JOB TITLE: LEGAL ANALYST, OGC

JOB CODE: 07091

SERIES NATURE OF WORK: The Legal Analyst job series describes work in the evaluation and analysis of complex legal, policy, transactional, and administrative issues within the Office of General Counsel (OGC).

DEFINITION: This is professional work conducting legal research and gathering, analyzing, summarizing, and presenting relevant materials to support legal recommendations.

An employee in this job performs substantive legal research and analysis on federal and state laws and regulations; legislative history; agency programs; and judicial, legislative, transactional, and administrative processes. Work involves analyzing and summarizing legislative and regulatory legal research; determining the impact of statutory changes to current agency policies and operations; synthesizing, summarizing, and presenting case-specific legal research data and investigative data; drafting, reviewing, and analyzing agreements; preparing procurement solicitations and related documents; and writing legal memoranda or briefs. Work may also include the exercise of discretion and judgement in the development and application of commonwealth and OGC policies related to procurements and solicitations as well as the conduct of budgetary analyses in the development thereof. Work includes interpreting and implementing commonwealth policies and legal protocols and determining and coordinating the information and document management needs of a case, procurement, contract, or other legal matter. Work may include all pre-decisional activities for assigned legal matters. Work is assigned and reviewed by an attorney or non-attorney supervisor, but attorneys are responsible for the legal decisions and recommendations resulting from the employee’s work.

EXAMPLES OF WORK: (NOTE: The examples of work are representative of the work, but every position classified to this job may not perform all examples of work listed. Conversely, this is not an all-inclusive list of work examples.)

• Researches issues to find supportive arguments, case documentations, and law library references, and summarizes findings into reports for an attorney.

• Researches and tracks legislative and regulatory developments relevant to an agency.

• Checks legal citations, quotations, footnotes, and references for accuracy.

• Develops charts, graphs, and timelines based on research and analysis.

• Develops and researches investigative leads to corroborate the accuracy of information and summarizes findings into reports.

• Prepares synopses, abstracts, and summaries of legal opinions, documents, and statutes for attorney review.

• Drafts and prepares pleadings, motions, briefs, abstracts, petitions, summary judgments, and legal correspondence.

• Manages the document production and review process for cases according to agency standards, including collection of materials from clients, opposing parties, and third parties.

• Assembles and prepares evidence, exhibits, affidavits, and documents for use in legal proceedings.

• Assists in the practice of transactional law through the review, analysis, and preparation of documents.

• Interprets and determines the applicability of laws, regulations, rulings, and precedential opinions.

• Communicates, corresponds, and interacts with clients and outside entities, such as outside counsel, government agencies, expert witnesses, vendors, corporations, or law firms to gather information.

• Coordinates the review and approval process of legal documents such as statements of policy and regulations.

• Receives, reviews, and researches requests for historical information from the general public or other commonwealth parties and drafts responses for review by an attorney.

• Participates in legal practice meetings pertaining to legal research and analysis or the development of case management policies and procedures.

• Issues, evaluates, monitors, and recommends transaction policies and procedures to ensure that office transaction and procurement operations are handled in an efficient and effective manner.

• Conducts pre-review of contracts and purchase orders to ensure necessary documents are prepared and available for execution before forwarding to the attorney.

• Prepares procurement solicitations; advises on status of spending plans and suggests resolutions of various budgetary issues as they may arise; researches and advises on procurement issues; and completes necessary actions for service requisitions.

• Assists with gathering necessary information to track and prepare cost analyses and bill summaries for proposed legislation, legal actions, or case settlements.

• Acts as a resource to attorneys, interns, paralegals, legal analysts, and law clerks regarding legal terminology, resources, and legal research tools such as Westlaw or Lexis.

• Participates on a project team to update and modify information technology databases and workflows to better support overall case management or the information needs of complex and sensitive cases.

• Drafts, reviews, and analyzes agreements; and prepares procurement solicitations and related documents.

• Performs the full range of supervisory duties.

• An employee in this job may participate in the performance of subordinates’ work consistent with operational or organizational requirements.

• Performs related work as required.

ENTRY LEVEL KNOWLEDGES, SKILLS, AND ABILITIES:

• Knowledge of legal terminology, principles, systems, and processes.

• Knowledge of legal research principles, methodology, and tools.

• Knowledge of legal codes, court procedures, precedents, government regulations, executive orders, and the political process.

• Knowledge of the use and functionality of Microsoft Office Suite software.

• Ability to understand and interpret constitutional provisions, statutes, administrative regulations, and precedents.

• Ability to gather, analyze, and interpret legal data.

• Ability to draft, prepare, and interpret legal documents.

• Ability to communicate effectively orally.

• Ability to communicate effectively in writing.

• Ability to establish and maintain effective working relationships.

FULL PERFORMANCE KNOWLEDGES, SKILLS, AND ABILITIES: (NOTE: These are expected of an employee performing the work of this job at the full performance level. These may not be used for merit system evaluation or examination purposes and are not position-specific performance standards.)

• Knowledge of the assigned agency’s program operations and the relevant state and federal laws, policies, and procedures that pertain to those operations.

• Ability to draw valid legal conclusions from a variety of source documents as a basis for recommending legal action.

• Ability to evaluate and relate legal analysis findings to the issue in question.

MINIMUM EXPERIENCE AND TRAINING: (NOTE: Based on the Entry Level Knowledges, Skills, and Abilities)

• A Juris Doctor degree from an American Bar Association accredited law school;

or

• Three years of professional experience in legal research and analysis, and a bachelor’s degree;

or

• Five years of legal research and analysis experience including three years at the professional level, and an associate’s degree;

or

• An equivalent combination of experience and training which includes two years of professional experience in legal research and analysis.