Senior Assistant City Attorney (Public Utilities)

Salary: $122,531.00 - $204,625.00 Annually
Location : City Hall, 900 East Broad Street, Richmond, VA
Job Type: Full-Time
Job Number:
Department: City Attorney
Opening Date: 09/09/2026
Closing Date: Continuous

This is an EXCITING time to Join the City of Richmond! We are committed to nurturing talent, fostering growth opportunities, and building strong connections within our workforce. As we continue to make strides to becoming the employer of choice, we are thrilled about the below employee benefit enhancements:

• Virginia Retirement System (VRS)
• Language Incentive
• Referral Bonus
• Tuition Assistance Program

Description
The Office of the City Attorney is seeking a full-time, permanent Senior Assistant City Attorney for its Operations and Development Division, in representation of the City's Department of Public Utilities. The Department's legal support needs are extensive and broad, with an emphasis on regulatory compliance, real property management, transactional matters, and customer service. The Department manages five City utilities: water, wastewater, stormwater, gas, and electric.
This position is Unclassified and serves at the will of the Appointing Authority.
**The pay range for this position is $150,000.00 - $165,000.00 annually **
**The selected candidate's salary will be based on experience and qualifications illustrated in the completed application along with the required attachments.**
Duties include but are not limited to
This position provides legal services to the City. Work will focus primarily on the water utilities and may include the following: researching legal issues; providing legal advice and direction; reviewing, drafting, and negotiating transactional documents; drafting ordinances; interpreting laws, rules, and regulations; and providing oversight and direction to paralegal and legal secretarial staff.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:

• Considerable knowledge of area of focus to include regulatory, environmental, local government, and real estate law, familiarity with relevant regulatory and administrative law processes related to area of focus
• Standard office equipment such as computer, telephone, etc., and electronic databases and related software applications such as Microsoft Office Suite, Lexis, Legal Files, etc.
• Skilled in arguing persuasively based on laws and facts, clear and concise written communication, communicating effectively with various internal and external departments, conducting effective meetings, learning new subject matters quickly and thoroughly, making modifications to program procedures as needed
• Skilled at client communication and management, with an emphasis on solutions-oriented practice, risk analysis, and understanding of client practical and operational needs and concerns
• Able to manage high-volume workload for a public utility client, adhere to highest standards of ethics and professionalism, and supervise paraprofessional staff, including scheduling, setting goals, assigning work, etc.

Qualifications, Special Certifications and Licenses

Minimum Qualifications:

• Juris Doctorate
• Seven (7) years of progressively responsible legal experience in environmental law or public utilities-related law is highly preferred; Four (4) years of progressively responsible legal experience.
• An equivalent combination of training and experience (as approved by the department) may be used to meet the minimum qualifications of the classification

Licensing, Certifications, and other Special Requirements:

• Admission to the Virginia State Bar
• Licensed to practice law in Virginia
• Twelve hours of continuing legal education annually
• Compliance with additional requirements that may be established by the City of Richmond

**Special Required Documents**

• Completed Online Application, Résumé, and a writing sample.
• Please attach a résumé and writing sample to the online application.

To be considered, candidates must submit an online application through the City of Richmond's Department of Human Resources website atwww.RVA.gov. The position will remain open until filled. If you have any difficulty attaching the required résumé or writing sample online, please mail your résumé and writing sample to:
Laura Drewry

City Attorney

900 E. Broad Street, Suite 400

Richmond, Virginia 23219

ENVIRONMENTAL HAZARDS: Working conditions may include exposure to travel to other locations within the City of Richmond as well as outside of the City of Richmond; exposure to hazardous physical conditions such as mechanical parts, electrical currents, vibrations, etc.; atmospheric conditions such as fumes, odors, dusts, gases, and poor ventilation; inadequate lighting; intense noise; and environmental hazards such as disruptive people, imminent danger, and a threatening environment.

PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS AND WORKING ENVIRONMENT: Due to the nature of work assignments, incumbents must be able to perform detailed work on multiple, concurrent tasks, with frequent interruptions and under time constraint. The essential duties of this classification may require the ability to regularly walk, finger, talk, hear, perform repetitive motions, and see; frequently stand, walk, and pull; and occasionally lift. The working conditions may not include any environmental hazards. In terms of the physical strength to perform the essential duties, this classification is considered to be light work, exerting up to 20 pounds of force occasionally, up to 10 pounds of force frequently, and a negligible amount of force constantly to move objects.
01

10-point compensable veteran. You must have an existing compensable service-connected disability of 10 percent or more. Other 10-point veteran include disabled veteran or a veteran who was awarded the Purple Heart for wound or injuries received in action, veteran's widow or widower who has not remarried, wife or husband of a veteran who has a service-connected disability, widowed, divorced or separated mother of an ex-service son or daughter who died in action, or who is totally and permanently disabled. Do any of these apply?

• Yes
• No

02

5-point veteran's must have been discharged under honorable conditions and had one of the following:Active duty in the Armed Forces of the United States, in a war, or during the period 4/28/52-7/1/55 or active duty for more than 180 consecutive days other than for training, any part of which occurred during the period beginning 2/1/55 and 10/14/76 or active duty during the Gulf War sometime between 8/2/90 - 1/2/92 or active duty in a campaign or expedition for which a campaign badge has been authorized or active duty for which more than 180 consecutive days other than for training, any part of which occurred during the period beginning 9/11/2001 and ending on the date prescribed by the Presidential proclamation or by the law as the last date of operation Iraqi Freedom. Do any of these apply?

• Yes
• No

03

Are you licensed to practice law in the Commonwealth of Virginia?

• Yes
• No

04

Which best describes your years practicing law in the State of Virginia?

• Less than four years of experience
• Four to six years of experience
• Seven or more years of experience
• No experience practicing law in the State of Virginia

05

Which best describes your years of experience working with a legal file management system?

• Less than two years of experience
• Two to five years of experience
• More than five years of experience
• No experience with legal file management systems

06

Which best describes your skill level with Microsoft Office?

• Proficient use of Microsoft Office
• Intermediate use of Microsoft Office
• Advance use of Microsoft Office
• No experience with Microsoft Office

07

Briefly describe how your education, training, and experience prepared you for this opportunity?
08

Do you have seven (7) years or more progressively responsible legal experience in environmental law or public utilities-related law?

• Yes
• No

Required Question