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, th...
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