Legal Secretary

Overview

Job Description - Legal Secretary )

Position Title:

Legal Secretary - (  )

To be considered for OPD positions, applicants must complete and submit their application online, as well as upload any required application materials.

Our Mission

To Provide the Most Compassionate and Expert Defense of Clients and the Constitution

Our Vision

Creating Expert Teams of Advocates for Justice, Bringing Respect and Dignity to our Clients to Achieve Holistic and Equitable Outcomes

Reasons to work for the Office of the Public Defender: Our work changes lives! OPD’s work makes a difference for the people in our communities. Public Defenders work for their clients, protect constitutional rights, and ensure the system remains fair. We are proud of the work we do. To find out more about OPD visit our website.

Benefits of working for OPD: The ability to work and play in the beautiful state of Montana is one of the benefits you will love about this opportunity! Montana offers theaters, museums, fairs, rodeos, a high-quality educational system, and many recreational opportunities. Montana's mountains, rivers, and lakes provide year-round opportunities for outdoor enthusiasts. Fishing, hiking, camping, boating, biking, hunting, skiing, and snowmobiling can be accessed throughout our great state.

Other fantastic benefits include:

• Health coverage
• Paid vacation, sick leave, and holidays
• Work/life balance
• Opportunities and room for professional growth
• References: Please provide contact information for (2) current or former supervisors and (1) professional peer.

About this Opportunity!

Job Overview:

The Legal Secretary is instrumental in ensuring the effective operations of Public Defender offices by performing a variety of high level administrative and legal office support activities. This position’s responsibilities are to ensure the smooth and effective operations of the office which include but are not limited to data input and maintaining files, scheduling appointments, providing correspondence, assisting clients and office staff with information requests, and that all court requirements are met throughout the designated location.

The Legal Secretary provides exceptional customer services to all clients, courts and internal customers in support of Public Defender Offices and reports to the Administrative Support Manager.

Essential Functions (Major Duties or Responsibilities):

A. Legal Office Support (70%)

• Manages and provides information regarding requests from clients, courts and office staff.
• Arranges meetings, conferences and schedules appointments for clients, staff and management;
  Coordinates office functions with other state and local government offices.
• Creates, reviews and maintains court calendars and provides complete and factual court calendars to appropriate parties and makes sure attorneys are notified.
• Receives and screens office visitors and telephone calls.
• Formats, drafts, prepares a wide variety of time sensitive and official legal documents such as legal pleadings, affidavits, warrants, motions and orders, summonses, subpoenas, correspondence, briefs, complaints, appeals, and pretrial agreements, stipulations, finding of facts, judgments, dismissals, and related documents in criminal cases and other public defender cases in accordance with instructions established in policies and procedures.
• Reads and analyzes incoming correspondence, faxes, e-mail, memos, submissions, and reports to determine their significance and plan their distribution.
• Reviews and distributes mail including mailing, fax, or arranging delivery of legal correspondence to clients, witnesses, and court officials.
• Prepares open cases and submits referrals to the conflict Defender Office.
• Establish and maintain case files and ensures that such files are complete, up to date and in proper format and order, for criminal, dependent neglect, mental, and juvenile cases; retrieves legal documents, records, and reports.
• Inputs data into Case Management System concerning all clients, case information, closes cases and runs reports from the OPD Case Management System.
• Scans or copies correspondence, documents, evidence, and other printed material and enters…