Responsibilities

The Work You Will Do: The responsibilities of this position include, but are not limited to the following:

• Review and evaluate consumer complaints to determine if a potential violation of Florida price gouging law exists.
• Contact businesses to evaluate allegations of price gouging, assist with possible resolution of the complaint, draft preservation letters and/or investigative subpoenas, interview witnesses and gather evidence, including during a declared state of emergency.
• Obtain and analyze documents to determine whether a price is unconscionable.
• Assist in ensuring that price gouging complaints are timely investigated. This will require working extended hours, including weekends, and may require working on holidays during a declared State of Emergency. This may also involve travelling to other affected regions to assist with the price gouging investigations.
• Oversees the investigation of potential violations of Florida’s Price Gouging law, as well as state and federal consumer protection and trade practices law; gathers and evaluates evidence and prepares cases for appropriate legal proceedings;  identifies relevant legal issues for matters being investigated; oversees the gathering of evidence by investigators; reviews reports prepared by law enforcement officers, investigators, accountants, and financial analysts; and evaluates documentary and other evidence necessary to prepare the matter for resolution or appropriate legal proceedings.
• Conducts litigation of price gouging and consumer protection cases in state and federal courts, including drafting pleadings, motions, memoranda of law and briefs; prepares legal research and evaluates the research of investigators and paralegals; prepares subpoenas, conducts discovery, and engages in other pretrial and trial work.
• May attend trials, hearings, and appellate oral arguments in court.
• Negotiates resolutions of litigation cases or investigations and drafts resolution documents such as assurances of voluntary compliance, consent judgments, and mediated resolutions.
• Responds to correspondence and telephone inquiries concerning price gouging and consumer protection issues.
• Represents the Department in meetings and conferences relating to price gouging and consumer protection investigations and litigation.
• Establishes lines of communication with local, state and federal law enforcement officers and prosecutors; serves on federal and state task forces and works with those agencies, as needed; initiates contact with and processes information from law enforcement agencies to further consumer protection enforcement.
• Performs routine administrative functions, including supervising legal secretaries, paralegals, and interns; attends staff meetings; prepares time records and case status reports; files documents, etc.
• Maintains current expertise in areas of practice, including reading recent judicial decisions and case summaries and attends continuing legal education and other professional seminars.
• Performs in a timely fashion other assigned duties, which may require extended hours and/or travel outside the worksite.