ATTORNEY

Department of Transportation · Sacramento County

Salary: $7,969 – $12,026 per month

Closes: 2026-11-11T00:00:00.000Z

Job description and requirements

Job Description and Duties Under general direction of a Deputy Chief Counsel, Assistant Chief Counsel and/or Attorney Supervisor, the Attorney studies, interprets and applies laws, court decisions, and other authorities in the preparation of cases, opinions and briefs; prepares and presents cases for trial; and/or does a variety of transactional work. Personal Leave Program: Effective July 1, 2025, state employees are subject to temporary salary reductions ranging from 2% to 4.62% in exchange for Personal Leave Program (PLP) hours. Please note that the salary ranges listed in this Job Control may not reflect these reductions associated with the 2025 Personal Leave Program. Please follow the link for more information regarding the 2025 Personal Leave program: http://hrmanual.calhr.ca.gov/Home/ManualItem/1/2113. PARF# 42-27-0088 / JC- 536924 The Caltrans Legal Division - Bay Area Office is seeking dedicated attorneys with interest and/or experience in litigation to support the Department and the State of California. The successful candidate will join an established team representing the Department in high-stakes litigation and house counsel work. Caltrans Legal Division is a full service, in-house law office with statewide singular responsibility for meeting Caltrans' diverse litigation and transactional law needs. Caltrans Legal is unique in the state in this regard. The Legal Division represents Caltrans in Superior, Federal and Appellate courts, and before the Office of Administrative Hearings and the State Personnel Board. Utilized by all programs within Caltrans to provide legal representation in a variety of transactional areas, the Legal Division also advises on federal and state statutes, regulations and judicial case-law authority, and how those laws impact Caltrans' policy makers, operational needs, and associated risks. Caltrans Legal provides excellent training resources and professional development through practical, on-the-job experience, supportive supervision, and teamwork. The division offers statewide committees with members from each of our office (Sacramento/HQ, Oakland, Los Angeles, San Diego and Fresno) to facilitate information sharing and networking, as well as workshops to provide opportunities for all our attorneys to develop statewide relationships and learn about the areas of practice. Caltrans consistently proves to be a great place to learn, develop and hone the skills necessary to become an accomplished practitioner of law. Attorneys may receive promotions in place based on available funds, successful performance, and compliance with labor union requirements. Eligibility for hire may be determined by your score on the Attorney exam. For those who do not have current eligibility (e.g., transfer, permissive reinstatement, or voluntary demotions) and/or who will be new to state civil services employment, you must be on the state examination list to be eligible for these positions. To apply for the exam, please click here and search by typing in the classification title. You will find additional information about the job in the Duty Statement. Special Requirements • The positions require a CA BAR membership License. You will be required to provide a copy of your license prior to being hired. • Possession of a valid Driver’s License is required when operating a state owned or leased vehicle. Possession of Minimum Qualifications will be verified prior to interview and/or appointment. If you are basing your eligibility on education, you must include your unofficial transcript(s)/diploma for verification. Unofficial, original, or official sealed transcripts will be accepted and may be required upon appointment. Applicants with foreign transcripts/degrees must provide a transcript/degree U.S. equivalency report evaluation that indicates the number of units and degree to which the foreign coursework is equivalent. Please visit either of the following two websites for a list of evaluation agencies: https://www.naces.org/members or https://aice-eval.org. Please redact birthdates and social security numbers. Please take this 1-minute Caltrans Recruitment survey to tell us how you found out about this job. https://forms.office.com/g/RyK102ty4G https://youtu.be/oC9wIp8QalI Apply today to join our team! We especially encourage applicants to check out our Caltrans Career Compass tool! The Caltrans Career Compass is a tool to assist and help candidates understand and succeed in applying to Caltrans positions. Desirable Qualifications In addition to evaluating each candidate's relative ability, as demonstrated by quality and breadth of experience, the following factors will provide the basis for competitively evaluating each candidate: • Demonstrated ability to manage litigation cases and/or transactional matters, including conducting legal research, preparing and arguing law and motion, managing discovery and handling trial proceedings.• Strong verbal advocacy and exceptional proficiency in technical legal writing.• Ability to work effectively in high-pressure, collaborative team environments.
Show full description and requirements

Job Description and Duties

Under general direction of a Deputy Chief Counsel, Assistant Chief Counsel and/or Attorney Supervisor, the Attorney studies, interprets and applies laws, court decisions, and other authorities in the preparation of cases, opinions and briefs; prepares and presents cases for trial; and/or does a variety of transactional work.

Personal Leave Program: Effective July 1, 2025, state employees are subject to temporary salary reductions ranging from 2% to 4.62% in exchange for Personal Leave Program (PLP) hours. Please note that the salary ranges listed in this Job Control may not reflect these reductions associated with the 2025 Personal Leave Program. Please follow the link for more information regarding the 2025 Personal Leave program: http://hrmanual.calhr.ca.gov/Home/ManualItem/1/2113.


PARF# 42-27-0088 / JC- 536924

The Caltrans Legal Division - Bay Area Office is seeking dedicated attorneys with interest and/or experience in litigation to support the Department and the State of California. The successful candidate will join an established team representing the Department in high-stakes litigation and house counsel work.
Caltrans Legal Division is a full service, in-house law office with statewide singular responsibility for meeting Caltrans' diverse litigation and transactional law needs. Caltrans Legal is unique in the state in this regard. The Legal Division represents Caltrans in Superior, Federal and Appellate courts, and before the Office of Administrative Hearings and the State Personnel Board. Utilized by all programs within Caltrans to provide legal representation in a variety of transactional areas, the Legal Division also advises on federal and state statutes, regulations and judicial case-law authority, and how those laws impact Caltrans' policy makers, operational needs, and associated risks.
Caltrans Legal provides excellent training resources and professional development through practical, on-the-job experience, supportive supervision, and teamwork. The division offers statewide committees with members from each of our office (Sacramento/HQ, Oakland, Los Angeles, San Diego and Fresno) to facilitate information sharing and networking, as well as workshops to provide opportunities for all our attorneys to develop statewide relationships and learn about the areas of practice. Caltrans consistently proves to be a great place to learn, develop and hone the skills necessary to become an accomplished practitioner of law.
Attorneys may receive promotions in place based on available funds, successful performance, and compliance with labor union requirements.
Eligibility for hire may be determined by your score on the Attorney exam. For those who do not have current eligibility (e.g., transfer, permissive reinstatement, or voluntary demotions) and/or who will be new to state civil services employment, you must be on the state examination list to be eligible for these positions. To apply for the exam, please click here and search by typing in the classification title.

You will find additional information about the job in the Duty Statement.

Special Requirements

  • The positions require a CA BAR membership License. You will be required to provide a copy of your license prior to being hired.
  • Possession of a valid Driver’s License is required when operating a state owned or leased vehicle.

Possession of Minimum Qualifications will be verified prior to interview and/or appointment. If you are basing your eligibility on education, you must include your unofficial transcript(s)/diploma for verification. Unofficial, original, or official sealed transcripts will be accepted and may be required upon appointment. Applicants with foreign transcripts/degrees must provide a transcript/degree U.S. equivalency report evaluation that indicates the number of units and degree to which the foreign coursework is equivalent. Please visit either of the following two websites for a list of evaluation agencies: https://www.naces.org/members or https://aice-eval.org. Please redact birthdates and social security numbers.

Please take this 1-minute Caltrans Recruitment survey to tell us how you found out about this job.

https://forms.office.com/g/RyK102ty4G

https://youtu.be/oC9wIp8QalI

Apply today to join our team! We especially encourage applicants to check out our Caltrans Career Compass tool! The Caltrans Career Compass is a tool to assist and help candidates understand and succeed in applying to Caltrans positions.

Desirable Qualifications

In addition to evaluating each candidate's relative ability, as demonstrated by quality and breadth of experience, the following factors will provide the basis for competitively evaluating each candidate: • Demonstrated ability to manage litigation cases and/or transactional matters, including conducting legal research, preparing and arguing law and motion, managing discovery and handling trial proceedings.• Strong verbal advocacy and exceptional proficiency in technical legal writing.• Ability to work effectively in high-pressure, collaborative team environments.

About this opportunity

Salary context

The annualized midpoint for this posting is $119,970. That matches the $119,970 median among 14 current California public jobs with the same normalized title.

More jobs at this employer

Department of Transportation currently has 91 other open positions in this database.

Regional hiring context

There are 658 current state openings in Sacramento County, including this position.

Application timeline

Applications close in 7 days, on November 11, 2026.

Similar roles at other employers

These employers are currently listing the same normalized role:

Posting history

This posting appears on CalCareers. CA Public Jobs first observed it on October 28, 2026. It was last verified open on November 4, 2026.

View the official posting