DEPUTY GENERAL COUNSEL - 82632

Executive Service

DEPUTY GENERAL COUNSEL

Department of Health

Office of General Counsel

Nashville, TN

Minimum Annual Salary: $161,736.00

Closing Date: 11/30/2026

Position is hybrid and is required to work in-office twice per week minimum.

Background Check:

This position requires a criminal background check. Therefore, you may be required to provide information about your criminal history in order to be considered for this position.

Who We Are and What We Do:

TDH incorporates our Values (Collaboration, Excellence, Integrity, Compassion, Respect, and Health Equity) into the work we do each day to achieve our Mission (Protect, promote, and improve the health and well-being of all people in Tennessee), live our Vision (Healthy People, Healthy Communities, and Healthy Tennessee) and address our two strategic priorities of prevention and access.

Job Overview:

The Tennessee Department of Health is seeking a Deputy General Counsel to lead the day-to-day operations of the Office of General Counsel's main office and provide high-level legal guidance to Department leadership, programs, and attorneys. This position requires supervision, legal quality review, public-records coordination, rulemaking oversight, legislative analysis, and specialized counsel on HIPAA and other compliance matters. This position serves as a trusted legal advisor to Departmental public health leadership. It requires an experienced attorney who can manage competing priorities, professionally develop attorneys and staff, coordinate complex work across the Department, and deliver accurate, practical legal advice in a timely manner. This position also serves as the Office of General Counsel's public records request coordinator and plays a central role in ensuring that Department rules and legislative responses are legally sound and completed on schedule.

Key Responsibilities:

• Lead daily operations for the central Office of General Counsel, including equitable work assignment, workload monitoring, performance follow-up, mentoring, and general supervision of attorneys and staff.
• Review the status and quality of work involving subpoenas, personnel matters, contracts, rulemaking, bill analyses, advisory opinions, and other recurring legal services.
• Build a strong attorney-client relationship between the Office of General Counsel and Department programs through responsive communication, collaboration, and practical legal guidance.
• Serve as the Department's public records request coordinator for the Office of General Counsel. Coordinate with Department offices and staff to respond timely and lawfully to Tennessee Open Records Act requests and related media-response issues.
• Review proposed public-records productions for appropriate redaction and protection of HIPAA-protected health information, confidential information, privileged communications, and other legally protected material.
• Coordinate, draft, and review legally sufficient rules and supporting documents, including justification memoranda, economic impact statements, regulatory flexibility analyses, and responses to required gubernatorial review questions.
• Oversee rulemaking procedures, including hearings, approvals, routing to the Attorney General, filing with the Secretary of State, and appearances before the Government Operations Committee when needed.
• Coordinate legislative-session work by assigning and reviewing bill analyses, evaluating proposed legislation against existing law, entering accurate analyses in the Department's legislative tracking system, and advising on amendments.
• Serve as lead counsel on HIPAA and HIPAA-hybrid questions and provide legal advice regarding statutory interpretation, compliance, and general program operations.
• Complete or oversee special projects, trainings, meetings, and other assignments that support the Department's legal, operational, and public-service missions.

Minimum Qualifications:

• Juris Doctor degree from an accredited law school.
• Admission to practice law in Tennessee.
• Minimum 10 years practicing law, preferably in government, public health, health care, administrative law, regulatory compliance, employment, contracts, or a related field.
• Experience supervising, mentoring, or coordinating the work of attorneys or other professional staff.
• Strong knowledge of legal research, statutory interpretation, administrative rulemaking, public-records law, and professional legal judgment, and ability to analyze complex issues, explain legal requirements to non-lawyers, and offer practical options that support sound decision-making.
• Experience applying HIPAA, health-information privacy requirements, or other health-care compliance laws.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills, sound organization, and the ability to meet urgent deadlines while maintaining accuracy and confidentiality.
• Ability to work collaboratively with executive leadership, program officials, attorneys, compliance professionals, legislative staff, and external partners.
• Please submit a cover letter and writing sample with your application. The cover letter should describe your supervisory experience, public-sector or health-law background, and approach to providing practical legal advice. We are interested in reviewing a legal writing sample, less than 10 pages, demonstrating your legal analysis and writing skills.

Pursuant to the State of Tennessee's Workplace Discrimination and Harassment policy, the State is firmly committed to the principle of fair and equal employment opportunities for its citizens and strives to protect the rights and opportunities of all people to seek, obtain, and hold employment without being subjected to illegal discrimination and harassment in the workplace. It is the State's policy to provide an environment free of discrimination and harassment of an individual because of that person's race, color, national origin, age (40 and over), sex, pregnancy, religion, creed, disability, veteran's status or any other category protected by state and/or federal civil rights laws.