Gittis Legal Clinics Paralegal

About the role

The Gittis Legal Clinics are Penn Carey Law’s teaching law firm, comprised of nine clinics that offer students unique opportunities to develop essential lawyering skills and professional values through experiential learning in diverse practice areas.

Responsibilities

• Provide support to law students and clinical faculty representing clients and working on special projects in a broad range of litigation practice areas, including disability, employment, consumer protection, family, guardianship, housing and landlord-tenant, immigration, civil rights, human rights, and public benefits law.
• Aid in the referral, selection, and intake of cases and monitor all stages of legal client representation, including performing conflict checks and gathering pertinent client information.
• Train on, model, and ensure clear and efficient communication between students and their clients, team partners, and clinical faculty.
• Open, maintain, organize, and close case files, both in electronic and paper format.
• Stay up to date with court and administrative rules and filing procedures and assist in preparation, production, and submission of administrative and judicial pleadings and other filings (both e-filings and paper filings), and handle service of process in municipal, state, and federal courts.
• Maintain, and train law students to maintain, client/casework databases and a litigation calendar by tracking case events and filing deadlines.
• Handle case logistics, including communication with court personnel and others, and conduct case-related research as needed.
• Support faculty with ongoing casework, including preparation of correspondence when students are unavailable.
• Manage transition and closure of client files, including but not limited to meeting with students and faculty, review of client/casework databases, and organization of files.
• Provide assistance with students’ various policy projects with partner organizations, educational outreach to client communities, and outreach-related case management, as needed.
• Use iManage document management software, Microsoft 365 (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Publisher, SharePoint, etc.), Adobe Acrobat, LegalServer, and other electronic platforms for both case file maintenance and semester preparation.
• Coordinate communication between the Gittis Legal Clinics and external vendors, including interpreters, translators, process servers, court reporters, and international publishers; arrange for interpretation and translation for clients with limited English proficiency.
• Demonstrate excellent spoken and written communication skills in person and while using multiple course and communication platforms, including Canvas, Outlook, MS Teams, DocuSign, Zoom, and Skype.
• Aid in clients and visitors handling, and handle incoming and outgoing mail.

Requirements

• A bachelor’s degree, associate degree, and/or paralegal certificate plus at least three years of federal and/or state court litigation experience in a law firm, public interest/legal services organization, corporate law department or other legal environment are required.
• Proficiency in spoken and written Spanish is highly desirable.
• Demonstrated experience with varied aspects of civil trial preparation, including federal and state electronic filing; preparing tables of authorities; scheduling and setting up depositions; preparing exhibits; organizing and preparing briefs; and researching rules of civil procedure and court protocols.
• Demonstrated experience providing professional training, teaching support, tutoring, community education, or otherwise helping people learn new information and/or skills.
• An appreciation for the mission of the Gittis Legal Clinics, the clients we serve, and the students we educate.
• An understanding of the importance of confidentiality in the legal field and handling sensitive information with care and discretion.
• An affinity for working with clients with diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds.
• Excellent coordination and organizational skills, including keen attention to detail and the ability to prioritize work.
• An excellent ability to communicate orally with a wide variety of constituents.
• A critical thinking skills and a proven ability to engage in problem-solving creatively and diligently.
• A competency in using Microsoft Office (Outlook, Word, Excel, Power Point).

Qualifications

• A bachelor’s degree, associate degree, and/or paralegal certificate plus at least three years of federal and/or state court litigation experience in a law firm, public interest/legal services organization, corporate law department or other legal environment are required.
• Proficiency in spoken and written Spanish is highly desirable.
• Demonstrated experience with varied aspects of civil trial preparation, including federal and state electronic filing; preparing tables of authorities; scheduling and setting up depositions; preparing exhibits; organizing and preparing briefs; and researching rules of civil procedure and court protocols.
• Demonstrated experience providing professional training, teaching support, tutoring, community education, or otherwise helping people learn new information and/or skills.
• An appreciation for the mission of the Gittis Legal Clinics, the clients we serve, and the students we educate.
• An understanding of the importance of confidentiality in the legal field and handling sensitive information with care and discretion.
• An affinity for working with clients with diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds.
• Excellent coordination and organizational skills, including keen attention to detail and the ability to prioritize work.
• An excellent ability to communicate orally with a wide variety of constituents.
• A critical thinking skills and a proven ability to engage in problem-solving creatively and diligently.
• A competency in using Microsoft Office (Outlook, Word, Excel, Power Point).

Skills

• Excellent coordination and organizational skills, including keen attention to detail and the ability to prioritize work.
• Excellent ability to communicate orally with a wide variety of constituents.
• Critical thinking skills and a proven ability to engage in problem-solving creatively and diligently.
• Competency in using Microsoft Office (Outlook, Word, Excel, Power Point).

Benefits

The University of Pennsylvania offers a competitive benefits package that includes excellent healthcare and tuition benefits for employees and their families, generous retirement benefits, a wide variety of professional development opportunities, supportive work and family benefits, a wealth of health and wellness programs and resources, and much more.

Pay

The Targeted Pay Range for this position is $33.31/hour to $42.48/hour.

Schedule

This is a full-time position (35 hours per week).