Assistant General Counsel/FOIA Consultant/Ethics Officer

Position Overview

The Illinois Department of Insurance seeks an organized, professional, ethically-focused, and results-oriented individual to serve as Assistant General Counsel/FOIA Consultant/Agency Ethics Officer. The Assistant General Counsel/FOIA Consultant/Agency Ethics Officer engages in specialized legal work as required by management staff. This position plans, directs, and conducts extensive and complex research into various legal and administrative matters pertaining to individuals and entities over which the Department has regulatory jurisdiction and other related legal issues. This position especially provides support and legal guidance for the Department’s operations under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and Open Meetings Act (OMA), including interpretation and implementation of statutes, regulations, and case law affecting requests for public records and the requirements for public meetings. This position also advises management and staff of research findings, conclusions, and recommendations for interpreting and implementing the State Officials and Employees Ethics Act, Illinois Governmental Ethics Act, the State Records Act, ethics-related Executive Orders, ex parte communications requirements, human resources and labor relations matters, and the Department’s ethics policies and procedures. The ideal candidate for this position will have excellent legal and organizational skills with a focus on organizational self-compliance mechanisms, as well as sound judgment in communicating discreetly. We invite all qualified candidates to apply to join our innovative team. We invite all qualified candidates to apply.

Essential Functions

• Under Administrative Direction, provides legal guidance and compliance assistance for the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), Open Meetings Act (OMA), and State Records Act functions of the Department.
• Serves as Agency Ethics Officer and assistant legal advisor or human resources and labor relations legal issues.
• Serves as Assistant General Counsel for management staff of the Department.
• Serves as assistant legal advisor for other statutory interpretations and compliance related functions of the Department.
• Drafts and evaluates bills, amendments, resolutions, procedures, rules, regulations, contracts, and agreements regarding statutes and administrative rules over which the Department has jurisdiction.
• Performs other duties as required or assigned which are reasonably within the scope of the duties enumerated above.

Minimum Qualifications

• Requires a law degree and license to practice law in Illinois.
• Requires three (3) years of progressively responsible administrative experience in the practice of law.

Preferred Qualifications

• Prefers at least three (3) years of professional experience with administrative law and regulatory or government programs, policies, or procedures.
• Prefers at least three (3) years of professional experience drafting legal opinions and conducting research involving the use of legal databases such as LexisNexis or Westlaw.
• Prefers at least two (2) years of professional experience with requests for production of or access to records held by the applicant’s client or employer that contain confidential, privileged, proprietary, or otherwise sensitive information, including but not limited to reviewing files to identify responsive records and to redact or segregate information protected by law or rule, especially any public records law such as the Freedom of Information Act.
• Prefers at least one (1) year of professional experience administering, overseeing, or providing legal advice on governmental or professional ethics requirements and protocols, especially under the State Officials and Employees Ethics Act, Illinois Governmental Ethics Act, or ethics-related Executive Orders.
• Prefers at least three (3) years of experience in roles requiring clear, professional, courteous, and effective oral and written communication of complex ideas with both attorneys and non-attorneys, including senior management or executives.
• Prefers at least two (2) years of experience with the principles of administration and management, including organization, controls, and techniques used in dealing with management and procedural problems.
• Prefers at least one (1) year of experience in a role requiring the applicant to facilitate, ensure, or enforce compliance either with any jurisdiction’s open meetings law or with similar, codified standards for disclosure, recordkeeping, and participation in live formal meetings of a private or public organization.
• Prefers at least one (1) year of experience in a role requiring the applicant to advise on legal questions relating to human resources or labor relations issues.
• Prefers ability to exercise sound judgment in communicating discreetly within an organization, both orally and in written email and paper communications, about confidential or sensitive matters.
• Prefers proficiency with Microsoft Office, including formatting and track changes in Microsoft Word, and proficiency with Adobe Acrobat, especially redacting PDFs.

Conditions of Employment

• Requires ability to travel in the performance of duties, with overnight stays as appropriate.
• Requires the ability to pass background check.
• Certain provisions of the revolving door restrictions contained in 5 ILCS 430/5-45 apply to this position. As a result, the employee should be aware that if offered non-State employment during state employment or within one year immediately after ending State employment, the employee shall, prior to accepting any such non-State employment offer, notify the Office of the Executive Inspector General for the Agencies of the Illinois Governor (OEIG) or may be subject to a fine.
• The conditions of employment listed here are incorporated and related to any of the job duties as listed in the job description.

About the Agency

The Department of Insurance (DOI) regulates the insurance market in the State of Illinois including, but not limited to, licensing and educating insurance agents, investigating Workers Compensation fraud, and examining the operations and finances of insurance companies domiciled in the state. We are committed to protecting consumers and regulating the insurance industry with innovation and efficiency. DOI has approximately 220 employees who are split between our Chicago and Springfield offices.

State of Illinois employees enjoy a robust benefit package, including:

• Health, Life, Vision, and Dental Insurance
• 13 Paid Holidays annually, 14 on even numbered years
• 10-25 days of Paid Vacation time annually - (10 days in year one of employment)
• 12 Paid Sick Days annually (sick days carry over from year to year)
• 12 Weeks Paid Maternity/Paternity Leave
• 3 Paid Personal Days annually
• Pension Plan
• Deferred Compensation Program and other pre-tax benefit programs (Medical/Daycare)
• Flexible work schedules may be available, dependent upon position
• Tuition Reimbursement Program and Federal Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program eligibility

Visit https://www2.illinois.gov/cms/benefits/Pages/default.aspx for more information about our benefits.