Sr. Assistant City Attorney

City of Fort Worth; Fort Worth (TX); On-site; USD 122,000 - 150,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

11 Paid Holidays

Medical insurance

Dental insurance

Vision benefits

Pension plan

Professional development

Job summary

The City of Fort Worth's Legal Department invites applications for the Senior Assistant City Attorney position in the Litigation Division. You will initiate and defend civil lawsuits and administrative hearings on behalf of the City, handling complex issues and heavier caseloads.

This in-house role offers professional development opportunities, a strong team culture, and a commitment to public service, diversity, and citywide impact.

Qualifications

• Juris Doctorate from an accredited law school.
• Eight (8) years of increasingly responsible legal experience, including relevant trial and/or transactional experience.
• Possession of a license from the Supreme Court of Texas to practice.

Responsibilities

• Handling lawsuits as first-chair including hearings, discovery, mediations, and trial.
• Handling administrative hearings such as contested case hearings and special commissioners’ hearings.
• Providing legal advice to City staff, reviewing legislation, and responding to subpoenas and public information requests.
• Advising City boards and commissions on a variety of legal matters.

Skills

Legal experience

Trial experience

Education

Juris Doctorate

Job description

Pay Range: $58.74 - $72.12/hr. | $122,187 - $150,009 annual compensation

Job Posting Closing on: Friday, October 2, 2026

Benefits for this position include:

• 11 Paid Holidays, Medical, Dental, Vision, Paid Time Off, Pension Plan, and Professional Development Opportunities. Find Out More!

The City of Fort Worth is one of the fastest growing large cities in the U.S. Our employees serve the needs of over 1,000,000 residents, promoting our values of exceptional customer experience, mutual respect, embracing our diversity, continuous improvement, ethical behavior, and accountability.

The Fort Worth City Attorney’s Office is a collegial team of legal professionals providing excellent legal service to the City of Fort Worth. As an in-house legal department, we practice in a wide range of civil and criminal law on behalf of and for the City, including general counsel, litigation, and prosecutorial areas. Local government is the form of government that is closest to the people and working for a well-managed city like Fort Worth gives meaning and purpose as you see the direct and positive impact your legal work has on improving the community.

The City Attorney’s Office places a strong emphasis on professional development and offers opportunities for CLE in areas of the law applicable to an attorney’s assignments. We highly value diversity and work/life balance, and we view our office as a work family, consistently striving to be a respectful and supportive workplace with a great culture.

This position, Senior Assistant City Attorney, would be assigned to the Litigation Division, where the individual would be responsible for initiating and defending civil lawsuits and administrative hearings on behalf of the City. As a Senior Assistant City Attorney, this individual would be assigned more complex legal issues and carry a greater and more difficult caseload and assignment load within the office.

Minimum Qualifications

• Juris Doctorate from an accredited law school
• Eight (8) years of increasingly responsible legal experience, including relevant trial and/or transactional experience
• Possession of a license from the Supreme Court of Texas to practice

Preferred Qualifications

• Municipal experience
• First-chair employment law litigation experience in state or federal court

The Sr. Assistant City Attorney - Job Responsibilities Include

• Handling lawsuits as assigned as first-chair including hearings, discovery, mediations, and trial
• Handling administrative hearings as assigned such as contested case hearings and special commissioners’ hearings
• Performing other legal tasks, including advising City departments, responding to subpoenas and public information requests, and reviewing and commenting on pending legislation
• Advising City boards and commissions and providing other legal research and legal advice to the City staff on a variety of matters as assigned

Working Conditions and Physical Demand

Depending on assignment, positions in this class typically require touching, talking, hearing, seeing, grasping, standing, walking and repetitive motions

Sedentary Work – Depending on assignment, positions in this class typically exert up to 10 pounds of force occasionally, a negligible amount of force frequently, and/or constantly having to lift, carry, push, pull or otherwise move objects. Sedentary work involves sitting most of the time. Jobs are sedentary if walking and standing are required only occasionally and all other sedentary criteria are met

Criminal Justice Information Systems (CJIS) Background Check

Applicants for this position must pass a Criminal Justice Information Systems (CJIS) fingerprint-based background check and maintain CJIS eligibility. Due to CJIS requirements related to system access, the following will result in being disqualified for this position: Felony Convictions, Felony Deferred Adjudication, Class A Misdemeanor Conviction, Class B Misdemeanor Convictions in the last 10 years, Class A Misdemeanor Deferred Adjudication, Class B Misdemeanor Deferred Adjudication in the last 10 years, an Open Arrest for Any Criminal Offense (Felony or Misdemeanor), and ALL Family Violence Convictions regardless of class

Conditions of Employment

The City of Fort Worth is proud to be an Equal Employment Opportunity employer. It is the policy and practice of the City to recruit, hire, train and promote a diverse workforce without regard to race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy and gender identity), national origin, political affiliation, sexual orientation, marital status, disability, genetic information, age, membership in an employee organization, parental status, military service, or another non-merit factor.

The City of Fort Worth is committed to full compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable qualified individuals with disabilities to participate in the job application or interview process and to perform essential job functions.

Candidates who do not meet the Education requirement, may be considered if they have more relevant work experience than the position requires. Those selected for employment will be required to pass Pre-Employment checks depending on the position requirements. Those could include, but are not limited to: criminal background check, drug screen, education verification, etc. criminal convictions will be considered on a case-by-case basis. Employees are paid by direct deposit only.