HAGÅTÑA (The Guam Daily Post) — Reports of attorneys leaving the Office of the Attorney General could not be confirmed by Attorney General Douglas Moylan. However, he did confirm his office is going through another performance reorganization.
“I am unable to discuss personnel matters pursuant to the personnel rules and regulations,” Moylan told The Guam Daily Post.
According to the attorney general, the ongoing performance reorganization was being conducted to “better fulfill the will of the voters.”
“That ongoing reorganization is designed to increase our performance to fulfill this AG’s election promises to our people, which are now legal policies at this law office,” he said.
For the last 9 months, Moylan said, he has been selecting and training deputies. Deputies appointed by the AG are only in acting capacities. Moylan said this is to ensure they are a “good fit with the AG and his command staff in fulfilling his main promise to “crack down on crime.”
His goal: Win criminal trials.
Turnover
The AG’s office has about 160 employees. As such, Moylan said the turnover seen at the office is “characteristic of such a large government department.”
He confirmed there’s a constant flow of weekly resignations and hiring for many reasons, which include leaving island, retirement notices, lifestyle changes and transfers to other departments.
“We have been consistently hiring new staff to fulfill this AG’s promises and overall duties as others leave for various reasons. Furthermore, like in other departments in the government, the AG’s office is no different in needing to take adverse actions against employees who appear to have violated our personnel rules and regulations,” Moylan said.
Currently, the AG has 30 attorneys, 11 to 12 of whom are full- or part-time prosecutors.
“We have more if you count in the contracted prosecutors. Twenty-one full-time prosecutors is my goal. However, we are achieving similar performance results with various organizational efficiencies and procedures,” he said.
The roster of prosecutors is supplemented by eight law firms the attorney general has contracted with and uses on an as-needed basis.
“Additionally, we have four attorneys that are going through their final hiring paperwork and should all be here in the next 30 to 60 days. We also have several others who are in various stages of recruitment,” he said.
Recruitment
Because the pool of attorneys on the island is small, Moylan said, he is actively recruiting from off island. In fact, during his first term as AG, he hired an off-island attorney to fill the role of chief prosecutor.
“About two decades ago, when I was the first elected AG, I brought in Fred Canavor from off island to be my chief prosecutor due to the limited lack of options on island and the importance that the chief prosecutor be capable and insulated from local political connections and family ties,” he said.
But he also noted that former staff attorneys are asking to come back.
“As mentioned, some attorneys and staff who left my AG administration earlier this year are asking to come back. I make no bones about it, recruiting is hard. What’s harder is making sure that the staff performs to my standards to implement the will of the voters. The old AG was thrown out of office by our voters because they wanted legal performance and to be safer. That is our new mantra, which we call the new legal policy to be the ‘Toughest Law Enforcers,’” he said.
Since taking office, the AG’s manpower is “much leaner.” According to Moylan, he leads an “effective team of hardworking professionals,” adding the office has a “crack staff of prosecutors, investigators, paralegals, legal secretaries, process servers and support staff that can do the legal work correctly.”
Transfers
The ongoing reorganization and reassignments impact clerical staff as well as attorneys. In a memorandum dated Sept. 11, Moylan transferred administrative supervisor Vivian Nisperos and paralegal Zina Lubasan to new assignments.
“Ms. Vivian Nisperos is hereby transferred to assist (the Child Support Enforcement Division) effective on Monday, Sept. 18, 2023. Ms. Zina Lubasan shall be assigned the duties of Ms. V. Nisperos, including Ms. Lubasan continuing to oversee the General Crimes paralegals and legal clerks,” the memo said.
According to Moylan, the transfers were in response to staff shortages in the Child Support Enforcement Division, which resulted in “numerous clerical problems affecting attorney court appearances and filings, inefficiencies and delays in implementing new legal policies adversely affecting the operation of this law office.”
He added that he would be conducting further reorganizing and testing the effectiveness of certain changes in the upcoming months.
Administrative assistant Marichelle Gabay works at her desk in the Office of the Attorney General of Guam at the Guam International Trade Center in Tamuning on Thursday, Aug. 17, 2023.
Douglas Moylan
