REQUEST FOR CITY COUNCIL ACTION
DATE: 03/06/2024
TO: Honorable Mayor and City Council Members
FROM: Legal & Risk Management Department
SUBJECT:
Title
ADDITION OF TWO (2) PART-TIME LAW CLERKS TO THE LEGAL & RISK MANAGEMENT DEPARTMENT EFFECTIVE FISCAL YEAR 2024
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
This staff report asks the City Council to approve the inclusion of two (2) additional part-time Law Clerks for the Legal & Risk Management Department during Fiscal Year 2024.
RECOMMENDED ACTION:
Recommended action
That the City Council
a. Authorize two (2) additional Law Clerks to the Legal & Risk Management Department part-time position list effective this fiscal year.
b. Authorize a budgetary transfer in the amount of $5,253 from General Government to the Legal & Risk Management Department’s operating budget within the General Fund 110 for the remainder of Fiscal Year 2024.
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BACKGROUND & HISTORY:
The LRM Department currently includes two part-time Law Clerk positions. The Law Clerks primarily provide research and document preparation assistance, which is extremely valuable to our department. In the past, we’ve been limited to law students from local area law schools for these positions. Since 2020, we’ve allowed our Law Clerks to work remotely and this flexibility has greatly opened our pool of Law Clerk applicants. In the last year or so, we’ve received applications from highly qualified and desirable law students from top schools outside of our local geographical area, some of whom live locally.
ANALYSIS:
The City is experiencing a significant uptick in the number, size, complexity, intensity, and risk of pending and anticipated lawsuits. Adding two additional part-time Law Clerks for a total of 4 allocated part-time Law Clerk positions who are skilled in research and writing would be extremely beneficial and a cost-efficient way to manage our current and growing case load.
As discussed above, due to the flexibility of remote positions, the quality of our applicant pool has grown, and we are receiving applications from highly qualified law students. The hiring season for Law Clerks at the major law firms around the country for early summer start dates is right now. To hire the higher quality applicants, we need to extend offers now, for positions with start dates in late May or early June. Adding two additional Law Clerks to our approved positions now will ensure that we will have four (4) highly qualified Law Clerks to start in late May or early June 2024.
FINANCIAL IMPACT:
Approval of the recommended actions will result in a budgetary transfer in the amount of $5,253 from General Government to the Legal & Risk Management Department’s operating budget within the General Fund 110 for the expenses required to cover the very low costs associated with a late May or early June 2024 start date for two (2) additional part-time Law Clerks. Future funding requests will be recommended through the annual budget process.
ENVIRONMENTAL ANALYSIS:
This action is exempt pursuant to Section 15061(b)(3) of the Guidelines for the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), which states that a project is exempt from CEQA if the activity is covered by the commonsense exemption that CEQA applies only to projects that have the potential for causing a significant effect on the environment. Where it can be seen with certainty that there is no possibility that the activity in question may have a significant effect on the environment, the activity is not subject to CEQA. This action asks that the City Council approve two additional positions in the LRM department staffing levels, and there is no possibility that adopting this recommendation will have a significant effect on the environment. Therefore, no environmental analysis is required.
PREPARED BY: MARIA CONZELMAN, SENIOR PARALEGAL/CLAIMS MANAGER
REVIEWED BY: DEAN DERLETH, CITY ATTORNEY/LRM DIRECTOR