Senior Public Defender
Under the direction of the Public Defender, the Senior Public Defender shall maintain a caseload of high and low severity felony and misdemeanor cases. The Senior Public Defender shall meet all constitutional and legislative requirements as they pertain to the representation of indigent and partially indigent adult criminal offenders.
ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:
• Promoting and protecting the expressed interest of the client at all times, represents indigent and partially indigent adult criminal offenders at arraignments, pretrial conferences, pretrial motions, probable cause conferences, preliminary examinations, bench trials, jury trials, sentencings, and probation violation hearings.
• Prepares for court appearances by conducting interviews with witnesses, law enforcement personal and any other applicable entity; conducts legal research; analyzes evidence; drafts briefs; reviews exhibits, reports and statements; engages in negotiations with the Prosecutor and clients; presents evidence, calls/examines witnesses, argues motions, presents opening statements and closing arguments.
• Interacts with other internal departments, police agencies, private investigators, private attorneys, social agencies and the general public.
• Must possess effective communication and interpersonal skills; the ability to understand and interrupt constructional provisions, statues, administrative regulations and precedents and procedures; the ability to analyze facts, evidence and precedents and arrive at logical interpretation; set forth findings of fact and conclusions in written legal form.
• Keeps informed of legal precedents and relevant legislation by reading professional journals, court rulings, conferring with legislators and attending meetings, seminars and conferences.
• Attend a minimum of twelve (12) CLE hours annually.
• Performs other duties as assigned.
SUPERVISION RECEIVED:
Supervision is exercised directly by the Public Defender or designee.
SUPERVISORY RESPONSIBILITIES:
N/A
EXPERIENCE, SKILLS, EDUCATION:
• Juris Doctorate degree with a Certificate of Admittance to the State Bar as evidence of continued good professional standing and authority to practice law throughout the State of Michigan.
• A minimum of five (5) years’ experience in the practice of criminal law.
• Knowledge of criminal law, the judicial system, court practices and procedures.
• Has served as counsel or co- counsel in misdemeanor and felony cases, and handled a significant portion of the trial in a minimum of four (4) criminal cases that have been submitted to a jury.
• A significant record of consistently high quality criminal trial court representation and the ability to handle a high severity misdemeanor or low severity felony case.
• The selected candidate shall maintain full compliance with all standards adopted by the MIDC and LARA.
• Ability to communicate effectively and efficiently with management, co-workers and clients; obtain and communicate accurate information; apply common sense understanding to complex instructions and respond accordingly; communicate complex ideas through graphs, charts, presentations, reports or other professional correspondence.
ESSENTIAL ABILITIES FOR ALL ST. CLAIR COUNTY JOB CLASSIFICATIONS:
• Ability to demonstrate predictable, reliable, and timely attendance.
• Ability to read, write & communicate in English; follow written and verbal instruction and understand basic mathematics and figure checking.
• Ability to interpret and apply procedures, rules, technical information, instructions, manuals to complete tasks accurately and on schedule.
• Ability to learn from directions, observations, and mistakes; and apply procedures using good judgement.
• Ability to use discretion and maintain sensitive and confidential information.
• Ability to work independently or part of a team; ability to interact appropriately with others such as County officials, employees, vendors and the general public.
• Ability to work under supervision, receiving instructions/feedback, coaching/counseling and/or action/discipline.
• Adaptability to change in the work environment, managing competing demands and ability to deal with frequent changes, delays or unexpected events.
• Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services including customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction
• Proficient skills using Microsoft Office programs including, but not limited to: Word, Excel, Access, and Outlook as required. Proficiency may be tested.
CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT:
• Prior to starting employment, the candidate must complete a satisfactory background check. The background check is understood to encompass all forms of pre-employment screening, including but not limited to: drug screen, physical, criminal background, driving record, sex offender registry, education, training and licensing verification, employment history, credit check, and professional and personal references.
• Possess a valid State of Michigan Operator’s License and maintain eligibility to drive as per the County’s vehicle policy throughout employment in this position.
• The Senior Public Defender shall not participate in any private practice of law.
PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS AND WORKING CONDITIONS:
The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job with or without accommodations. Reasonable accommodations will be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.
While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to:
• Speak to others to convey information effectively.
• Read, interpret and understand procedures, rules, technical information, instructions and manuals.
• Hear and understand information presented through spoken words and sentences.
• Specific vision requirement includes close vision, distance vision, color and depth perception.
• Use hands to operate a computer, handle materials and operate equipment.
• Push or pull carts, reach with hands and arms forward, above and below shoulder level.
• Lift, move or carry objects, equipment and supplies weighing up to 25 pounds.
• Sit, bend, stoop, crouch, crawl and kneel in an ergonomically correct manner.
• Stand and walk, climb stairs.
• Normal office hours are from 8:00 a.m. through 4:30 p.m.
• Generally works in a normal office environment.
• The noise level in the work environment is moderate with many interruptions.