Remote Temporary Contracts Attorney

From heart health and mental wellness to food safety and the prevention of infectious and chronic diseases, our programs and services touch the lives of every Californian, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
The California Department of Public Health’s (CDPH) Office of Legal Services (OLS) is seeking an attorney to support and represent the Department’s programs on a variety of matters. This is a permanent, full-time Attorney III position on the Public Health Programs (PHP) house counsel team, located in Sacramento.
The attorney who fills this unique position will have a diverse and challenging case load. The attorney will advise public health programs within CDPH on complex legal issues involving public health laws, matters of Departmental and programmatic authority, and compliance with statutory and regulatory requirements for the conduct of state business, including those for contracting, information management, public records disclosure, open meeting laws, privacy laws, administrative hearing processes, litigation support, and such other legal issues as may arise. The attorney will also research, develop, and draft legislative language, regulations, and transactional documents and advise the Department, and potentially the California Health and Human Services Agency and the Governor’s Office, on Public Health-related legal matters pertaining to his/her assigned Centers, Divisions, Offices, and/or programs.
In July 2025, the State of California implemented the Personal Leave Program (PLP) 2025. Please let us know how you heard about our position by taking this brief survey:

Telework Information :

This position may be eligible for telework. The amount of telework permitted is at the discretion of the Department and is subject to change, consistent with CDPH’s Telework Program. All employees who telework are required to be California residents in accordance with Government Code 14200. Travel may be required for this position. Reimbursement for travel takes into consideration an employee’s designated headquarters, as reflected in the duty statement, and is subject to regulations and bargaining unit contract provisions. All commute expenses to the designated headquarters office will be the responsibility of the selected candidate.
The headquarters office location for this position is identified in the attached duty statement.
For experience/education to qualify during the application screening process, and to ensure that minimum qualifications can be determined, applicants should include all employment history on the Employment Application (STD 678) and/or Resume, including detailed job descriptions, hours worked per week , and start/end dates (MM/DD/YYYY) . Application packages without this information will experience delayed processing times and your eligibility for this position may be impacted.

A completed State application (STD. 678) and any other relevant documents (e.g., should be submitted electronically via your CalCareers Account. SROA and surplus candidates should submit a copy of their letter with their application. Please remove any confidential information (i.e., social security number, date of birth) from your documents prior to submission.

Complete Application Packages (including your Examination/Employment Application (STD 678) and applicable or required documents) must be submitted to apply for this Job Posting. Application Packages may be submitted electronically through your CalCareers Account at Submitting an electronic application through your CalCareers account is strongly recommended since electronic applications will be received/processed faster than other methods of filing. Please submit only one application.

If you are unable to submit your application electronically through your CalCareers account, please email View email address on us.fitly.work for assistance and a CDPH Human Resources Division staff member will contact you to assist with the online application process or, a hard copy application package may be submitted through an alternative method as explained in the How to Apply section below. When submitting your application in hard copy, a completed copy of the Application Package listing must be included.
In addition to evaluating each candidate's relative ability, as demonstrated by quality and breadth of experience, the following factors will provide the basis for competitively evaluating each candidate:

Demonstrated ability to prioritize workload and manage multiple projects with short-term deadlines
Knowledge of California's privacy laws, California state contracting and administrative laws, and the California's Public Records Act
Ability to perform complex and sensitive legal work; draft legal opinions; present legal opinions and recommendations clearly and logically, in both verbal and written form; Benefit information can be found on the CalHR website and the CalPERS website.

Required Application Package Documents

The following items are required to be submitted with your application. Current version of the State Examination/Employment Application STD Form 678 (when not applying electronically), or the Electronic State Employment Application through your Applicant Account at
Other - A cover letter is required and must be included with your application package.
Other - A recent writing sample , written within the last three years and of no more than 10 pages, showing the complexity of issues, you’ve worked on, is required and must be included with your application package. Please remove any confidential information.