Paralegal

The City of Sioux City is seeking a paralegal to provide legal support of varying scope and complexity for the City Legal Department. The position completes a timely agenda each week, provides assistance to all departments with monitoring contract expirations, drafting agreements, litigation assistance, drafting RCAs and resolutions to assist departments, among other tasks.  This is a full-time, benefit eligible position, working 8:00am to 4:30pm, M-F. 

• City Council Document Preparation: Prepares and reviews requests for Council action, resolutions, agreements, contracts, and other documents for City Departments. 
• Ordinance Drafting: Assists City departments with preparation of proposed ordinances and amendments. 
• Legal Research: Conducts legal research and gathers relevant information for cases, including statutes, judicial decisions, legal articles, codes, and other pertinent documents to prepare statements and arguments.
• Documentation Management: Prepares, reviews, and manages legal documents such as real estate documents, briefs, pleadings, motions, contracts, affidavits, discovery documents, and motions. 
• Case Preparation: Assists attorneys in preparing for trials, hearings, and depositions. This includes organizing exhibits, evidence, and other case-related materials and conducts investigations of limited scope to obtain facts, studies legal precedents and prepared recommendations.
• Client Interaction: Communicates with City employees, witnesses, and City Council members to collect necessary information, provides updates on case progress, and addresses any questions or concerns they may have.
• Administrative Support: Performs administrative tasks such as scheduling meetings and activities and prepares and distributes minutes and agendas, maintains calendars and coordinating court filings. Ensures that all deadlines are met, and documentation is up to date; assists internal and external customers via telephone and in person.  Acts as a back-up to the Administrative Assistant when needed.
• Legal Correspondence: Drafts and proofreads correspondence, legal memoranda, and other written materials.
• Database Management: Maintains and updates legal databases and case management systems with accurate and timely information.
• Office Duties: orders and maintains inventory of office supplies. Performs accounting duties and general office duties, such as copying, filing, faxing, data entry, and mail processing.
• Confidentiality: Coordinates the office operations and serves as the confidential assistant to the City Attorney and maintains confidentiality of information for the Legal Department. 
• Establishes and maintains effective working relationships with Officials, other agencies, fellow employees and the general public.
• Expected to temporarily perform duties outside of normal classification in the event of a declared emergency.  In the event that an employee is excused from work other than being sick, they will be required to report to work in a state of declared emergency.

Graduation from an institutionally accredited Paralegal program and two (2) years of full-time work experience as a paralegal under the supervision of a licensed attorney. 
or
High School Diploma or GED and four (4) years of full-time work experience as a Paralegal or Legal Assistant under the supervision of a licensed attorney. 
or
Any equivalent combination of experience and training that provides the required knowledge, skill and abilities.