Legal Support 1 or 2

JOB TITLE:  Legal Support Staff 1 or 2

DEPARTMENT/UNIT: Legal Advocacy Unit

REPORTS TO (TITLE): Litigation Support Manager

LOCATION: Los Angeles, Ontario, San Diego, Bay, Sacramento or Fresno (Hybrid)

EMPLOYMENT STATUS: Nonexempt; Fulltime, Regular, 37.5 hours

SALARY (Depending on Experience): $22.71 - $36.59 per hour

WHO WE ARE

Disability Rights California (DRC) defends, advances, and strengthens the rights and opportunities of people with disabilities.

DRC works for a world where all disabled people have power and are treated with dignity and respect. In this world, people with disabilities are supported, valued, included in their communities, afford the same opportunities as people without disabilities, and make their own decisions.

DRC values all forms of human diversity. We are committed to a culture of belonging where all people are welcome. In order to be effective advocates for all people with disabilities, we must address discrimination in all its forms, including the unique challenges faced by people who experience the intersection of multiple systems of discrimination.

OUR CULTURE

Disability Rights California is recognized as Gold Level Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Leader by the State Bar of California! We work to promote and create a culture where people feel empowered to be their true authentic selves to do their best work for our clients and the communities we serve.  

PURPOSE OF THE JOB

The Legal Support 1/2 serves as the primary support to enhance the effectiveness of the legal/advocacy staff by providing legal, litigation and administrative support to a team of attorneys. 

This position provides legal support to multiple attorneys and cases. A Legal Support 1/2 assists attorneys in preparing litigation cases from onset through post-trial; manages projects as assigned by attorneys (this can range from production to case file management, prepping for depositions or trial); assist with production or creation of various legal forms and pleadings, correspondence, and other case related documents.

This position requires flexibility, as it requires working in the office to complete tasks. 

JOB RESPONSIBILITIES

DRC provides reasonable disability accommodations to enable qualified individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. 

Legal Support 1 essential functions include:

Technical 80% 

• This position formats, files, and serves legal pleadings in multiple jurisdictions, including State, Federal, and appellate courts or Office of Administrative Hearings. 
• Performs clerical and secretarial work; and coordinates and schedules court-related services with specific instruction. 
• Interact with courts, administrative agencies, governmental entities, co-counsel, opposing counsel, or witnesses; 
• Calendaring and ensuring deadlines are met; 
• Compose correspondence. 
• Establishes and maintains case and administrative files and records; ensure confidentiality of files and records. 
• Arrange meetings/ Prepares agendas. 
• Other duties as assigned.

Customer Service –20%

• Communicate with clients, direct telephone calls, and coordinate conference calls.
• Communicate with other Practice Groups, Departments, and Units. 

Legal Support 2 essential functions include:

Technical –80%

• Proficiency in working without constant supervision, individually or as part of a team, to achieve project goals.
• Coordinate, assemble, and serve multi-document filings in Administrative Agencies, Federal and State courts. Familiarity with E-filing is a must.
• Perform and oversee both simple and complex cite checking and proof reading of briefs and other legal documents.
• In addition to preparing shells for complaints, motions, must also be familiar with preparing subpoenas, summonses and written discovery.
• Establish, maintain and monitor recordkeeping work in connection with data/document management and case management following DRC and case protocols.
• Schedule/calendar court appearances, depositions, arbitrations, mediations, client meetings, conference calls, and maintains calendar and due dates for attorneys as required.
• Prepare motion binders and special working binders.
• Establishes and maintains filing and records, electronic formats.
• Assists with the discovery process, including preparing for deposition, propounding, and responding to written discovery and preparing for expert discovery.
• Assists with trial preparation, including creating trial notebooks/binders, identifying, and organizing exhibits, coordinating witness schedules, maintaining trial calendars, and communicating effectively with opposing counsel and courtroom staff.
• Ensures that all correspondence or other documentation is formatted, proofread, and dispatched in a timely manner.
• Perform online legal research for legal advocacy staff.
• Sorts, reads, and annotates incoming mail and documents as required. 
• Create and maintain legal templates and forms.
• Generate and prepare attorney’s fees and expense reports.
• Provide mentorship, review, and verify support staff’s work including researching and understanding court rules (federal & state) court as they apply to deadlines, filings and formatting of documents.
• Assists with printing, scanning, organizing exhibit notebooks/binders and preparing service. 
• Make documents accessible.
• Works collaboratively within and across practice groups.
• Ability to track time contemporaneously. 
• As needed assist with Office Operations tasks and coverage.
• Other duties as assigned.

Customer Service –20%

• Communicate with clients, direct telephone calls, and coordinate conference calls.
• Communicate with other Practice Groups, Departments, and Units. 

TRAVEL REQUIREMENTS

Ability to travel infrequently for activities such as practice group and support staff meetings, training, or outreach activities up to 10% of the time.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS - LEGAL SUPPORT 1

• High school diploma or general education degree (GED)
• At least one-year of legal support experience (or two-years) of other administrative experience using Microsoft Office 
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite, Office 365, including Teams, Word, Outlook, and Excel

DESIRED QUALIFICATIONS - LEGAL SUPPORT 1

• Two or more years of legal secretarial experience. 
• Experience using database applications, web-based applications, or work-flow systems.
• Experience using Microsoft Office suite programs, including Sharepoint, and PowerPoint.
• Experience working in a virtual environment.
• Experience working with nonprofit and/or social service agencies.
• Contacts with, and/or lived experience within, disability organizations and/or within disability communities.
• Contacts with, and/or lived experience within, multi-ethnic organizations and/or within multi-ethnic communities.
• Contacts with and/or lived experience within low-income communities.
• Experience working with and/or sensitivity to persons with disabilities and/or experience working with and/or sensitivity to persons from multi-ethnic communities.
• Life experience as a person with a disability OR direct experience as a caregiver of a family member with a disability.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS - LEGAL SUPPORT 2

• Five (5) years of law office Litigation Support experience working on state and federal case matters.
• Two years of experience successfully leading, developing, mentoring and training other legal support staff 
• A certificate of completion of a paralegal program approved by the American Bar Association or an accredited postsecondary institution as defined in California Business and Professions Code Section 6450 (c)(2) can substitute one year of law office Litigation Support experience.
• Demonstrated Project Management skills is a MUST. The ability to divide and delegate a larger task in smaller manageable assignments to meet a goal.
• Proficient using Microsoft Office 365 (Teams, Word, Excel, SharePoint), and knowledge using case management and calendaring software and applications.

SKILLS AND COMPETENCIES - LEGAL SUPPORT 2

• Proficient in complying with the rules of court for lodging, filing and serving court documents.
• Competency in the creation and drafting of a variety of legal court documents.
• Knowledge and familiarity in both existing and emerging software applications.
• Excellent interpersonal skills, communication skills, and the ability to collaborate well in a team. 
• Strong ability to maintain high standards, use good judgment and seek out ways to contribute and anticipate needs.
• Strong attention to detail, organizational skills, and ability to manage time effectively. Ability to work under pressure to meet deadlines.

CERTIFICATES - LEGAL SUPPORT 2

Paralegal Certificate preferred.

DESIRED QUALIFICATIONS - LEGAL SUPPORT 2

• Proficient in using Best Authority, and Everlaw
• Experience using Westlaw or other tools in researching local court rules. 
• Experience using Everlaw Document Management or another document management software to provide litigation support and document review.
• Experience working in a virtual environment.
• Experience working with nonprofit and/or social service agencies.
• Contacts with, and/or lived experience within, disability organizations and/or within disability communities.
• Contacts with, and/or lived experience within, multi-ethnic organizations and/or within multi-ethnic communities.
• Contacts with and/or lived experience within low-income communities.
• Experience working with and/or sensitivity to persons with disabilities and/or experience working with and/or sensitivity to persons from multi-ethnic communities.
• Life experience as a person with a disability OR direct experience as a caregiver of a family member with a disability.

WORKING CONDITIONS - Applies to Legal Support 1/2

The following describes general working conditions and requirements of the job, which can be performed with or without disability related reasonable accommodations. Duties will be performed in an office environment and remotely/virtually. Duties require regular communications over online platforms.