Chief Legal Officer

What You'll Do:

Leadership : Oversees the activities of the Offices of the Chief Legal Officer, Reporter, the Clerk, and Legal Resources, ensuring alignment with the Court's mission, statutory obligations, and operational priorities. Fosters collaboration and clear communication to ensure strategies and operations are aligned under a unified legal and administrative strategy. Coordinates efforts to drive innovation, efficiency, and consistency, enabling the Court to advance priorities.

Organizational Goals: Develops and executes strategic goals, values, and policies across offices in alignment with the Court's mission. Provides high-level leadership for court-wide initiatives. Supports the Chief Justice and Administrative Director in implementing organizational change, fostering innovation, and ensuring policy compliance across relevant functions. Provides leadership for legal, legislative, and policy matters. Assists the Chief Justice and Administrative Director in planning and reviewing non-judicial operations. Coordinates activities with other agencies and court divisions. Conducts special projects assigned by the Chief Justice, Administrative Director, or Deputy Administrative Directors.

Office Management: Plans, prioritizes, directs, and oversees activities of the Office of Chief Legal Officer, including legal, legislative, and policy activities. Develops and implements the Office of Chief Legal Officer's budget.

Legal Advice: Provides legal advice to the Chief Justice, Justices, Administrative Director, Deputy Administrative Directors, managers, supervisors, and employees to ensure compliance with laws, rules, and regulations. Consults with managers and supervisors on various programs, policies, and regulations. Addresses legal issues impacting the Court or Ohio judicial branch by researching statutes, judicial decisions, and rules; drafting advisory opinions; and preparing legal memoranda and reports.

Public Records & Policy: Oversee public records requests and manage public records policies and procedures across the offices of the Supreme Court of Ohio.

Contract & Agreement Management: Reviews, prepares, and coordinates intergovernmental agreements, grant agreements, and contracts; advises staff on legal risks, terms, and conditions. Provides reference materials and training for judges and judicial branch employees.

Staff Supervisory Responsibilities

This position directly supervises the Reporter of Decisions; Clerk of the Court; Director, Legal Resources; Deputy Chief Legal Officer, Legal and Government Affairs; Deputy Chief Legal Officer, Policy and Rulemaking; and Judicial Assignment Analyst. As a supervisor, this position is responsible for overseeing recruitment and onboarding processes, providing coaching and feedback to team members, managing performance issues, conducting performance evaluations, and fostering a collaborative and high-performance work environment to ensure team success.

At the State of Ohio, we take care of the team that cares for Ohioans. We provide a variety of quality, competitive benefits to eligible full-time and part-time employees*. For a list of all the State of Ohio Benefits, visit our Total Rewards website ! Our benefits package includes:

• Medical Coverage
• Free Dental, Vision and Basic Life Insurance premiums after completion of eligibility period
• Paid time off, including vacation, personal, sick leave and 11 paid holidays per year
• Childbirth, Adoption, and Foster Care leave
• Education and Development Opportunities (Employee Development Funds, Public Service Loan Forgiveness, and more)
• Public Retirement Systems ( such as OPERS, STRS, SERS, and HPRS ) & Optional Deferred Compensation ( Ohio Deferred Compensation )

*Benefits eligibility is dependent on a number of factors. The Agency Contact listed above will be able to provide specific benefits information for this position.

Qualifications

What we're looking for:

Juris Doctor degree from an accredited law school and an active Ohio law license in good standing or ability to obtain within 6 months of employment. At all times during employment with the Court, must be an attorney properly admitted to the practice of law in Ohio and be in good standing. Minimum of eight (8) years of increasingly responsible broad based legal experience as a bar licensed attorney. At least five (5) years of extensive and substantial management responsibility is preferred.