Legal Secretary

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. Responsibilities include data input and file maintenance, scheduling appointments, managing correspondence, assisting clients and staff with information requests, and ensuring all court requirements are met. The role provides exceptional customer service to clients, courts, and internal customers and reports to the Administrative Support Manager.

• 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 ensures 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 pleadings, affidavits, warrants, motions and orders, summonses, subpoenas, correspondence, briefs, complaints, appeals, and pretrial agreements in criminal and other cases in accordance with established policies.
  • Reads and analyzes incoming correspondence, faxes, e-mail, memos, submissions, and reports to determine significance and plan distribution.
  • Reviews and distributes mail, including mailing, faxing, or arranging delivery of legal correspondence to clients, witnesses, and court officials.
  • Prepares open cases and submits referrals to the conflict Defender Office.
  • Establishes and maintains case files, ensuring they are complete, up-to-date, and properly formatted for criminal, dependent neglect, mental, and juvenile cases; retrieves legal documents, records, and reports.
  • Inputs data into the Case Management System concerning all clients, case information, closes cases, and runs reports.
  • Scans or copies correspondence, documents, evidence, and other printed material and enters information into the Case Management System.
  • Prepares invoices, reports, memos, letters, financial statements, and other routine documents and inquiries.
  • Maintains filing system and records for various case types and handles file opening and closing.
  • Assists attorneys in collecting employment, medical, and other records.
  • Provides administrative services to management staff and clients such as order placement or case information.
  • Proofreads documents, records, or other files to ensure accuracy.
• B. Discovery (20%)
  • Organizes, prepares, and maintains documents, evidence, trial notebooks, and various exhibits obtained during discovery by subject matter and chronologically for use at depositions, motion hearings, and court proceedings.
  • Gathers and compiles information for exhibits and appendices, and responds to discovery requests received from Public Defenders and Investigators, including requesting documents from County Attorney Office, Police Department, records management, and other sources.
  • Retrieves and copies all documentation that relates to a particular case, subject, event, or person; evaluates relevance and submits to a Public Defender/Investigator for review.
• C. Other Duties as Assigned (10%)
  • Receives, resolves, or refers complaints to appropriate individuals.
  • May attend legal meetings, such as client interviews or depositions, and take notes.
  • May assist with legal research by reviewing publications and performing database searches to identify relevant laws and court decisions.
  • Performs other duties as assigned.

Typical office environment; uses computer, telephone system, and other office equipment. Minimal travel may be required, approximately 5% of the time.

• Knowledge of office administrative processes and procedures.
• Knowledge of bookkeeping and recordkeeping.
• Effective written and oral communication skills.
• Professional customer service skills.
• Ability to operate a personal computer and general office…