Human Resource Services
Alameda Skyline

Supervising Child Support Attorney

Recruitment #18-3160-01

Introduction

THIS IS A NEW ASSEMBLED EXAMINATION. The eligible list resulting from this examination will cancel any existing list and may last approximately one year, but can be extended.

Applications must be in the possession of the Human Resource Services Department by 5:00 p.m. on the Last Day for Filing. Applications will only be accepted on-line

Click here to view the Supervising Child Support Attorney Recruitment Brochure.

DESCRIPTION

THE DEPARTMENT OF CHILD SUPPORT SERVICES (DCSS)
The Alameda County Department of Child Support Services believes that all parents should be fully engaged in supporting the wellbeing of their children. To meet this vision, the Department is committed to serving the children and families of Alameda County in ways that are innovative, responsive, efficient, compassionate and in tune with the rich diversity of our community. 

Our customers are mothers, fathers, caregivers, children, community partners and the residents of Alameda County. The Department’s core business is to encourage responsible parenting, family self-sufficiency and child wellbeing by locating parents, establishing paternity, obtaining and modifying support obligations and assisting with the collection of court ordered support. To carry out this mission, the Department employs approximately 188 dedicated and talented people who leverage their skills and passion for public service to meet customer needs.  By coordinating efforts and collaborating with community partners, the Department collects and distributes over $80 million to 33,000 families of Alameda County.

The Department’s culture and business operations are shaped by the following key principles contained in the strategic plan:
  • Family Focused: Partner with families to eliminate barriers to providing reliable child support to their children.
  • Dynamic Workforce: Attract, retain, and develop a highly skilled and engaged workforce.
  • Operational Excellence: Focus on the highest level of performance and efficiency in our service delivery.
  • Innovation: Meet the needs of families through creative solutions.
  • Collaboration: Partner with the community to create an ecosystem of support services.

THE POSITION
The Supervising Child Support Attorney is a single position class, responsible for planning, organizing, management and supervision of the legal division which includes attorney and support staff personnel performing professional legal work in the Department of Child Support Services. The incumbent serves in a consultative role to the Department Director, is a member of the department’s Executive Team, and is responsible for work involving civil actions to establish, modify and enforce child support obligations, providing legal representation for the most complex and sensitive cases requiring the highest level of expertise, developing and implementing objectives, goals, policies and procedures, and serving as an expert in civil litigation, and may serve as the attorney of record.

The Department is located within the Hacienda Business Park in Pleasanton, CA and services the entire Alameda County area. 

IDEAL CANDIDATE
In addition to meeting the minimum qualifications stated below, the ideal candidate will have demonstrated expertise and knowledge of the law, regulations, codes and ordinances related to child support enforcement and the child support program, and will:

  • Display and promote high standards of ethical conduct and behaviors consistent with the agency and governmental standards;
  • Be a dedicated strategic partner, team member and change agent who works cooperatively with others and strives to accomplish established work goals;
  • Identify key issues and relationships relevant to committing to and achieving long range goals;
  • Develop and monitor processes and organize resources to achieve desired results for the legal division and the department;
  • Possess an energetic and tenacious achievement orientation;
  • Exhibit leadership qualities that elicit the trust of others;
  • Establish and provide ongoing support of knowledge management processes and tools in order to ensure continued organizational viability and progress toward vision;
  • Understand and apply knowledge of, and promote compliance with, appropriate statutes, regulations, policies and procedures;
  • Possess exceptional written, verbal and interpersonal communication skills, focused on developing an environment where a diverse team can work cohesively; clearly convey information and ideas that engages others and improves understanding;
  • Work effectively with others to leverage diverse capabilities, insights, and ideas of all individuals; 
  • Train and mentor subordinate attorneys and support staff, creating opportunities for skill enhancement and professional development;
  • Focus and guide others in accomplishing work objectives;
  • Seek, collect and synthesize information from a variety of stakeholders and sources in an objective, unbiased manner to reach a conclusion, goal or judgement; and
  • Keep pace with current developments and trends in areas of expertise related to the child support program.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

Experience:

The equivalent of four years of full time experience as an attorney, preferably in the area of child support enforcement within a governmental child support agency.  

License:  

Current active membership and good standing with the State Bar of California.

Special Requirement:

A thorough pre-employment background investigation, including fingerprinting will be conducted for all candidates who have accepted a conditional offer of employment to ensure suitability for Child Support related work.  A felony conviction may be disqualifying.

Ability and willingness to travel to locations outside of the assigned office to perform necessary legal services or to participate in child support related activities.

NOTE:  The Civil Service Commission may modify the above Minimum Qualifications in the announcement of an examination.

KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS

The most suitably qualified candidates will possess the following competencies:

Knowledge of:
  • Detailed provisions of the law, regulations, codes and ordinances related to child support enforcement and programs. 
  • Developing and implementing policies and procedures.
  • Principles of staff supervision and training.
  • Trial and courtroom procedures and practices. 
  • Standard legal office practices and procedures.
  • Ethical and professional standards of conduct.
  • Current technology and trends in the professions.
  • Microsoft Office Suite (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, etc.)
Ability to:
  • Plan, organize, direct, coordinate and evaluate the work of subordinates, including Child Support Attorney staff.
  • Manage multiple priorities and maintain flexibility.
  • Train newly assigned attorney and other support staff.
  • Independently analyze workflow, employee performance, and child support legal and investigative issues, make recommendations and take effective action to improve divisional and/or program effectiveness.
  • Align divisional activities with program goals and objectives. 
  • Prepare and present statement of fact, law and argument clearly and logically, orally and in writing.
  • Research, analyze, and apply legal principles, facts, evidence, and precedents to complex child support law and child support issues. 
  • Understand, accept differences and work effectively with diverse groups.
  • Prepare and maintain clear, concise, and comprehensive records, reports and correspondence.
  • Exercise appropriate judgement in responding to questions releasing information; analyzing and projecting consequences of decision and/or recommendations.
  • Provide prompt, efficient and responsive service in a fast-paced environment.
  • Communicate effectively and exercise a high degree of professionalism and interpersonal sensitivity in interactions with others.
  • Establish and maintain effective working relationships.
  • Effectively use a variety of proprietary and non-proprietary computer applications including Windows, MS Office and others related to the child support programs.

EXAMINATION COMPONENTS

The examination will consist of the following steps: A review of candidates' applications to verify possession of minimum requirements. Those candidates who possess the minimum requirements for the class will move on to the next step in the examination process; an oral interview which will be weighted as 100% of the candidate's final examination score. The oral interview may contain situational exercises. CANDIDATES MUST ATTAIN A QUALIFYING RATING ON EACH PORTION OF THIS EXAMINATION. We reserve the right to make changes to the announced examination components.

Alameda County utilizes a Civil Service Selection System founded on merit. Such a system is competitive and based on broad recruitment efforts and equal opportunity for qualified applicants to test in an examination process designed to determine the qualifications, fitness and ability of competitors to perform duties of the vacant position. Many of our recruitments are targeted and specific to the needs of a current vacant position, in which case, the eligible list may be exclusively used for that current vacant position. Other recruitments may be more broadly used for both current and future vacancies, or for other alternate jobs with comparable scopes of work.

To learn more about our recruitment and selection process, please visit the “What You Need to Know” section of our website, www.acgov.org/hrs.

Selection Plan

Applicants will be informed via email with reasonable notice in advance of any examination process which will require their attendance. The following dates are tentative and subject to change based on the needs of the Agency.

TENTATIVE SELECTION PLAN

Deadline for Filing:                                                                            5:00PM, Monday, March 4, 2019
Review of Minimum Qualifications:                                                              Monday, March 11, 2019
Panel Interviews*:                                                                                         Week of March 25, 2019

                    
*In addition to establishing an eligible list, the oral interview may serve as the final selection interview for the immediate vacancy.

Alameda County and the Human Resource Services Department will make reasonable efforts in the examination and/or selection process to accommodate qualified individuals with disabilities and/or medical conditions in accordance/compliance with the State Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA), Federal Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Alameda County’s Reasonable Accommodation Policy and applicable statutes. To request an accommodation due to a disability/medical condition during this or other phases of the examination/selection process, please contact the assigned Human Resources Representative listed on the job announcement before the last date of filing. Alameda County requires applicants to provide supporting documentation to substantiate a request for reasonable accommodation. In order to qualify for a reasonable accommodation, applicants must have a disability/medical condition pursuant to the ADA, FEHA and applicable statutes.

For more information regarding our Reasonable Accommodation procedures, please visit our website, www.acgov.org/hrs.

BENEFITS

Alameda County offers a comprehensive and competitive benefits package that affords wide-ranging health care options to meet the different needs of a diverse workforce and their families. We also sponsor many different employee discount, fitness and health screening programs focused on overall well being.  These benefits include but are not limited to*:

For your Health & Well-Being

  • Medical – HMO & PPO Plans
  • Dental – HMO & PPO Plans
  • Vision or Vision Reimbursement
  • Share the Savings
  • Basic Life Insurance 
  • Supplemental Life Insurance (with optional dependent coverage for eligible employees)
  • Accidental Death and Dismemberment Insurance 
  • County Allowance Credit
  • Flexible Spending Accounts - Health FSA, Dependent Care and Adoption Assistance
  • Short-Term Disability Insurance
  • Long-Term Disability Insurance
  • Voluntary Benefits - Accident Insurance, Critical Illness, Hospital Indemnity and Legal Services
  • Employee Assistance Program

For your Financial Future

  • Retirement Plan - (Defined Benefit Pension Plan)
  • Deferred Compensation Plan (457 Plan or Roth Plan)

For your Work/Life Balance

  • 11 paid holidays
  • Floating Holidays
  • Vacation and sick leave accrual
  • Vacation purchase program
  • Management Paid Leave**
  • Catastrophic Sick Leave
  • Employee Mortgage Loan Program
  • Group Auto/Home Insurance
  • Pet Insurance
  • Commuter Benefits Program
  • Guaranteed Ride Home
  • Employee Wellness Program (e.g. At Work Fitness, Incentive Based Programs, Gym Membership Discounts)
  • Employee Discount Program (e.g. theme parks, cell phone, etc.)
  • Child Care Resources
  • 1st United Services Credit Union 

*Eligibility is determined by Alameda County and offerings may vary by collective bargaining agreement.  This provides a brief summary of the benefits offered and can be subject to change.

** Non-exempt management employees are entitled to up to three days of management paid leave. Exempt management employees are entitled to up to seven days of management paid leave.

Conclusion

All notices related to County recruitments for which you have applied will be sent/delivered via email. Please add @acgov.org and alamedacountyHR@acgov.org as accepted addresses to any email blocking or spam filtering program you may use. If you do not do this, your email blocking or spam filtering program may block receipt of the notices regarding your application for recruitments. You are also strongly advised to regularly log into your County of Alameda online application account to check for notices that may have been sent to you. All email notices that will be sent to you will also be kept in your personal online application account. You will be able to view all of your notices in your online application account by clicking on the "My applications" button on the Current Job Openings page.  

Please take the steps recommended above to ensure you do not miss any notices about a recruitment for which you have applied. The County of Alameda is not responsible for notices that are not read, received or accessed by any applicant for a County recruitment.

NOTE: All notices are generated through an automated email notification system. Replies to the email box alamedacountyHR@acgov.org are routed to an unmonitored mailbox. All notices are generated through an automated email notification system. Replies to the email box are routed to an unmonitored mailbox. If you have questions please go to our website at www.acgov.org/hrs. You may also contact the Human Resources Analyst listed on the job announcement for the recruitment for which you have applied.

Lindsay Christopher, Human Resources Analyst
Human Resource Services, County of Alameda
510-272-6393
Lindsay.christopher@acgov.org

Alameda County is an Equal Opportunity Employer