Legal Experience
Assistant General Counsel
Council of the District of Columbia
Washington, DC
October 2012 to September 2015
Responsibilities:
- Advise Councilmembers and staff on varied matters including ethics, federal law, Parliamentary procedure, and compliance with local legislative rules.
- Perform legal research to ensure legal sufficiency of proposed legislation.
- Collaborate with Council staff to draft legislation in response to community and statewide concerns.
- Draft bill to restructure and enact a title of the D.C. Official Code.
- Compile and prepare technical amendment legislation.
- Present research skills training to colleagues.
- Provide technical review of acts and resolutions at all stages of the legislative process.
Administrative Issuances Specialist
Office of Documents and Administrative Issuances
Government of the District of Columbia
March 2010-October 2012
Responsibilities:
- Initiated project to compile documentary histories for each agency, including legislation, regulations, and executive orders.
- Provided substantive and technical review of rulemakings for publication in the DC Register.
- Cataloged all municipal executive orders from 1954 to the present.
- Reviewed executive orders for current applicability and identify orders for rescission and amendment.
- Conducted legal sufficiency review of proposed administrative issuances appointing members of boards and commissions.
- Drafted or revised, as necessary, administrative issuances, rulemakings, and errata notices.
- Ensured that all rulemakings were drafted and published in compliance with the District of Columbia Administrative Procedure Act and other applicable laws.
- Served as initial and final reviewing and analyzing officer of proposed issuances for conformity with established policy; to prevent publication of incorrect, incomplete, or irrelevant information; for proper format, arrangement of contents, and adequacy of clearances; and to provide editing services.
- Performed investigative research for the District and Federal governments and constituents for records dating back to the time of the Board of Commissioners.
- Developed an online document management system to make archives of administrative issuances accessible and searchable.
- Guided agency counsel through internal approval processes for rulemakings and administrative issuances.
Policy Analyst
Office of the Deputy Mayor for Education
Government of the District of Columbia
January 2007-September 2009
Responsibilities:
- Spearheaded multi-agency effort to revise local education regulations to conform to best practices and the changed governance structure of public education in the District of Columbia.
- Drafted regulations and provided substantive and technical feedback on rules drafted by other agencies.
- Collaborated with the Office of the Attorney General to encourage revisions to regulations outside of the education title where necessitated by the changed education governance structure.
- Served as the Freedom of Information Act officer for the Office of the Deputy Mayor, providing timely and accurate responses to constituent, media, and advocate requests for documents and correspondence.
- Developed collaborative website to support District-wide FOIA implementation.
- Trained all agency FOIA officers in use and benefits of collaborative website.
- Drafted and revised proposed legislation.
- Provided procurement support to the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Education as the designated Contracting Officer’s Technical Representative (COTR). Collaborated closely with program staff to draft clear and precise scopes of work and requests for proposals.
- Surveyed and analyzed best practices in education policy, including higher education, student transportation, early childhood, and teacher quality.
- Represented the Deputy Mayor and education interests on a number of inter-agency committees including the Mayor’s Green Team, the planning committee for the Child and Family Services Agency’s Youth Permanency Convening, and the proposal evaluation committee for the Statewide Longitudinal Education Data Warehouse. Key contributions include facilitating a relationship with the District of Columbia Public Schools for a logo contest for the Green Team and implementing a competitive process for the selection of workshop presentations for the Youth Permanency Convening.
- Engaged the business community to donate materials and labor to make repairs to public schools as part of the Mayor’s “Buff and Scrub” project. Over two summers, coordinated donations valuing over $2.2 million over two summers.
- Collaborated on the development of the business plan for the launch of the Office of the Ombudsman for Public Education.
- Edited a broad range of documents including memoranda of understanding, reports, and presentations.
- Maintained the content of the office’s website.
Staff Attorney
University Legal Services
Washington, DC
March 2005-October 2006
Responsibilities:
- Investigated and reported on allegations of abuse and neglect of individuals with disabilities.
- Monitored services provided to adults with developmental disabilities.
- Advocated on behalf of individuals with disabilities to ensure the provision of appropriate supports and community-based services.
- Developed legal resource guide for attorneys and advocates working with adults with traumatic brain injury.
- Educated the community regarding the needs of individuals with traumatic brain injury through presentations to civic organizations.