Legal Staff Legal Secretary in Stockton, CA

Government

Stockton, CA

Legal Staff Legal Secretary in Stockton, CA

Legal Staff

No

Job Title: Program Specialist - Legal Secretary

Job Responsibilities:
The Program Specialist - Legal Secretary position involves performing a variety of confidential, complex, and specialized clerical, secretarial, and paraprofessional duties within the City Attorney's Office. The primary responsibilities include:

- Providing litigation support to the Office of the City Attorney, which involves assisting attorneys in preparing motions and discovery, managing the intake of new cases, and scheduling hearings, trials, and depositions.
- Preparing, indexing, and filing legal documents by researching and assembling information from a variety of sources to prepare legal documents such as briefs, pleadings, appeals, contracts, and affidavits.
- Typing and transcribing various forms of correspondence and legal documents, including reports, forms, court pleadings, and other specialized legal documents from drafts, notes, and resolutions using a personal computer.
- Proofreading and checking legal documents and other materials for accuracy, completeness, and compliance with departmental policies and regulations.
- Maintaining and organizing litigation and other departmental files, including the copying, filing, and maintenance of individual case files.
- Acting as a receptionist, receiving and screening visitors and telephone calls, and directing calls to the appropriate person or personally handling the call.
- Arranging meetings by notifying participants and reserving rooms.
- Providing information to the public or City staff as required, necessitating the use of independent judgment and interpretation of policies, rules, or procedures.
- Assisting with various tasks including compiling information and data for statistical and financial reports, maintaining a variety of records, checking and tabulating data, and preparing simple statistical reports.
- Operating standard office equipment and various computer applications.

Education and Experience Information:
For the position of Legal Secretary, the candidate must possess a high school diploma or GED and have three (3) years of secretarial experience in a law office within the last five (5) years. The experience should include performing increasingly responsible and complex clerical work, including the preparation of various pleadings, motions, discoveries, and calendaring. College or business school coursework in law office administration is desirable. Additionally, candidates must possess a valid typing certificate for at least 60 net words per minute from a recognized organization, which is no older than two years.

For the Paralegal position, the candidate must possess a high school diploma or GED and have either three (3) years of experience as a Legal Secretary with demonstrated proficiency to perform at the level of the higher classification or one (1) year of progressively responsible experience as a Paralegal working under the supervision of an attorney. A valid Paralegal Certificate from a recognized paralegal program approved by the American Bar Association or a Juris Doctorate from a California Accredited Law School is required.

Salary Information:
The hourly salary for the Program Specialist - Legal Secretary position is . For the Legal Secretary class, the salary ranges from to per hour, which translates to a biweekly salary of $2, to $2, and an annual salary range of $57, to $73,.

Additional Requirements:
- Possession or ability to obtain a valid California driver's license.
- Knowledge of legal research and case review, standard legal references, legal terminology, forms, and documents used in legal clerical work, and English usage, spelling, grammar, and punctuation.
- Familiarity with modern office practices, procedures, and equipment, civil procedure, law and motion rules, structure of the California Court System, and local, state, and federal rules of court.
- Proficiency in various computer software such as Excel, Microsoft Word, and PowerPoint.
- Understanding of municipal legal procedures and practices involved in composing, processing, and filing a variety of legal documents.

Physical and Mental Abilities:
- Constant sitting for long periods of time while operating a keyboard, occasional walking, bending, stooping, kneeling, reaching, pushing, and pulling.
- Occasional lifting of 10 pounds or less.
- Constant use of overall visual capabilities, frequent need for use of color perception, hand/eye coordination, reading, and/or close-up work.
- Frequent holding, grasping, typing, repetitive motion, and writing.
- Constant hearing and talking of normal speech in person and on the telephone, occasionally speaking in front of large groups of people.
- May require occasional weekend or evening work.
- Constant concentration, decision making, and public contact, occasional ability to exercise sound judgment, especially under stressful situations, and working alone.
- Primarily performed in an office environment which is typically moderately quiet, but may be loud at times and at some locations.

Note: This position is part-time, at-will, and non-exempt under the FLSA. It is not represented by a bargaining unit, and the incumbents may work up to 20 hours a week, but no more than 960 hours per fiscal year. The work schedule follows the City of Stockton's 9/80 schedule, with hours varying between 7:30 . and 5:30 . from Monday to Thursday and between 8:00 . and 5:00 . on Friday, with alternating Fridays off.