MELS Director and Counsel

Job Vacancy/Posting: Director of MELS and Counsel (Municipal Employees Legal Services)

DC 37 Health & Security Plan New York, New York

June2025

DC 37 Health & Security Plan’s Municipal Employees Legal Services (MELS) provides legal representation to over 200,000 eligible DC 37 members, retirees and their families. We are currently seeking an experienced attorney to be the Director of MELS Operations and Counsel whose primary mission is to ensure that high quality legal services are provided to our clients by the MELS staff consisting of 100 employees including 60+ attorneys, 20+ legal assistants, social workers, and administrative staff.

The MELS Director of Operations and Counsel will be responsible for managing MELS’ departments, teamsand processes with the objective of identifying and implementing opportunities for improvement, efficiencies and professional development all toward the provision of quality legal services for DC 37 members. Working with and reporting to the DC 37 Health & Security Plan (“H&S”) Administrator and Associate Administrator, the MELS Director is expected to engage in strategic planning, technology management and data analytics as well as performing oversight of MELs’ legal practice, recruitment, staff development as well as provide critical leadership.

Principal Duties and Responsibilities:

1. Oversight of MELS daily operations with Supervising Attorneys regularly assessing and evaluating MELS’ legal practice and client relations expectations.
2. Lead strategic projects and initiatives, creating work plans and deliverables with the goal of optimizing MELS’ productivity and proposing innovative technological solutions.
3. Evaluate information technology needs of MELS, staff training needs, and thereafter implement and organize training.
4. Develop changemanagement plans for each initiative that acknowledges all aspects of the change process (e.g., analysis, strategy, implementation, training and launch) to increase productivity of MELS.
5. Collaborate with H&S Administration to build short and long term work plans and roadmaps for the future of MELS that align with overall H&S strategy.
6. Provide efficient, effective, and clearly communicated implementation guidance for the MELS attorney teams through sound assessment of environment and expectations.
7. Increase MELS operations productivity under the followingrubrics: strategic planningand technology and management analytics.
8. Evaluate and improve MELS intake process, and the assignment and management of attorneys’ caseloads.
9. Create strategies and processes to manage recruiting, oversee onboarding, training, retention, and mentoring of new attorney and legal support members.

1. Coordinate deliveryof MELS staff training, professional development and CLEs to attorneys.

Qualifications Desired:

1. Juris Doctor, memberin good standing of NYS Bar (NJ admission also desirable).
2. 10+ years of civil law practice in New York City, including litigation, community/legal service delivery to working people.
3. 5+ years of law office management experience with a deep understanding of legal services, legal department structure, processes, best practices, and industry norms.
4. Experience in workflow analysis and developing futureoffice processes and procedures.
5. Ability to apply technological tools to solve administrative problems.
6. Experience in supervising and mentoring, professional development training and mentoring legal assistants and attorneys.
7. Commitment to explore alternative approaches for improving legal practiceand services.
8. Strong ability to develop improvement strategies using Lean Six Sigma, PDSA or other established CQI methods.
9. MS Office skills including PowerPoint, Excel, analytics and dashboard experience.
10. Extensive ability to configure workflows using process management software.
11. Detail oriented with excellent presentation, critical and analytical thinking, and problem- solving skills.
12. Ability to handle multiplecomplex tasks and competing priorities in a fast-paced environment
13. Superior writingand verbal communications.
14. Strong sense of accountability, taking ownership over projects, resolvingissues proactively, and knowing when to ask for assistance and escalate.
15. Demonstrated leadership ability, public serviceinterest, and representing working people.

Compensation and Benefits:

• The annual salaryfor this positionwill be $175,000

$195,000 dependent upon experience. H&S excellent family health insurance at zero ($0) cost including dental, optical, prescription drug, personal counseling services, and legal services. A defined benefitpension plan (contributory) and 401k is also provided. A generous paid time policy (e.g. sick, personal, holidays and vacation). The selected candidate must be prepared to begin this role by no later than September 8, 2025. Please note our offices are located at 125 Barclay Street in downtown Manhattan.

How to Apply? Interested candidates must forward a current resume and letter of interest to H&S Executive Assistant Connie Fontana(cfontana@dc37.net) by no later than Friday, June 27, 2025. When submitting, please use the subject line “MELS Director Applicant.”