Court Commissioner

$16,374.83 Monthly
$196,497.96 Annually

APPLICATION FILING PERIOD: May 26, 2023 – July 14, 2023 at 4:30 p.m. (PST)

Los Angeles Superior Court (Court) seeks dynamic, well-qualified, and highly motivated individuals to fill the position of Court Commissioner. The Court seeks candidates committed to upholding the law and adjudicating cases fairly and efficiently. The ideal candidate should possess strong legal skills, a high level of personal integrity, good judgment, decisiveness, patience, intelligence, and exemplary people skills. Note this is an onsite position.

Court Commissioners conduct hearings and adjudicate cases in Civil, Criminal, Family, Child Support, Juvenile, Probate, Small Claims and Traffic matters. In so doing, they hear testimony, rule on objections, admit evidence and issue rulings. Upon agreement of the parties, they may sit as a Temporary Judge. Court Commissioners may be assigned to sit in any of the courthouses in Los Angeles County. See below for a video describing the Commissioner position.

Los Angeles Superior Court is the largest unified trial court in the United States. Its 580 judges and commissioners work in one of the 36 facilities within the Court's 12 judicial districts and are supported by more than 4,500 full-time Court employees. The Court has an annual budget of more than $900 million. Located in Southern California, Los Angeles County is geographically one of the nation's largest counties, covering 4,752 square miles and, with over 10,400,000 residents, is also one of its most populous counties.

Commissioners hold an at-will position and serve at the pleasure of the Court. They are not subject to other vested terms of service. Commissioners work under the authority of the Judges of the Court, and are subject to the direction of the Presiding Judge and his or her designees.

PROHIBITION AGAINST SOLICITING SUPPORT FOR CANDIDACY:

On March 5, 1974, the Court adopted the following policy prohibiting individuals from soliciting judges for support for Court Commissioner applicants:

Each candidate for the position of Court Commissioner should be advised that he or she should not contact any judge of the Court for the purpose of soliciting support for his or her candidacy. Solicitation of support on behalf of any candidate by any other person is also discouraged.

The integrity of the recruitment process for the Court Commissioner position is important to the Court. It is imperative that all candidates abide by the Court's policy and refrain from soliciting support from judges.

SELECTION REQUIREMENTS:

To qualify, you must meet the following selection requirements by the final filing date of this recruitment:

Member of the State Bar of California, with a minimum of ten (10) years' experience practicing law in California -AND- California residency -AND- United States Citizenship.

APPLICATION ATTACHMENTS:

1. Proof of State Bar of California admission and current year status. (REQUIRED)

2. Legal writing sample not to exceed 10 pages. (REQUIRED)

3. Resume (REQUIRED)

4. References (REQUIRED)

a. A list of five (5) professional references

b. In addition, based on your legal work, community service, and bar participation over the past five years, please provide a list of 10 judges and lawyers (no more than 4 judges should be provided) who could provide input on your legal experience, professional abilities, work ethic, character, and judicial temperament. For each reference, please provide a current email address and phone number. A robust list would include co-counsel, opposing counsel, judge or other neutral, lawyers with whom you have worked closely on legal issues, teaching, mentoring or community outreach.

**The required information for the 15 references must be included in the references section of the application.** Applicants must include the following information for each reference; personal or professional, name, title and contact information.

6. A high-resolution head shot photograph (REQUIRED)

7. Brief biographical statement, not to exceed 200 words, listing educational and legal experience. (REQUIRED)

The Court will use the statement and photograph when it solicits feedback from judges about candidates and, for the candidates who are placed on the eligibility list, whenever the Court seeks to fill a Court Commissioner vacancy.

Applicants must submit required and/or additional documents as attachments to their online applications in Microsoft Word or PDF format. The attachments should not exceed 10 MB and should reflect applicant's full name and the examination title. The Court will not accept documents submitted by mail, e-mail or facsimile transmission.

Note that changes cannot be made to an application after it has been submitted. Rather, a new application must be submitted if changes are desired. The Court will only consider the most recent application.

LICENSES, CERTIFICATES, SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS :
A valid California Class C driver's license or the ability to utilize an alternative method of transportation is required to carry out job-related essential functions.

Court Commissioners are prohibited from practicing law during their employment with the Court.

SELECTION PROCEDURE (LASC Local Rule 1.9 )

1. Court Commissioner Selection Committee members will evaluate each application to identify the most qualified applicants.

2. Teams of two judges will interview a specified number of the most qualified applicants.

Anticipated to take place between August 14th and September 1st, in a virtual format.

3. The Court Commissioner Selection Committee will invite those candidates it deems most qualified for a full Committee interview and will place the names of the highest-ranking candidates on an eligibility list in rank order.

Anticipated to take place between October 16th and 23rd, in an in-person format.

4. As the Court fills vacant Commissioner positions, it will distribute a ballot to Judges with the names of candidates in rank order, along with each candidate's photograph and biographical statement, and ask that they vote for a candidate to fill the vacancy (ies).

5. Every Court Commissioner-elect must pass a criminal background investigation before appointment.

APPLICATION and FILING INFORMATION:

All applicants are required to submit a Los Angeles Superior Court Commissioner Application and Supplemental Questionnaire online. To learn how to apply online, please access the Online Employment Application Guide. The Court will not accept résumés in place of the completed Court Commissioner Application and Supplemental Questionnaire. The Court Commissioner Selection Committee may decline to consider applications with incomplete or vague descriptions of employment experience or those that fail to describe clearly how the applicant meets the minimum qualifications of the position. The Court will safeguard the confidentiality of the information provided in the application to the extent consistent with the recruitment process.

Please provide a current e-mail address for the Court to communicate with you about this job opportunity. Human Resources staff will notify all applicants of their application status via e-mail within 30 days after the examination closes. To that end, we recommend that you add info@governmentjobs.com to your safe senders list to avoid the notification being filtered as spam mail.

Los Angeles Superior Court is an equal opportunity employer. Applicants with disabilities who require reasonable accommodations to participate in the recruitment process can contact apatterson@lacourt.org. For additional employment information, please click here.

You may e-mail questions regarding this posting contact Ashlii Patterson at apatterson@lacourt.org or Ashley Corrales at (213) 633-5818 or via email at acorrales1@lacourt.org.

WHAT TO EXPECT NEXT:
At the conclusion of each step of the recruitment process, Human Resources personnel will notify applicants of the outcome.

Exam # R9741D
Court Commissioner
Applications may be submitted online at www.lacourt.org
OR via the HR computer kiosk at
Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles
Human Resources Administration
111 N. Hill Street, Room 203
Los Angeles, CA 90012

Court Commissioner

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