Department
of the Interior
Departmental
Manual
Effective Date: 9/30/07
Series: Organization
Part 110: Office of the Secretary
Chapter 2: Office of the Solicitor
Originating Office: Office of the Solicitor
110 DM 2
2.1 Overall Organization. The Office of the Solicitor, initially established
pursuant to 43 U.S.C. § 1455, consists of a headquarters organization in
Washington, D.C., and regional and field offices located throughout the United
States. An organization chart is attached.
2.2 Headquarters Organization and
Responsibilities. The Office’s headquarters
organization consists of the Immediate Office of the Solicitor (including the
Solicitor, Deputy Solicitor, the Departmental Ethics Office, and the Indian
Trust Litigation Office), five legal divisions, and an administrative
division. Responsibility for
headquarters functions is divided as follows:
A. Solicitor. The Solicitor is the principal legal adviser
to the Secretary and the chief legal officer of the Department. He or she is responsible for and supervises
all legal work in the Department, other than that specifically delegated to the
Justices of American Samoa, the Office of Congressional and Legislative
Affairs, and the Office of Hearings and Appeals. The authority of the Solicitor, as delegated
by the Secretary, is set forth in 205 DM and 209 DM 3. The Solicitor may be assisted by one or more
Special Assistants.
B. Deputy Solicitor. The Deputy Solicitor manages the daily
operations of the Office. He or she has
full authority to represent the Solicitor in supervising Associate and Regional
Solicitors and the Director of the Departmental Ethics Office in connection with all legal, operational, and
administrative matters; and to provide legal counsel to the Secretary, the
Deputy Secretary, the Secretariat, and the heads of bureaus and offices. In the absence of the Solicitor, the Deputy
Solicitor serves as Acting Solicitor.
C. Departmental Ethics Office. The Departmental Ethics Office is headed by a
director who is the Designated Agency Ethics Official (DAEO) and is designated
the authority to coordinate and manage the Department’s ethics program. The Departmental Ethics Office is solely
responsible for legal counseling on and legal interpretations of laws and
regulations related to ethical conduct, review and certification of financial
disclosure reports, approval of outside work, executing waivers and
authorizations, providing guidance and support to bureau ethics programs, and
serving as the principal contact on ethics matters to the Office of Government
Ethics and the Office of Inspector General.
D. Indian
Trust Litigation Office. The Indian
Trust Litigation Office is in the Immediate Office of the Solicitor and is
headed by a Counselor to the Solicitor.
The Office is responsible for defending litigation brought by Indian
tribes and individual Indians asserting violations of the Secretary’s trust
responsibility for tribal and individual Indian trust funds and for providing
legal advice to Department’s trust bureaus and offices concerning tribal and
individual Indian trust fund accounts.
E. Legal Divisions. Each of the five legal divisions is headed by
an Associate Solicitor who is responsible for legal work related to the
programs and activities of the Office of the Secretary and bureau offices in
the Washington, D.C., area. Each Associate
Solicitor may be assisted by a Deputy Associate Solicitor and one or more
Assistant Solicitors. One of the
Assistant Solicitors may also serve as the Deputy Associate. In the absence of the Associate Solicitor,
the Deputy Associate serves as Acting Associate Solicitor.
(1) Division of Parks
and Wildlife is responsible for legal matters related to the
programs and activities of the National Park Service, Fish and Wildlife Service
and the biological research functions of the Geological Survey. In addition, the Division provides legal
assistance and counsel to the Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and
Parks and the Assistant Secretary - Water and Science on matters relating to
the bureaus named above.
(2) Division of
General Law is responsible for legal matters related to procurement,
patents, and tort claims; insular areas; equal employment opportunity, labor
law, and other personnel matters; and administrative and other general legal
issues, including legislative and appropriations issues not assigned to another
division. In addition, the Division
provides legal assistance and counsel to the Assistant Secretary - Policy,
Management and Budget and to the Endangered Species Committee.
(3) Division of
Indian Affairs is responsible for legal matters related to the
programs and activities of the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Bureau of
Indian Education, except those responsibilities delegated to the Indian Trust
Litigation Office. In addition, the
Division provides legal assistance and counsel to the Assistant Secretary -
Indian Affairs and the Special Trustee for American Indians.
(4) Division of Land
and Water Resources is responsible for legal matters related to the
programs and activities of the Bureau of Reclamation and the Bureau of Land
Management, other than legal matters related to the minerals programs of the
Bureau of Land Management. In addition,
the Division provides legal assistance and counsel to the Assistant Secretary -
Water and Science and the Assistant Secretary - Land and Minerals Management on
matters relating to the bureaus named above.
(5) Division of
Mineral Resources is responsible for legal matters related to the
programs and activities of the Geological Survey, other than those related to
its biological research functions, the Minerals Management Service, and the
Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, as well as legal matters
related to the minerals programs of the Bureau of Land Management. In addition, the Division provides legal
assistance and counsel to the Assistant Secretary - Water and Science and the
Assistant Secretary - Land and Minerals Management on matters relating to the
bureaus named above.
F. Division of Administration. The Division of Administration is headed by
an Associate Solicitor who is responsible for providing and coordinating all
administrative and management support services needed by the Office of the
Solicitor.
(1) The services include budget and accounting,
personnel management, space and property management, procurement, program
evaluation, telecommunications, information services, and records
management. The Associate Solicitor may
be assisted by one or more Branch Chiefs.
(2) The Division of Administration also
includes the Departmental Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and Privacy Act
(PA) Appeals Office, which is headed by the Departmental FOIA/PA Appeals
Officer, who decides FOIA and PA appeals and coordinates and manages the
Department’s FOIA and PA appeals program. The Departmental FOIA/PA Officer is solely
responsible for deciding FOIA and PA appeals.
2.3 Field Organization and Responsibilities. The field structure of the Office of the
Solicitor includes the following:
A. Regional Offices. Each Regional Solicitor is responsible for
legal work related to the programs and activities of the bureaus and offices
within the region. This responsibility
is carried out by the immediate staff in each regional office and by the staff
in the respective field offices. The
Regional Solicitor may be assisted by one or more Deputy and/or Assistant
Regional Solicitors.
B. Field Offices. Each field office is subordinate to a
regional office and is under the direction of a Field Solicitor who reports to
a Regional Solicitor. Each field office
is responsible for legal work related to the programs and activities of the
bureaus and offices within its area. The
Field Solicitor may be assisted by one or more Assistant Field Solicitors.
C. Areas Served. The following paragraphs describe in general
terms the areas served by the eight regions within the Solicitor’s Office which
may include one or more Field Solicitor’s Offices. To the extent practicable, legal services are
provided based on bureau and office regional boundaries, rather than Office of
the Solicitor regional boundaries.
Because such boundaries vary within the Department, the actual areas
served by the Solicitor's regional and field offices overlap to a considerable
extent, with the result that more than one Regional or Field Solicitor's Office
may handle legal matters for different bureaus within a single State. The Solicitor’s Manual identifies the specific
areas served by the regional and field offices, which may vary from this list
to meet the needs of the bureaus and offices.
(1) Northeast Region. Areas served:
Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Maine, Maryland,
Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North
Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Vermont, Virginia, West
Virginia, and Wisconsin. The Office of
the Regional Solicitor is located in the Boston, Massachusetts, metropolitan
area.
(2) Southeast Region. Areas served:
Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi,
North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin
Islands. The Office of the Regional
Solicitor is located in the Atlanta, Georgia, metropolitan area.
(3) Southwest Region. Areas served:
Navajo Reservation, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas. The Office of the Regional Solicitor is
located in the Albuquerque, New Mexico, metropolitan area.
(4) Rocky Mountain
Region. Areas served: Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Montana,
Nebraska, and Wyoming. The Office of the
Regional Solicitor is located in the Denver, Colorado, metropolitan area.
(5) Pacific Southwest
Region. Areas served: California, Hawaii, Nevada, and the Pacific
islands. The Office of the Regional Solicitor
is located in the Sacramento, California, metropolitan area.
(6) Pacific Northwest
Region. Areas served: Idaho, Oregon, and Washington. The Office of the Regional Solicitor is
located in the Portland, Oregon, metropolitan area.
(7) Inter-mountain Region.
Areas served: Arizona and
Utah. The Office of the Regional Solicitor
is located in the Salt Lake City metropolitan area.
(8) Alaska Region. Area served:
Alaska. The Office of the
Regional Solicitor is located in the Anchorage, Alaska, metropolitan area.
9/30/07
#3773
Replaces
9/19/97 #3177