Senior Legal Analyst – Administrative Unit

Job Description:

Senior Legal Analyst – Administrative Unit

Description

Job Summary

Senior Legal Analyst - Administrative Unit

The Santa Monica City Attorney's Office seeks a dedicated, detailed-oriented person with five or more years of relevant work experience to join its Administrative Unit as a Senior Legal Analyst to collaborate with a small team that administers the California Public Records Act (PRA) function for the City.

Duties may include, but are not limited to:

• Gathering, reviewing, redacting, and producing public records in response to complex requests under the California Public Records Act from members of the public and media;
• Providing guidance to City staff and assisting in searching for, identifying, and gathering potentially responsive records;
• Under the guidance of a Deputy City Attorney and Assistant City Attorney, interpreting and applying laws, rules, regulations, and policies; keep abreast of changes in relevant public records regulations and laws; and
• Performing various customer service and public relations tasks, including communicating with members of the public regarding public records requests and the public records process, create email search syntax to search the City’s email archive, collaborate with the City’s Record Management Coordinator on requests that require legal review or more complex responses, and maintain PRA tracking logs and calendar to adhere to PRA statutory deadlines.
• Additionally, and occasionally, providing training to CAO staff on document review and use of GovQA, train other City department staff on the public records process, present on public records at the monthly new hire presentation, create and update internal and external PRA processes, and assisting the Santa Monica Police Department (SMPD) records with email archive searches and responses to complex requests

Knowledge of:

• Research techniques.
• Report writing.
• Principles of program planning, monitoring, implementation, and evaluation.
• Effective leading and coordinating techniques.
• Effective customer service techniques.

Ability to:

• Independently manage voluminous records requests in a timely and highly organized manner
• Track and meet statutory deadlines for production of documents
• Perform duties with sound ethics and good judgment.
• Communicate effectively, both orally and in writing.
• Keep abreast of current developments in public records and government transparency laws.
• Maintain accurate records, including a searchable database of responses to public records requests.
• Prepare and present effective presentations.
• Establish and maintain effective and cooperative working relationships with City employees, various businesses and agencies, and the general public.
• Provide effective customer service.
• Analyze and solve administrative problems.
• Research and interpret public records laws under supervision of a Deputy City Attorney.

Skill in:

• Organizing, reviewing, and reporting on large volumes of data and information. Using a personal computer and applicable software applications.
• Working effectively with persons from diverse social, cultural, and economic backgrounds.

Preferred Qualifications:

Bachelor's degree and five years recent, paid experience that includes working in a law office (Legal Assistant, Paralegal) or five years public municipality performing complex analysis, legal research, and administrative duties. Paralegal certificate desirable. This position is part of the Public Attorney’s Legal Support Staff Union.

The hours of the position are 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday, and 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on alternate Fridays. This is a 9/80 work schedule. Hybrid remote work schedule is currently available. A background check will be required prior to beginning employment. Salary is dependent on qualifications/experience. The salary range are Steps 1 - 5, $107,616 - $132,852 annually. The City also offers excellent benefits. Equal Opportunity Employer.See the CAO EEO Policy on the City Attorney’s Office website . Interested applicants should submit a cover letter, resume, and the names and contact information of three references. These materials should be submitted in a single pdf document by email to: CAO.Opportunities@santamonica.gov with the subject line: “Application - Senior Legal Analyst-PRA Position - Administrative Unit”; closing date Friday, January 23, 2026, by 12:00 noon.

The City's liberal fringe benefits for full-time employment include sick leave, holiday and vacation pay, the Public Employees Retirement System, medical, dental and vision insurance, credit union, deferred compensation, tuition reimbursement, Dependent Care Assistance Plan and priority enrollment consideration at Hill & Dale Family Learning Center, Marine Park Child Development Center, and Santa Monica Early Childhood Lab School.

Closing Date/Time: 1/23/2026 12:00 PM Pacific

Salary:

$107,616.00 - $132,852.00 Annually