Salary: $83,856.00 - $157,080.00 Annually
Location : Thurston County - Olympia, WA
Job Type: Exempt
Remote Employment: Flexible/Hybrid
Job Number:
Department: Attorney General's Office
Opening Date: 07/28/2026
Closing Date: 8/11/2026 11:59 PM Pacific

Description
The Agriculture and Health Division (AHD) of the Washington State Attorney General's Office seeks to fill an Assistant Attorney General (AAG) position.
The Agriculture and Health Division is a team of 16 Assistant Attorneys General and 9 professional staff located at the AGO's main Capitol Campus location in Olympia, WA. We have a wide range of backgrounds, value diversity, and work in a collegial, collaborative, and flexible environment.

Our work touches most aspects of Washingtonians' lives by helping to protect and promote public health and our state's economic, cultural, and environmental resources. Our primary client agencies are the Department of Health, the Department of Commerce, the Department of Agriculture, and the Department of Archaeology and Historic Preservation, and we advise numerous related boards and commissions. We provide client advice and litigate cases in a wide array of areas with real world impacts, including environmental and public health; licensing and oversight of health care providers and facilities; disease prevention and control; affordable housing and housing development; homelessness prevention and response; broadband expansion; renewable energy, climate change, and environmental justice; community and economic development; historic and archaeological resource preservation; and animal, commodity, food, and plant safety.
Duties
This position is for an attorney who will provide client advice and administrative and civil litigation services to various client agencies and programs. The mix of client programs for this position will depend on the division's and clients' needs and the successful candidate's experience and interests. This AAG will represent health care provider and facility licensing programs administered by the Department of Health and related boards and commissions and may provide counsel to programs within the Department of Agriculture. The AAG in this position may also represent programs within the Department of Archaeology and Historic Preservation, with the potential for the right candidate to eventually take on a lead counsel role for the agency.

AHD has a wide variety of client programs, and there are regular opportunities to change assignments to explore new areas and develop new skills. The successful candidate will work directly with their agency clients from the start, with extensive support from their supervisors and colleagues.

The position will advise clients on common agency issues related to statutory and regulatory authority, legislation, rulemaking, public records, Open Public Meetings Act, and other matters. Examples of client advice issues include:

• Drafting agency request legislation to provide the Secretary of Health authority to issue prescriptions and recommendations for vaccines.
• Drafting and advising on implementation of rules requiring hospitals to provide charity care to indigent patients.
• Advising a health care profession commission on what care their licensees may provide via telehealth.
• Establishing a safe medication return program to ensure responsible disposal of potentially harmful prescription drugs.
• Implementing a newly created Compost Reimbursement Program.
• Advising on an agency's authority to enter private property for the control of harmful pests.

The position will engage in administrative litigation primarily before the Department of Health's Adjudicative Services Unit, with occasional appeals to state courts, and, less commonly, defend agencies against original actions in state and federal courts. Litigation examples include:

• Taking enforcement action to revoke the license of a mental health counselor who subjects a patient to sexual misconduct.
• Defending against a challenge to the Department of Health's guidance interpreting the law to require hospitals to provide charity care regardless of a patient's state of residence.
• Filing an action in superior court to enforce the Department of Health's order revoking a hotel's transient accommodation license for unsanitary conditions.
• Filing an administrative action to revoke a pesticide applicator's license for spraying harmful pesticides on farmworkers.
• Initiating enforcement action to halt unpermitted development on a protected archaeological site.

Qualifications
In addition to meeting the requirements to serve as an Assistant Attorney General, the successful candidate will have the following qualifications and characteristics:

• Skills: Strong analytical, research, and writing skills;
• Effective Communicator: Ability to communicate well both verbally and in writing in a manner that is respectful of a variety of audiences and views, and demonstrates good listening skills;
• Working Relationships: Ability to maintain productive working relationships within the division and with clients and stakeholders, helping to identify and resolve problems;
• Well-organized: Ability to balance and prioritize a mixed workload to provide timely client services and meet deadlines; and
• Intellectual curiosity: Willingness to learn complex concepts, capacity to thrive in an environment of highly varied work where colleagues expect to share issues, strategies, and legal theories.

See Position Description section for qualifications that are desired but not required.

Applicants must have graduated from a law school accredited by the ABA or completed the WSBA's Rule 6 Law Clerk Program; and be licensed to practice law in Washington state. (Applicants who meet the other stated qualifications and are actively pursuing admission by motion will also be considered.) The AGO seeks applicants who are committed to public service as demonstrated by an applicant's background, talents, attitude, and enthusiasm for public law practice.
Supplemental Information
This Assistant Attorney General position is represented by the Association of Washington Assistant Attorneys General (AWAAG) / Washington Federation of State Employees (WFSE) AFSCME Council 28, AFL-CIO. The AAG salary for these positions will be set between $83,856 and $157,080. The exact amount is set in accordance with Appendix B of the AWAAG CBA. A competitive state benefits package is also offered which includes a choice of medical/dental insurance plans, retirement, life and basic long-term disability insurance. In addition, there are non-financial benefits that include working in a collaborative and supportive work environment where professional development and work-life balance are highly valued. The health, safety and professional satisfaction of all AGO staff and volunteers is critical to fulfilling the mission of the AGO to provide exceptional legal services. Complementing and fostering this goal is a long-standing commitment to environmental stewardship, as evidenced in the AGO's environmental policies

Interested applicants must apply by hitting the "apply" button above. In addition to the on-line application, one must upload, via the system, preferably as PDFs:

• A letter of interest;
• Resume;
• Law school transcript (unofficial copy is acceptable) with date law degree was conferred; and
• Writing sample (10 pages or less).

If you have questions about these positions and/or want to learn more about it before applying, please contact Division Chief Eric Sonju at [email protected] or 360-664-2475.
The Washington State Office of the Attorney General does not use the E-Verify system; therefore, we are not eligible to extend STEM Optional Practical Training (OPT). For more information, please visit www.uscis.gov.