ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL

Position No: 125-603

Position Title:  Natural Resources and Native American Affairs General Counsel

Salary Range: Commensurate with Experience. Click for Total Rewards Calculator

Closing Date: July 2, 2025

Status: Full-Time with State Benefit Package Recruitment: Internal/External

Location: 500 North 9th Street, Bismarck, ND

Selecting Supervisor: Matthew Sagsveen, Director, Natural Resources and Native American Affairs Division

Summary of Work:

The Attorney General is the chief legal officer for the state of North Dakota, and the Attorney General’s Office serves more than 70 state agencies, boards, and commissions, as well as the University System. The Attorney General is dedicated to deliver the highest quality professional and ethical legal services to state officials, agencies, and people of the state of North Dakota.  The Natural Resources and Native American Affairs Division, a Division in the Attorney General’s Office, provides legal services to state agencies that are involved with and regulate the State’s natural resources. These agencies include the Department of Environmental Quality, Department of Water Resources, Industrial Commission (including the State Mill and Elevator, Department of Mineral Resources, Pipeline Authority and others), Parks and Recreation Department, Game and Fish Department, several commodity boards, and others.

To further these important goals, the Attorney General’s Office is seeking a qualified attorney to join the Natural Resources and Native American Affairs Division.  An attorney hired for the position will be responsible for providing general counsel legal advice on a daily basis to one or more of the agencies or boards listed above, depending upon interest and experience.  An attorney hired for the position will also represent his or her client agency in civil and administrative proceedings, or act as a hearing officer, depending upon experience and interest. Typical duties for this position may include but not be limited to:

• Manage the clients’ legal operations;
• Facilitate strong working relationships with clients and stakeholders;
• Work with clients to address legal questions and issues, provide guidance, and issue legal advice and opinions;
• Respond to legal correspondence;
• Conduct legal research, study, interpret and apply laws, regulations, and court decisions;
• Monitor, draft, and review legislation, and provide legislative testimony;
• Evaluate the merits of litigation filed against the agencies, work with staff to defend against litigation, assist with the preparation of litigation documents;
• Represent the agencies in administrative and civil proceedings if necessary;
• Manage outside counsel;

Division staff are given the opportunity to participate in local, regional, and national training courses for topics such as general counsel training, advanced litigation skills such as deposition training, appellate advocacy, e-discovery, and negotiations.

In addition to the monthly salary based upon experience and demonstrated competency, this position includes fully paid health insurance for employee and family, the option to participate in employee-paid dental and vision for employee and family, participation in the state NDPERS defined benefit retirement plans, as well as the option to participate in the 457 deferred compensation plan, and the option to contribute to a medical spending account.  The position also includes annual and sick leave benefits.

Employees in this position are eligible for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program.

Location of Work:

The Division office is centrally located in Bismarck, North Dakota.

Minimum Qualifications

1. Licensed to practice law in North Dakota, or the expectation of imminent admission to the North Dakota bar.
2. A minimum of 1 year of experience practicing general civil litigation or other comparable litigation-related experience, is preferred. A judicial clerkship may be substituted for experience.
3. High ethical standards and a clean disciplinary
4. Ability to maintain a high degree of
5. Advanced interpersonal skills needed to work well with the
6. The judgment, reliability, and willingness to devote time and energy necessary to provide excellent legal services to the State of North Dakota.
7. Ability, demonstrated in previous employment experience or otherwise shown, to establish and maintain effective, harmonious working relationships with clients, colleagues, and supervisors.
8. Excellent time management and organization
9. Proven ability or potential to produce excellent legal work product.
10. Successful completion of the interview process, reference checks, and standard background and criminal record checks to determine knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform assistant attorney general tasks.

About TeamND

“Far and away the best prize life offers is the chance to work hard at work worth doing.” – Theodore Roosevelt

More than 7,500 talented, hard-working people across sixty-three agencies have come together as Team North Dakota. At Team ND, we are driven to succeed through gratitude, humility, curiosity and courage. Our purpose is to empower people, improve lives, and inspire success. Join us in being legendary.

Total Rewards: The State of North Dakota is committed to providing team members with a strong and competitive rewards package that support you, your health and your family.

Considering a new position on Team ND? How does your current position stack up? Use our Total Rewards Calculator to estimate.

Application Procedures

Applicants are screened based on qualifications, successful completion of the interview process and a background and criminal investigation. Applicants must be currently authorized to work in the United States on a full-time basis. The Office of Attorney General does not provide sponsorships.

Application package must be received by 11:59 PM on the closing date listed on the opening. TO BE CONSIDERED FOR THIS POSITION APPLICATIONS MUST BE SUBMITTED

ONLINE AT: www.nd.gov/careers

Documents to be submitted:

• Resume
• Cover letter with a summary that clearly explains how the applicant’s work experience is related to the summary of work and minimum/preferred qualifications
• 3 Professional References
• College Transcripts (copies or unofficial versions are acceptable for the initial application process but when the top candidate is given a conditional employment offer, they are required to present official transcripts)

The North Dakota Office of Attorney General prohibits candidates from plagiarizing any portion of their employment application and interview process to include responses to questions in which you must provide a narrative and/or verbal response.  You must create your own responses originally and not copy or adapt them from other sources.  While the North Dakota Office of Attorney General encourages you to create your narratives and interview responses with great care, including correct use of grammar and style, you are prohibited from using any artificial intelligence (AI) or AI-assisted tool, to include but not limited to ChatGPT.  Any information you provide during the application and interview process is subject to verification.  The North Dakota Office of Attorney General will discontinue your candidacy if we find you have violated this prohibition on use of AI tools in the application and interview process.

All hiring decisions are subject to approval by the Attorney General.  No offer of employment is final or binding until approved by the Attorney General.

Anyone needing assistance or accommodations during any part of the application or interview process please contact Ashley, Office of Attorney General: E-mail: aeisenbeis@nd.gov; phone: (701) 328-1256 or TTY: 1-800-366-6888.

• Learn more about Office of Attorney General at: https://attorneygeneral.nd.gov/
• Learn more about Employment Benefits

at: https://www.nd.gov/omb/public/careers/team-nd-benefits

• Visit North Dakota State government: http://www.nd.gov

To learn more about living in North Dakota, visit https://findthegoodlife.com

Equal Employment Opportunity

The State of North Dakota and this hiring agency do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex (including sexual orientation and gender identity), genetics, religion, age or disability in employment or the provisions of services and complies with the provisions of the North Dakota Human Rights Act.

As an employer, the State of North Dakota prohibits smoking in all places of state employment in accordance with N.D.C.C. § 23-12-10.