General Counsel, MOME

The Mayor's Office of Media and Entertainment's mission is to support and strengthen New York City's creative economy and make it accessible to all. The agency comprises four divisions: the Film Office, which coordinates film and television production in public places; NYC Media, the largest municipal television and radio broadcasting entity in the country; Creative Sector Programs, which supports workforce development and the film, television, theater/live performance, music, publishing, advertising and digital content industries; and the Press Credentials Office (PCO), which issues access credentials for journalists. Information about the agency is available on our website:

The Mayor's Office of Media and Entertainment (MOME) is seeking a dynamic, dedicated General Counsel with government experience who will report to either the Chief Operating Officer or the Commissioner. The General Counsel will be responsible for overseeing MOME's legal affairs and will be expected to partner with MOME's executive staff, including the leaders of MOME's divisions, to handle legal matters, support major projects, and develop agency policies, procedures, and plans. The General Counsel will also work with other agencies, primarily the Law Department and the Office of Technology and Innovation. The General Counsel should have emotional intelligence, diplomacy, a sense of humor, and significant experience leading and collaborating on complex projects. Although an entertainment law background is helpful, the General Counsel primarily counsels the agency on issues relating to the administration of a government agency.

Specifically, the MOME General Counsel will:

• Counsel MOME on legal issues relating to the administration of a New York City government agency.
• Counsel MOME's staff on a variety of legal subjects including the First Amendment, MOME's regulations, broadcast laws, procurement laws, conflicts of interest laws, employment laws, intellectual property laws, and transparency laws.
• Work with the Commissioner and senior staff to develop strategic plans to carry out MOME's mission and vision.
• Lead a team of four early- to mid-career attorneys and support their professional development.
• Draft and review a high volume of contracts, including intellectual property licenses, procurement contracts, real estate licenses, grant agreements, end user license agreements, programming agreements, appearance consents, marketing credit agreements, inter-agency memoranda of understanding, and other types of contracts.
• Draft public facing documents that explain laws to non-legal laypeople in plain language.
• Oversee MOME's legislative and rulemaking agenda, including commenting on bills and proposed rules, drafting rules and managing all aspects of the rulemaking process, developing MOME's legislative and rulemaking agendas, and tracking bills and proposed rules.
• Oversee the legal review of MOME's public-facing content, including our broadcast content, promotional advertisements, newsletters, and web content.
• Cooperate with the Law Department on litigation and oversee the legal unit's small caseload at the Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings.
• Promote compliance with law through trainings, instructions to staff, reviews, and other means.
• Oversee the work of the FOIL Records Access Officer and Appeals Officer.
• Oversee work on legal reports, including those required by the Federal Communications Commission with respect to MOME's two broadcast licenses.
• Liaise with the Law Department on MOME's trademark portfolio.
• Advise City Hall on legal matters relating to the City's broadcast network, film permits, and press credentials.
• Serve as MOME's Agency Privacy Officer, oversee the work of MOME's Open Data liaison, and other designated positions.
• Represent MOME in meetings with City Hall, other government agencies/offices, and external stakeholders; accompany the Commissioner to City Council hearings.
• Help MOME develop more efficient processes.
• Oversee special projects, as directed by the MOME Commissioner.

HOURS/SHIFT

Day - Due to the necessary management duties of this position in a 24/7 operation, candidate may be required to be on call and/or work various shifts such as weekends and/or nights/evenings.

WORK LOCATION

Manhattan, NY

TO APPLY

Please go to and search for Job ID #751683

• Interested applicants with other civil service titles who meet the preferred requirements should also submit a resume for consideration

SUBMISSION OF A RESUME IS NOT A GUARANTEE THAT YOU WILL RECEIVE AN INTERVIEW

APPOINTMENTS ARE SUBJECT TO OVERSIGHT APPROVAL

If you have a disability and need a reasonable accommodation during the application process, please contact the Disability Services Facilitator at or Please do not send your application or resume to this email address.

OTI participates in E-Verify

EXECUTIVE AGENCY COUNSEL

Minimum Qualifications
Admission to the New York State Bar; and four years of recent full-time responsible, relevant, satisfactory legal experience subsequent to admission to any bar, eighteen months of which must have been in the supervision of other attorneys, in an administrative, managerial or executive capacity, or performing highly complex and significant legal work.

Incumbents must remain Members of the New York State Bar in good standing for the duration of this employment.

Preferred Skills
The preferred candidate should possess several of the following: - At least seven years' experience in a government agency, at least three of which must be in a leadership capacity. (A "leadership capacity" may be formal or informal.) - Significant experience drafting complex or unusual governmental contracts and fluency in the NYC Procurement Policy Board Rules. - Excellent judgment, writing, research, analytical, problem-solving, and decision-making skills with ability to identify compliance risks. - Experience counseling a wide range of clients, including both attorneys, leadership, and agency employees. - A track record of successful advocacy. - Experience interpreting government regulations and an interest in becoming a subject-matter expert in broadcast law applicable to non-commercial educational broadcast stations. - Experience giving presentations, facilitating meetings, and public speaking. - Experience writing in plain language and communicating complex legal issues in plain language to non-legal laypeople, including familiarity with the Federal Plain Language Guidelines. - The capacity to problem-solve to get to "yes" when possible, and, when it's not possible, to say "no" and articulate why. - An ability to stay calm under pressure, express disagreement in a diplomatic way, and model professional behavior. - A genuine passion for at least one of the creative sectors in MOME' portfolio and a strong desire to help media and entertainment industries and workers flourish in NYC. NOTE: The MOME General Counsel primarily counsels MOME on issues relating to the administration of a government agency therefore, an entertainment law background is less important than legal experience in government.

Public Service Loan Forgiveness

As a prospective employee of the City of New York, you may be eligible for federal loan forgiveness programs and state repayment assistance programs. For more information, please visit the U.S. Department of Education's website at

Residency Requirement

New York City Residency is not required for this position

Additional Information

The City of New York is an inclusive equal opportunity employer committed to recruiting and retaining a diverse workforce and providing a work environment that is free from discrimination and harassment based upon any legally protected status or protected characteristic, including but not limited to an individual's sex, race, color, ethnicity, national origin, age, religion, disability, sexual orientation, veteran status, gender identity, or pregnancy.