Court Clerk I

Under moderate supervision, performs a variety of legal clerical duties in response to actions of the courts. Uses independent judgment interpreting and applying procedures and precedents to specific misdemeanor cases. Coordinates and carries out duties involved in assigned causes of action. Performs detailed and complex legal procedures associated with the receipt, review, and filing of court documents.

Distinguishing Characteristics

This is the second in a series of four court clerical-related job classifications within the Administrative Support job family. Incumbents perform duties of moderate complexity. This classification is distinguished from Court Clerk Assistant in that incumbents routinely review the work performed by the Court Clerk Assistant, perform fewer general clerical duties, and require greater independent judgment. This classification is distinguished from Court Clerk II in that incumbents do not regularly perform the majority of their work in a court setting and do not function as lead workers or have regular supervisory duties.

Responsibilities

• Assists and answers questions from the public received in person, by phone, or by email regarding the status, disposition, pending actions, or other aspects of court cases. Directs customers to the appropriate court clerk.
• Processes incoming faxes and faxes document confirmation returns.
• Sorts, logs, and distributes incoming mail and legal documents. May date-stamp incoming documents.
• Performs filing duties and makes copies when appropriate.
• May schedule wedding appointments and provide notary services to the public.
• Serves as liaison or primary point of contact with defendants, plaintiffs, families, judges, court personnel, Constable's Officers, attorneys, County and District Attorney's Office, law enforcement agencies, interested parties, and the general public regarding status, disposition, pending actions of individual cases, and parties' actions.
• Assists the public and departments on office policy and procedures. Responds to legal and administrative inquiries.
• Takes initial steps to resolve citizen complaints and ensures department policies and procedures are met.
• Provides technical advice and assistance regarding legal documents of all types.
• May assess fees and fines, receive payments, and perform as cashier for the office on a daily basis. Accepts monies in the form of cash, money orders, and cashier checks and issues signed receipts.
• Receives payment from the public for fees and lower court appeal bonds. Conducts cash transactions as payments for warrants, including entering credit card transactions and mail payments.
• Prepares bank deposits and makes daily and monthly reports to reconcile receipts.
• Receives and processes petitions, indictments, tickets, affidavits, complaints, applications, or information instituting a cause of action and makes appropriate notations in the computer system, including data element codes.
• Notifies appropriate authorities of filing when required by law.
• Conducts review of legal documents submitted, including those submitted electronically. Determines the legal and factual issues presented and dockets the filing into the case tracking system with the appropriate code structure.
• May process emergency protection orders, peace bond applications, school cases, property hearings, animal cruelty seizures, unlawful towing of vehicles, and writs of re-entry.
• May research and verify petitions and orders for expungement. Maintains a tracking system for processing acquittal expungement orders.
• Routes assigned causes of action to court, as required. May determine the nature of suit and assess fees and fines.
• Reviews documents submitted in assigned cause of action and determines case impact. Makes appropriate notation on case docket and on the computer system.
• Initiates new cases and updates the status of existing cases in the automated case management system.
• Determines the category and description of each document or transaction by reviewing event logs and case dockets.
• Organizes, barcodes, and scans documents into the document imaging system. Indexes each document by entering the appropriate category codes and descriptions for quick retrieval.
• Uses scanning software to input case information, captures images, and performs quality assurance.
• Performs quality verification procedures on scanned documents prepared by co-workers. Assesses scanned electronic images for legibility, blank documents, and missing records.
• Prepares or issues summons, capiases, warrants, commitments, subpoenas, citations, writs, injunctions, protective orders, restraining orders, judgments, notices, and executed commitments by statute, rule, order of court, or request by customer.
• May accept pleas, pleadings, and motions and records all documents.
• Maintains up-to-date docket detail retrieval to provide accurate information to judges and interested parties.
• May prepare extensions, deferred dispositions, defensive driving requests, and determines if conditions are met.
• May review and verify license suspension orders and submit documentation to law enforcement agencies.
• Reviews and may interpret orders signed by judges to determine further action required. Follows through on action.
• Receives and processes exhibits to be filed, follows through on orders for consolidation, severance, or transfer.
• Prepares post-judgment documents, such as writs of habeas corpus, abstracts of judgment, order of sale, and writs of execution in compliance with statutes, rules, case law, and customer requests.
• Inspects proposed orders and court records for correctness before submitting to judges.
• Sets cases for trial and notifies parties of scheduled settings. Files pleadings and records docket information.
• May schedule criminal and civil bench and jury trials. Prepares and issues subpoenas, judgments, and orders.
• May coordinate with the jury office to ensure adequate availability of jurors.
• Assists judges in the courtroom with jurors and other parties during trial. Issues notices, prepares documents, and files for court, ensuring equipment and materials are prepared daily for the courtroom.
• Checks in parties arriving for trial and assists judges in the courtroom.
• May schedule interpreters if needed.
• May prepare commitments and assist judges with jail calls. May assist inmates who have limited English skills.
• May prepare appeals, including accepting bonds and determining due dates to be filed with the Appellate Court.
• May process, execute, and distribute judgments, opinions, and mandates from the Appellate Court.
• May provide radio and telecommunications services to deputies in the field. Receives, evaluates, and responds to radio traffic. Maintains radio or phone contact and monitors deputies.
• Processes information received from field deputies and updates deputies with research.
• May calculate judgments and writs at multiple interest rates.
• Prepares public notices of property sales and postings. Prepares and files documents of sale, including deeds.
• Prepares legal notices of eviction.
• Maintains inventories of seized property and funds and arranges for storage, as required.
• Works closely with division managers on special projects. Conducts research inquiries in multiple databases. Updates legal files with pertinent information.
• May coordinate for off-site storage of records.
• Performs statistical analysis and produces activity reports.
• May receive warrants and processes warrant information into the computer system. Conducts research on parties named in warrants and updates files.
• Prepares and mails notices to individuals with outstanding warrants. Notifies deputies of outstanding warrants.
• Tracks warrants currently being worked. Works with deputies in clearing outstanding warrants. Closes outstanding warrants when obligations are fulfilled.
• May notify law enforcement authorities and other essential parties when a protective order becomes final.
• Assists customers with Legal Ease payments and receives approval information from the bank.
• Coordinates files going to off-site storage and docketing of civil case files and civil bond forfeitures cases.
• Performs other job-related duties as assigned.

Requirements

• Associate's degree in Criminal Justice, Public Administration, Business Administration, or a directly related field AND two (2) years of responsible clerical experience, including familiarity with legal procedures, terminology, the court system, and customer service; OR, any combination of education and experience that has been achieved and is equivalent to the stated education and experience and required knowledge, skills, and abilities sufficient to successfully perform the duties and responsibilities of this job.

Skills

Knowledge of:

• Criminal justice system policies and procedures.
• Legal terminology, principles, procedures, documents, and forms.
• Office procedures and protocol.
• Scanning equipment and document control.
• County Court at Law Systems.
• Litigation procedures.
• Appeal process from lower courts.
• Warrant process.
• Criminal justice procedures to handle bond forfeiture cases.
• Business letter writing, grammar and punctuation, and report preparation.
• May be required to develop knowledge of and adhere to federal and state laws requiring the confidential handling of certain health information.

Skill in:

• Analyzing legal documents.
• Coordinating the review and processing of legal documents.
• Calculating and collecting money.
• Operating two-way radios and other communications devices.
• Operating a variety of modern office equipment, including a computer.
• Both verbal and written communication.

Ability to:

• Interpret and process legal data.
• Operate complex databases.
• Work under minimal direction.
• Make independent decisions based on the requirement of statutes, policies, and procedures.
• Handle high volumes of detail-oriented work and delegate.
• Handle multiple tasks simultaneously.
• Effectively deal with dissatisfied customers.
• Establish and maintain effective working relationships with County employees and officials, judges, attorneys, representatives of outside agencies, and the general public.

Work Environment & Other Information

• Physical requirements include the ability to lift/carry up to 20-50 pounds occasionally, visual acuity, speech and hearing, hand and eye coordination, and manual dexterity necessary to operate a computer and office equipment.
• Subject to sitting, client/customer contact, standing, walking, vision to monitor, repetitive motion, stooping/kneeling, squatting, bending, and reaching to perform the essential functions.
• Extended periods of time at the computer entering data.
• Subject to heavy workloads, time schedules, deadlines, and office interpersonal management duties, and walking to the courtroom and outside.