Administrative Legal Secretary - Civil Appeals

Administrative Legal Secretary - Civil Appeals

The Office of the Utah Attorney General has an immediate opening for an Administrative Legal Secretary in the Civil Appeals Division. Incumbents provide more complex legal secretary services and manage the administrative tasks for the Division. Incumbents in this job may also serve as lead or first-line supervisors to legal secretary trainees, legal secretaries, and other support staff in the Civil Appeals Division.

This position may be underfilled as a Legal Secretary. A legal secretary is responsible for performing a variety of legal secretarial duties such as preparing legal documents, scheduling, collecting and organizing data and exhibits in connection with litigation and providing other related support to Attorneys and/or Legal Assistants as needed to expedite legal services in a state agency.

• Prepare, proofread, and format briefs, motions, correspondence, and other legal documents for state and federal appellate courts. Ensure compliance with court rules, deadlines, and formatting requirements.
• Create and maintain Word-generated Tables of Contents and Tables of Authorities, including accurate citations, cross-references, and pagination. Build and update appendices, addenda, and other supporting sections required by appellate rules.
• File documents electronically and in hard copy as required, ensuring filings are complete, timely, and properly formatted.
• Manage case files and records in the Office case management database, including billing entries, deadlines, and related documentation.
• Collect and verify case data, locate documents in court records, and review research materials for accuracy and appropriateness.
• Maintain Division calendar, schedule meetings, coordinate appointments, and calendar court deadlines.
• Correspond with court clerks and other contacts to resolve filing or procedural issues.
• Provide administrative support, including reception duties, expense reporting, equipment requests, and other tasks for attorneys and Division staff.
• Apply knowledge of legal terminology, citation formats, and appellate procedure in preparing documents and supporting casework.

Technical Skills

• Advanced Microsoft Word skills, including formatting, section breaks, cross-references, and generation of Tables of Contents and Tables of Authorities.
• Proficiency with PDF editing tools (Adobe Acrobat or comparable software), including creating bookmarks, hyperlinks, and applying court-specific formatting.
• Familiarity with electronic court filing systems for state and federal appellate courts.
• Experience with case management systems such as Legal Files.

The successful applicant must have the following knowledge, skills and abilities, or be able to learn them upon entry into the position.

• The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
• The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
• The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
• The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
• The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing there is a problem.
• The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
• The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
• The ability to generate or use different sets of rules for combining or grouping things in different ways.
• The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
• The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
• The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
• Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work related documents.
• Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
• Communicating effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of the audience.
• Talking to others to convey information effectively.
• Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems.
• Being aware of others' reactions and understanding why they react as they do.
• Adjusting actions in relation to others' actions.
• Managing one's own time and the time of others.
• Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.
• Knowledge of administrative and clerical procedures and systems such as word processing, managing files and records, stenography and transcription, designing forms, and other office procedures and terminology.
• Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
• Knowledge of applications and programming.
• Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
• Knowledge of laws, legal codes, court procedures, precedents, government regulations, executive orders, agency rules, and the democratic political process.

• Risks found in the typical office setting, which is adequately lighted, heated and ventilated, e.g., safe use of office equipment, avoiding trips and falls, observing fire regulations, etc.
• Typically, the employee may sit comfortably to perform the work; however, there may be some walking; standing; bending; carrying light items; driving an automobile, etc. Special physical demands are not required to perform the work.
• The position may occasionally require the successful candidate to work outside of regular business hours.