Legal Officer for Legal Affairs (Practicing… at UTHealth… · Houston

UTHealth Houston is seeking an attorney to join its Office of Legal Affairs as a Legal Officer. The successful candidate will provide advice and counsel to a wide range of departments across the institution, perform research and analysis on a variety of legal issues, and draft, review, and edit routine legal documents and correspondence. This role will include overseeing the University’s public information program. Experience with employment, contract, health, higher education, or public law is preferred. Applicant must be licensed and in good standing with the State Bar of Texas. A J.D. from an accredited law school is required. Three years of previous experience are also required. This position will work a hybrid schedule out of our University Central Tower, located at Fannin and Pressler. The cadence will be three days a week in the office with two days remote.

What we do here changes the world. UTHealth Houston is Texas’s resource for healthcare education, innovation, scientific discovery, and excellence in patient care. That’s where you come in.

Once you join us, you won't want to leave. It’s because we reward our team for the excellent service they provide. Our total rewards package includes the benefits you’d expect from a top healthcare organization (benefits, insurance, etc.), plus:

• 100% paid medical premiums for our full-time employees
• Generous time off (holidays, preventative leave day, both vacation and sick time – all of which equate to around 37-38 days per year)
• The longer you stay, the more vacation you’ll accrue!
• Longevity Pay (Monthly payments after two years of service)
• Build your future with our awesome retirement/pension plan!

We take care of our employees! As a world-renowned institution, our employees’ wellbeing is important to us. We offer work/life services such as...

• Free financial and legal counseling
• Free mental health counseling services
• Gym membership discounts and access to wellness programs
• Other employee discounts, including entertainment, car rentals, cell phones, etc.
• Resources for child and elder care
• Plus many more!

Position Key Accountabilities:

• Drafts, reviews, and edits legal documents, correspondence and forms as required for institutional business purposes.
• Provides legal advice in connection with a wide variety of inquiries, including student disciplinary incidents, employment issues, internal investigations, institutional policy, transactions, and other issues relevant to a state institution of higher education.
• Performs research on a variety of issues involving higher education law, health law, and numerous other areas of law.
• Assists in managing and coordinating litigation, internal hearings, and regulatory investigations involving the institution and its employees; organizes and analyzes related information in conjunction with litigation counsel.
• Assists and/or handles the coordination and drafting of responses to external charges, claims, or demands.
• Serves as an information resource about pending, recent, or historical legislative actions and, as necessary, with the various institutional committees and managers.
• Identifies, compiles, organizes, and performs analysis of large quantities of information in response to discovery, subpoenas, open records requests, legislative requests, or other similar processes.
• Interacts and/or intervenes with The University of Texas System Office of General Counsel, the Texas Attorney General, and various private attorneys.
• Negotiates on behalf of the institution in mediation and other situations encountered in pursuit of resolving legal conflicts to which the institution is a party of interest.
• Attends depositions and other legal proceedings to assist/coordinate outside attorneys representing the institution.
• Conducts or participates in training on various legal issues.
• Performs other duties as assigned.

Certification/Skills:

• Proficiency in legal research via library or computer.
• Licensed Attorney by State Bar of Texas (SBOT) required

Minimum Education:

Doctorate Degree Juris Doctorate degree from an American Bar Association accredited law school required

Minimum Experience:

3 years of related experience preferably in health, education, employment or transactional law required

Physical Requirements:

Exerts up to 20 pounds of force occasionally and/or up to 10 pounds frequently and/or a negligible amount constantly to move objects.

Security Sensitive:

This position is a security-sensitive position pursuant to Texas Education Code §51.215 and Texas Government Code §411.094. To the extent that a position requires the holder to research, work on, or have access to critical infrastructure as defined in Texas Business and Commerce Code §117.001(2), the ability to maintain the security or integrity of the infrastructure is a minimum qualification to be hired for and to continue to be employed in that position. Personnel in such positions, and similarly situated state contractors, will be routinely reviewed to determine whether factors such as criminal history or ongoing connections to the government or political apparatus of a foreign adversary might prevent the applicant, employee, or contractor from maintaining the security or integrity of the infrastructure. A foreign adversary is a nation listed in 15 C.F.R. §791.4.

Residency Requirement:

Employees must permanently reside and work in the State of Texas.