Job Title: Paralegal - Litigation
Job Responsibilities:
The litigation paralegal at the law firm will perform a variety of duties to support attorneys in their litigation practice. Key responsibilities include:
- Recording daily billable time in the time and billing system.
- Drafting correspondence, case status reports, and budgets.
- Preparing and drafting pleadings such as answers, motions, notices, orders, calendar requests, subpoenas, affidavits, and other court filings.
- Drafting discovery requests and responses.
- Drafting settlement agreements and releases.
- Conferencing with clients/insureds regarding discovery responses, mediation, depositions, etc.
- Locating, contacting, and/or interviewing parties, witnesses, and experts.
- Communicating with opposing counsel, co-counsel, clients, insureds, expert witnesses, court personnel, and others to facilitate case progress.
- Coordinating with vendors regarding copying, preparation of exhibits, imaging, etc.
- Preparing information for experts, including pleadings, demographics, and medical records, and maintaining records of the same.
- Reviewing and analyzing large quantities of documents for confidentiality, privilege, work product, and relevance before production to plaintiff's counsel.
- Maintaining deposition errata sheets.
- Preparing medical and event chronologies.
- Summarizing depositions and discovery responses from other parties.
- Preparing and updating indices of pleadings, discovery, and other file materials.
- Organizing, analyzing, and maintaining case files, including documents, discovery, pleadings, medical records, and trial notebooks.
- Performing online research regarding criminal records, driving records, and civil suit histories.
- Conducting legal research.
- Cite-checking briefs and assisting in the preparation of supporting exhibits.
- Creating databases, coding documents, and loading deposition transcripts into Eclipse.
- Assisting with preparations for hearings, mediations, and trials, including preparation of exhibits, PowerPoint presentations, notebooks, etc.
- Maintaining attorney deadlines and calendar.
- Performing any other related tasks that may be assigned by management or supervising attorneys.
Education and Experience Information:
Candidates for the paralegal position must meet one of the following educational or experience requirements:
- A four-year degree.
- A paralegal certificate from an ABA-accredited paralegal program.
- At least 10 years of experience working as a paralegal.
Knowledge/Skills/Abilities:
The ideal candidate should possess the following skills and abilities:
- Proficiency in the Microsoft Office Suite, including Word and Outlook.
- Minimum typing speed of 50 words per minute.
- Knowledge of document management software such as NetDocuments and Aderant is helpful.
- Must be flexible and detail-oriented.
- Excellent client service or interpersonal skills.
- Strong verbal and written communication skills.
- Excellent time management skills.
- Strong organizational skills and attention to detail.
- Ability to work under pressure and handle conflicting priorities.
- Ability to maintain confidential information.
- Ability to provide paralegal support for two or more attorneys.
- Ability to complete tasks in a timely fashion and manage/meet deadlines.
- Ability to work independently or as part of a team, using initiative in all aspects of assignments.
- Keen observation skills.
- North Carolina litigation paralegal experience is required.
- Working knowledge or familiarity with NC and Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and Rules of Evidence.
Expectations:
The law firm has set the following expectations for the role:
- Regular attendance five days per week, consistently on time (unless pre-approved or on a modified schedule).
- Accuracy of work product.
- Aspire to record 100 or more billable hours per month.
Salary Information:
The text provided does not include specific salary information for the paralegal position.
