Legal Office Administrator

Salary : $135,720.00 - $157,128.00 Annually
Location : Oakland, CA
Job Type: Full-time
Job Number: 26-083
Department: Office of General Counsel Dept
Opening Date: 06/29/2026
Closing Date: 7/10/2026 4:30 PM Pacific


The Position


The Legal Office Administrator reports directly to the General Counsel and supports the overall functions of the Office of General Counsel (OGC) at the East Bay Municipal Utility District (EBMUD) by providing complex legal secretarial, administrative, budgetary, and office management support. This position will analyze, recommend, and implement improvements in the OGC's work processes, office practices, and administrative policies and procedures.

The Legal Office Administrator must be able to lead, supervise, review the work of, and train legal secretarial and paralegal staff; manage special projects; oversee budget administration; and perform advanced legal support functions requiring independent decision-making. Tasks require specialized knowledge and understanding of legal terms and procedures, including the preparation and processing of a wide variety of confidential information unique to the General Counsel's Office. Considerable latitude of judgment is exercised, under general guidelines, to initiate and complete complex assignments.

Major responsibilities require initiative, independent judgment, critical thinking, and maintaining professional interactions with OGC staff, EBMUD personnel, and members of the public. Typical responsibilities may include:
• Organizing, scheduling, assigning, directing, reviewing, and evaluating the work of lead and journey-level legal support staff engaged in complex legal and administrative support for the General Counsel's Office.
• Providing complex legal and administrative support directly to the General Counsel and OGC management, including compiling and preparing materials for meetings, responding independently to information requests from external organizations and EBMUD staff, and coordinating communications between the General Counsel and EBMUD management.
• Supervising and leading legal support staff; coordinating training; addressing performance deficiencies; assigning staff to attorneys; and ensuring adequate staffing levels for attorney support.
• Participating in recruitment and selection of legal support staff; reviewing employee performance; and establishing and maintaining work standards.
• Relieving the General Counsel of certain administrative duties, transmitting information and requests, following up as necessary, advising on pertinent matters, representing OGC on administrative issues as assigned, attending meetings, and assisting with special projects.
• Analyzing and providing information requiring independent judgment, knowledge, and interpretation of policies; organizing and maintaining administrative and confidential files; preparing records and reports per EBMUD procedures; researching, compiling, and summarizing materials for reports, correspondence, meetings, and presentations.
• Recommending, developing, and implementing workflow and office procedure improvements; evaluating staff efficiency; implementing office standards; assisting in departmental goals; and enforcing approved policies and procedures.
• Preparing budget projections, draft appropriation requests, and justifications; managing OGC's budget; monitoring expenditures; reviewing invoices, billing statements, and purchase orders; and overseeing payment processes.
• Maintaining the General Counsel's calendar; scheduling meetings; coordinating travel, accommodations, and conference registrations; and preparing expense authorizations and reimbursements.
• Receiving and screening visitors and telephone calls; assisting or directing callers as appropriate; and screening and routing mail with relevant attachments.
• Preparing correspondence and legal documents, including resolutions, ordinances, legal opinions, contracts, briefs, leases, agreements, confidential memoranda, and procedural manuals.
• Overseeing and maintaining the legal library; collaborating with the law librarian; assisting with computer research systems; negotiating vendor contracts; and indexing and filing legal documents.
• Overseeing purchase of office supplies and equipment; requisitioning materials and coordinating maintenance.
• Operating standard office equipment, legal document management systems, and software, including word processing, spreadsheets, and presentation tools to prepare reports, charts, and graphics using MS Office applications such as Word, Excel PowerPoint, etc.
• Researching, compiling, and analyzing data for special projects; reviewing departmental and interdepartmental operations; and evaluating administrative issues including policies, procedures, productivity, space planning, organizational structure, and facilities.
• Performing other duties and responsibilities as assigned by the General Counsel.


The Legal Office Administrator must be able to organize and prioritize work effectively under time constraints despite frequent interruptions and be available to work overtime as needed.

THE IDEAL CANDIDATE

Typical ways of acquiring the required knowledge, skills, and abilities include any combination of education and experience that provides proficiency in the following areas:
• Business and legal office management practices and procedures, including organizing, prioritizing, and scheduling work and balancing administrative support resources with competing needs.
• Manual and electronic record management and filing systems.
• Correct spelling, punctuation, grammar, legal terminology, phraseology, and standard formatting used in preparing, editing, and proofreading reports, correspondence, and legal documents.
• Litigation procedures, legal records management methods, and techniques for filing, indexing, and cross-referencing documents.
• Proper English usage, business letter writing, and communication practices.
• Supervision of support staff.
• Pertinent federal, state, and local laws, codes, and regulations.
• Ability to read written materials and view computer monitors and communicate effectively in writing.
• Ability to orally communicate effectively in person and by phone.
• Ability to write and type at a rate of 50 words per minute from printed or rough draft copy, as well as from voice recordings, with accuracy.


THE DISTRICT

The East Bay Municipal Utility District supplies water and provides wastewater treatment for parts of Alameda and Contra Costa counties in the Bay Area. Headquartered in Oakland, our mission is to provide reliable, high-quality services for our customers, to exercise responsible stewardship over the natural resources with which we are entrusted, and to protect the environment for future generations. Our watershed encompasses a pure source high in the Sierra mountains and a number of local reservoirs offering serene, natural settings for both wildlife and recreation. The OGC values and strives to create a work environment that provides a work-life balance and embodies the District's values of Respect, Teamwork, Integrity and Stewardship. It supports the implementation of EBMUD's Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Strategic Plan. EBMUD offers a generous benefits package, a reasonable telecommuting policy, and the opportunity to participate in EBMUD Affinity Groups, including the Asian Pacific Employees Association, the Black Employee Network, Fuerza Latina, the Raining Pride Committee, the Disability Advocacy and Rights Team and the Women's Employee Resource Opportunity and Collaboration Community.

Flexible/hybrid work from home schedule may be available for some positions in this job classification.

The salary range is $11,310 per month increasing to $11,876, $12,470, and $13,094 after 6, 18, and 30 months, respectively.

EBMUD is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified candidates will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, creed, sex, gender, gender identity (including transgender status), gender expression, marital or registered domestic partnership status, age for individuals age forty or older, national origin, ancestry, disability (mental or physical), medical condition (cancer and genetic characteristics), genetic information, sexual orientation, military and veterans status, family or medical leave status, pregnancy (including childbirth, lactation or related medical condition), pregnancy disability leave status, domestic violence victim status, political affiliation, and other categories protected by federal, state and/or local laws.

Requirements


1. Graduation from high school or its equivalent, supplemented by college level coursework; and

2a. One (1) year of experience supervising legal support staff and performing law office management duties; or


2b. Four (4) years of experience in the Office of General Counsel or an external law office, equivalent to EBMUD's classifications of Legal Assistant II, Litigation Assistant, and/or Paralegal.


3. Must possess the physical characteristics to perform the critical and important duties of the classification, including the ability to sit for extended periods of time and lift office materials weighing up to 30 pounds.

Equivalent combinations of education and experience may be considered. To be considered under the "equivalent combination of education and experience" provision, it is your responsibility to include in your application materials written evidence of employment performed at the level of the typical duties of this position and/or coursework in subject areas directly related to this position. For more information, see our FAQ page at

The Selection Process


1. Submit a completed EBMUD application and the required supplemental question responses online at by 4:30 p.m., Friday, July 10, 2026. Only application materials submitted online during the filing period will be accepted.

2. Candidates must achieve a passing score on each test part in order to advance to the next step in the selection process.

3. All qualified applications and supplemental responses will be competitively evaluated, with the candidates who receive a passing score on a best-qualified basis invited to a panel interview tentatively scheduled for late July or early August 2026.

4. Successful candidates will be placed on the hiring list, based on rank, for further consideration to fill the current regular vacancy, as well as others occurring over the next 12 to 24 months.

5. The probation period for this position is 12 months. For those holding civil service status, the probation period is 6 months.

6. All employment offers are conditional, pending the results of a Live Scan background screening. All selected finalists must participate in the Live Scan background screening process to remain in consideration for EBMUD employment.

Supplemental Information


As the first step in the selection process, responses to the supplemental questions must be submitted online with the regular EBMUD application. Please provide thorough, accurate descriptions of assignments you have personally performed. Should you respond with comments such as "see application" or "see resume" instead of addressing the questions directly, your application may not be considered.

PLEASE NOTE: While we understand applicants may use various tools to support the preparation of their materials, responses that appear to be primarily generated by AI tools, without meaningful personalization or demonstration of the applicant's own qualifications, may result in disqualification from the selection process.
Our excellent benefits package includes:

• Eligibility for annual merit-based bonus pay program;
• 12 days paid vacation; 16 holidays; 13 days paid sick leave;
• Family health insurance (choice of Kaiser fully paid or Sutter Health Plus or Anthem Blue Cross 85% paid);
• Fully paid family dental and vision care plans; life insurance; long-term disability insurance;
• EBMUD Retirement Plan (reciprocal with CalPERS);
• $1,000/yr. contributed to flexible spending account or cash;
• $145/mo. public transit subsidy;
• 401(k), 401(a) and 457(b) tax-deferred retirement plans; Roth 401(k);
• $3,500/yr. tuition reimbursement;
• And opportunities for professional growth including training and career development.

01


1. Describe what in your background and experience has prepared you to manage the administrative functions of a busy in-house legal department for a public agency. Within your response, be specific about your role doing the following tasks:a. Implementing law office management practices and procedures including organizing, prioritizing and scheduling work;b. Balancing administrative support resources with competing needs;c. Obtaining quality production and efficiency from legal support staff members; andd. Preparing the office budget, handling payment of invoices, and keeping track of expenditures.
02


Describe any relevant training or experience in recruiting, leading, supervising, reviewing the work of, and training support staff. Describe your supervision skills and provide examples of how you have implemented and maintained work standards for a group of support staff.
03


Describe what advanced software applications, including MS Office applications such as Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc., and applications specific to the legal field, such as a document management system, you regularly use to support legal or executive level work. Provide examples of spreadsheets, tracking tools, or presentation materials you have developed and how they improved office workflow and/or functions.
Required Question