Paralegal or Senior Paralegal

Paralegal or Senior Paralegal

Employment Type: 0 - Full-time Regular 
Pay Range: $62,092.00 - 113,612.00
Location: Castle Rock, CO
Overtime Exempt: N 
Elected Office / Department: COUNTY ATTORNEY

This is professional litigation support, legal research, and paralegal work in the County Attorney's office. The County Attorney’s Office is a fast-paced, high-volume workplace responsible for the entire range of legal matters for the County including providing critical legal support  in such areas as labor and employment, civil rights, constitutional law, public records, purchasing and contracts, land use approval process, and real property matters.

Qualifications, education and experience as it relates to the position will be taken into consideration when determining hiring salary.
Paralegal: Generally, the hiring range is $62,092-$77,615 annually. 
Sr. Paralegal: Generally, the hiring range is $75,742-$94,677 annually. 

Douglas County offers an excellent comprehensive benefit package including but not limited to: Medical/Dental/Vision/Retirement. For a more detailed overview please view the full Employee Benefit Guide. 

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES: (The following examples are illustrative only and are not intended to be all inclusive.)

• Researches and analyzes legal resources including U.S. and State statutes, Federal and State judicial and agency decisions, rules and regulations, and commercial legal reference materials utilizing online legal research databases.
• Managing the eDiscovery process; reviewing, organizing, indexing, scanning/uploading, Bates stamping, redacting, and preparing voluminous amounts of materials, as well as preserving the confidentiality of the privileged discovery or investigation components for dissemination that are received in various hard and electronic formats including through SharePoint and OneDrive.
• Working with various county departments to obtain, collect and organize material 
• Assistance with entering cases and data into the case management system; demonstrated experience organizing and maintaining physical and electronic confidential files.
• Proficient in Office 365, SharePoint, OneDrive, eDiscovery programs, case management programs and Adobe Professional.
• Investigates facts and applicable laws to determine legal issues and recommends course of action to supervising attorneys.
• Prepares and reviews, under the supervision of an attorney, legal documents including contracts, intergovernmental agreements, professional service agreements, resolutions, ordinances, and pleadings.
• Conducts litigation investigation, interviews witnesses, and reviews factual evidence.
• Responsible for collecting data, preparing the department budget, and meeting deadlines for the next year’s budget
• Prepares vouchers for payment and records budget expenditures.  Monitors budget to prevent over-expenditures.
• Reviews and summarizes pending Federal and State legislation.
• Drafts litigation documents including summonses, complaints, answers, various motions, responses to motions, discovery related documents, and pleadings related to condemnation proceedings.
• Assists in the preparation of demonstrative exhibits and trial exhibit notebooks for state and federal court proceedings. 
• Maintain litigation calendars and file litigation documents with State and Federal Courts.
• Maintains law library.
• Performs other duties as assigned.

Senior Paralegal: 

• Serves as lead support staff member for project assignments in the areas of legal research and the preparation of legal documents.
• Conducts advanced research and analysis utilizing legal resources including U.S. and State statutes, Federal and State judicial and agency decisions, rules and regulations, and commercial legal reference materials.
• Performs specialized project assignments in the areas of land use, real estate transactions, litigation matters and mental health proceedings
• Provides guidance and oversight to lower classified legal analyst, and legal assistant, in areas of legal research, fact gathering, drafting legal documents and general assistance to non-legal staff.
• Represents legal department at various county staff meetings and provides general legal guidance to non-legal staff.
• Negotiates and monitors purchase agreements with legal resource vendors.
• Provides guidance and oversight to Legal Analyst (I) and Legal Assistant in the areas of legal research, fact gathering, drafting legal documents and general assistance to non-legal staff.
• Represents legal department at various county staff meetings and provides general legal guidance to non-legal staff.

SUPERVISION RECEIVED:  Receives general supervision.

SUPERVISORY RESPONSIBILITIES:  This position has no supervisory authority over other employees.

INDEPENDENT JUDGMENT:  Work is performed independently within general policy guidelines.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS:

EDUCATION and/or EXPERIENCE: 

Paralegal:

• An associate’s degree in a related field. 
• Three years of experience in a legal office.
• A combination of experience and education may be considered. 

Senior Paralegal: 

• A bachelor’s degree in a related field. 
• Ten years of progressively responsible experience in a legal office, specializing in government issues.
• A combination of experience and education may be considered. 

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS AND ABILITIES:

Knowledge: 

• Knowledge of legal terminology and processes.
• Knowledge of legal research techniques and civil investigation procedures sufficient to be able to determine relevant information, locate reference material, compile, and analyze appropriate information and formulate logical recommendations.
• Considerable knowledge of state and federal court rules and procedures.
• Read and comprehend department and County rules, regulations, policies, standard operating procedures

Skills: 

• Read, analyze, and interpret journals, financial reports, and legal documents.
• Respond to common inquiries or concerns from regulatory agencies, department officials, county employees and the public.
• Draft various forms of legal documents.
• Effectively present information in both oral and written form.
• Define problems, collect data, establish facts, and draw valid conclusions.
• Skill in the use of a computer for legal research using WestLaw and related office equipment.
• Skills in utilizing document management and case management cloud-based systems.
• Ability to compose legal pleadings.

Abilities: 

• Read and comprehend legal authority and memoranda.
• Establish and maintain effective working relationships.
• Discretion in decision-making and ability to maintain confidentiality.
• Ability to work independently and demonstrate effective time management skills.

CERTIFICATIONS, LICENSES, & REGISTRATIONS:

• An ABA approved Paralegal certificate is required.
• This position requires successful completion of a criminal background check including fingerprinting through a national database.

WORK ENVIRONMENT:

Physical Work Environment:  Work is generally performed in a typical office environment. Work involves contact with department and elected officials, county employees, court officials, law enforcement, attorneys, and the public.

Physical Demands:  Position is primarily sedentary with heavy computer work. Must be able to communicate effectively (hearing and speaking).

Material and Equipment Directly Used: Computer, iPad or similar, smartphone, copy/fax machine, and similar equipment.

ACCESSIBILITY/AVAILABILITY:  This position requires the incumbent to remain available via mobile cellular device/email access during and after normally scheduled business hours.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

Closing Date: 11/22/2024 5:59PM MST. Review of applications will begin immediately and continue until a suitable candidate is selected.

 

The job details outlined in this posting may represent a modified summary of the full job description. For a full copy of the job description CLICK HERE to view our job classifications.

 

In the event of an emergency/disaster in or near the County, all County employees are expected to make every effort to be available to assist the County Manager, Elected/Appointed Officials and Department Directors to ensure the continued operation of any and all necessary County functions.  This may mean being available to perform additional duties and hours beyond what is normally required.  In the event that an exempt employee does work more than 40 hours a week in support of County operations during an emergency, such employee may receive overtime or other appropriate wage compensation in accordance with existing County policies or at the discretion of the County.

Salary

• $62,092 - $113,612