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Broward County school board approves two new General Counsel job descriptions to address contract backlog
Summary
At a March 24 special meeting the Broward County school board unanimously approved two new job descriptions for the General Counsel division to create a senior paralegal/contract administrator and a legal operations administrator, intended to reduce a contract backlog and shore up a legal team operating below authorized staffing levels.
The Broward County school board on March 24 approved two new job descriptions for its General Counsel division aimed at speeding contract processing and relieving a partially staffed legal office.
General Counsel Kathy Dupree Bruno told the board the department is operating at about 60% of authorized attorney staffing — 12 attorney positions were authorized and five are vacant — and that two clerk specialist B positions are also unfilled. She said the district currently has about 66 contracts in the legal queue and is entering a high‑contract season, so the proposed senior paralegal/contract administrator and legal operations administrator positions would manage the contract life cycle and improve workflows. Dupree Bruno said the district plans to pair the new roles with Concord contract‑lifecycle software and to add Westlaw’s CoCounsel AI functionality to aid legal research.
"We are operating under 60%. That naturally has some bottlenecks and can put the district at risk when we are not fully staffed," General Counsel Kathy Dupree Bruno said, summarizing the staffing shortfall and the need for workflow support.
Board members responded favorably to the proposal. Dr. Allen Zeman, the member who moved the item, said the solution matched the diagnosis and suggested the district also explore AI tools to accelerate routine legal work. Another board member asked for clarification about whether positions were being eliminated; Dupree Bruno explained one eliminated position is an attorney and the other is a clerk specialist B, and that combining those two funded the two new roles. She said the net savings from the change would be about $22,000.
One member voiced caution about relying on AI in legal filings, citing recent court admonishments in other jurisdictions for improper use of generative tools; Dupree Bruno responded that the district plans to use Westlaw’s CoCounsel feature, which she said draws only from Westlaw materials, and that the legal team will validate all citations and filings.
The chair called the voice vote; the board voted 'aye' and the chair announced the item passed unanimously (individual roll‑call tallies were not specified in the transcript). The meeting then moved on to other business.
The new job descriptions are intended to be implemented within the General Counsel division; the board did not specify hiring dates in the meeting record. The district’s General Counsel and human resources staff will proceed with recruitment and onboarding according to district procedures.
