OPRA Custodian - Ethics Liason Officer

Under direction of the Assistant Commissioner of Administration, Deputy Assistant Commissioner of Administration, or other managerial or supervisory official at the Department of Banking and Insurance, performs confidential legislative, legal, and policy-influencing research related to department programs, in conformance with guidelines established by the State Attorney General; acts as liaison between a state department and the Office of the Attorney General in receiving, formulating, and transmitting requests for legal advice on behalf of a state agency; prepares reports and recommendations on the impact of proposed or existing legislation; does other related duties as required. This position will perform the following non-exhaustive list of examples of work:

Function as an Open Public Records Act (OPRA) Custodian for the Department of Banking and Insurance (the “Department”)

• Promptly review and assist with drafting responses to OPRA requests pursuant to N.J.S.A. 47:1A-1 et seq.

• Serve as OPRA liaison on behalf of the Department with the Attorney General’s Office

• Effectively engage in internal and external communications, including privileged consultation, in connection with OPRA work; maintain confidentiality

• Analyze OPRA requests and proposed responsive documents for relevancy, privilege, applicability of legal objections and exemptions

• Draft proposed responses to OPRA requests

• Stay current on legal developments affecting OPRA 2

• Attend statewide OPRA meetings

• Learn and apply the Department’s regulations as they pertain to documents

• Function as a Records Retention Coordinator for the Department

• Ensure compliance with the State General Record Retention Schedule, N.J.S.A. 47:3-5, et seq., N.J.A.C. 15:3-1.6 and all applicable statutes and regulations governing the retention, storage and destruction of public records

• Function as an Ethics Liaison Officer on behalf of the Department with the New Jersey State Ethics Commission

• Receive and analyze Department’s employees’ Attendance at Event requests for ethical compliance

• Receive and analyze Department’s employees’ Outside Activity Questionnaires for ethical compliance

• Handle general inquiries from Department’s employees to ensure ethical compliance • Conduct investigations into allegations of ethics violations • Train Department’s employees on ethics requirements

• Function as liaison on behalf of the Department • Engage in effective internal and external communications involving ethics matters while maintaining strict confidentiality

• Work efficiently and independently

REQUIREMENT

Graduation from an accredited law school with Juris Doctor (J.D.) or a Bachelor of Laws (L.L.B.) degree OR

Graduation from an accredited college or university with a Bachelor's degree.

Three (3) years of experience involving legal or legislative research, drafting of rules, regulations, legislation, amendments, and/or the interpretation of statutes.

NOTE: Appointees currently matriculating in an accredited law school as an L.L.B or J.D. candidate may substitute such enrollment for the three (3) years of required experience on a year-for-year basis