Case Management Chief I

Case Management Chief

The Case Management Chief is responsible for overseeing a team of assistant public defenders assigned to a specific individual unit or judge. As liaison with the judge, and assistant to the unit chief, this individual is responsible for managing cases which may include: case assignments, preliminary hearings, detention hearings, pretrial motions, probation/parole violation hearings, trials, permanency, adjudicatory, dispositional or emergency hearings and other types of criminal, delinquent or dependency matters. This individual drafts initial requests for pretrial motions, investigations, and social service referrals to represent the client, if applicable, and monitors attorney performance and provides training, counseling and mentoring as needed as an assistant to the Unit Chief. The Case Management Chief is also expected to handle the most serious, complicated or high-profile cases or client matters assigned to the court or unit.

Adult Trial Unit and Juvenile Delinquency Unit:

• Take inventory of new cases, assigning cases to most qualified attorney in the team for most effective representation.
• Drafts initial pretrial motions, and requests initial investigation, social service referrals, reviews caseloads and productivity of caseloads with individual attorneys, and acts as liaison with individually assigned court judge for entire team during day-to-day operations of that court.
• Review case files, interview clients and other pertinent witnesses.
• Make in-depth referrals to the investigations and social services units.
• Provide supervision and support to the assistant public defenders assigned to their team and will participate in annual evaluations as required.
• Perform additional duties as specified by the Chief Public Defender.

Child Advocacy/Dependency Unit:

• The Case Management Chief is responsible for managing the Orphan's Court schedule which runs parallel to the Juvenile Court schedule and, providing the rest of the team with updates on appellate case law, and working collaboratively with the District Attorney's Office in Child Abuse Prosecutions and with the Solicitors office in Child Abuse Hearings and Termination of Parental Rights Trials.
• The Case Management Chief is responsible for vertical representation of clients in Termination of Parental Rights matters in the Orphan's Court, complex child abuse cases, and complex dependency matters and representation of multiple clients that are victims of child abuse and/or neglect and possibly subject to Termination of Parental Rights proceedings.

Qualification Requirements:

• Education and Credentials • Juris doctorate from an ABA accredited law school. • Active bar license in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
• Experience and Skills • Minimum of five years relevant legal experience preferred. • Must have relevant trial experience, having tried multiple cases to verdict. • Must be knowledgeable of the applicable law and the justice and/or family court system. • Must have excellent communication (oral and written) skills. • Must be able to do legal research and writing. • Prior supervisory and management experience is highly preferred, but not required. • Must be familiar with Microsoft Office 365 and/or general data entry. • Fluency in Spanish preferred, but not required.

Physical Demands:

• Office and Court environment with frequent trips to jails, detention centers, State Correctional Institutions, placements, and treatment facilities
• Prolonged sitting, standing, walking in an office and court environment.
• Significant and repeated use of a keyboard.
• Ability to travel to other in and out of County locations to meet with clients, observe evidence, or complete tasks related to client representation.
• An Employee who can show proof of general professional proficiency via a certification in the Spanish language will be utilized when needed and will be given a salary increase of 5%.