and selection process. If education verification is required, information on how to verify education requirements, including verifying foreign education credits or degree equivalency, can be found at https://sfdhr.org/how-verify-education-requirements.

Note: Falsifying one’s education, training, or work experience or attempted deception on the application may result in disqualification for this and future job opportunities with the City and County of San Francisco.

All work experience, education, training and other information substantiating how you meet the minimum qualifications must be included on your application by the filing deadline. Information submitted after the filing deadline will not be considered in determining whether you meet the minimum qualifications.

Resumes will not be accepted in lieu of a completed City and County of San Francisco application.

Applications completed improperly may be cause for ineligibility, disqualification or may lead to lower scores.

Selection Procedures
The selection process will include evaluation of applications in relation to minimum requirements. Applicants meeting the minimum qualifications are not guaranteed advancement to the interview. Depending on the number of applicants, the Department may establish and implement additional screening mechanisms to comparatively evaluate the qualifications of candidates. If this becomes necessary, only those applicants whose qualifications most closely meet the needs of the Department will be invited to participate in the oral/performance interview.

Additional Information

Salary and Benefits
The position has a 5-step salary scale ranging from $127,400 - $154,804. The successful candidate will be placed at a salary step based on years of experience and additional relevant degrees, certifications, credentials or skills. The City offers robust health, retirement, and other benefits. For more information please visit: https://sfdhr.org/benefits-overview. Paralegals are represented by the International Federation of Professional & Technical Engineers, Local 21, which has a Memorandum of Understanding with the City. 

Additional Information Regarding Employment with the City and County of San Francisco:

• Information About the Hiring Process
• Conviction History
• Employee Benefits Overview  
• Equal Employment Opportunity 
• Disaster Service Worker
• ADA Accommodation
• Right to Work
• Copies of Application Documents
• Diversity Statement

HOW TO APPLY

Applications for City and County of San Francisco jobs are only accepted through an online process. Visit https://careers.sf.gov/ and begin the application process.

• Select the “Apply Now” button and follow instructions on the screen
• Upload a resume and a cover letter

 Applicants who advance in the selection process must submit three references.

Applicants may be contacted by email about this recruitment and, therefore, it is their responsibility to ensure that their registered email address is accurate and kept up-to-date. Also, applicants must ensure that email from CCSF is not blocked on their computer by a spam filter. To prevent blocking, applicants should set up their email to accept CCSF mail from the following addresses (@sfgov.org, @sfcityatty.org, @sfdpw.org, @sfport.com, @flysfo.com, @sfwater.org, @sfdph.org, @asianart.org, @sfmta.com, @sfpl.org, @dcyf.org, @first5sf.org, @famsf.org, @ccsf.edu, @smartalerts.info, and @smartrecruiters.com.

Applicants will receive a confirmation email that their online application has been received in response to every announcement for which they file. Applicants should retain this confirmation email for their records. Failure to receive this email means that the online application was not submitted or received.

Human Resources Analyst Information: If you have any questions regarding this recruitment or application process, please send your inquires to Jumy Dang, Sr. HR Analyst, at [email protected].

The City and County of San Francisco encourages women, minorities and persons with disabilities to apply. Applicants will be considered regardless of their sex, race, age, religion, color, national origin, ancestry, physical disability, mental disability, medical condition (associated with cancer, a history of cancer, or genetic characteristics), HIV/AIDS status, genetic information, marital status, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, gender expression, military and veteran status, or other protected category under the law.