Legal Assistant

About the role

The Contractor shall provide two legal assistants to support attorneys, investigators, and paralegals in performing a variety of direct legal support assistance services, including document assembly, proofreading, electronic filing, and ancillary office support functions.

Responsibilities

• Receive and review incoming material and independently determine the need for assembly and preparation of legal documents.
• Proofread and edit drafts of legal documents such as motions, orders, correspondence, discovery requests and responses, and other pleadings.
• Complete variable aspects of preparing recurring legal documents that conform to the rules governing their style and format.
• Electronically file documents on behalf of and at the directive of the attorneys with the appropriate state or federal court, applying knowledge of local court rules and practices.
• Aid in processing and organizing legal data and other supportive material.
• Organize, process and copy documents in accordance with requirements.
• Assemble record materials for court filings.
• Compose original letters that require a good working knowledge of legal procedures and specialized terminology.
• Perform docketing duties such as opening, updating and closing cases through use of the automated case tracking system.
• Search database for required information.
• Obligate funds for litigation expenses and monitors for continued necessity.
• Review bills and invoices and submits to budget office for payment.
• Maintain calendar of assigned active cases.
• Track filing, hearing, and trial dates, and scheduling conferences and interviews.
• Develop and maintain suspense system for ongoing cases and informs the attorneys of pending dates and deadlines.
• Maintain calendar(s) of the attorney(s), scheduling appointments, interviews, and conferences, and provides reminders of commitments and court appearances.
• Prepare files for closing by putting the documents in chronological order, ensuring that the relevant documents are in the file, and prepare a closing sheet for the assigned attorney’s signature.
• Receive visitors, answer telephone and refer callers to staff members or take messages as appropriate.
• Deliver to and retrieve papers from the federal courthouse.
• Furnish requested information concerning pending and closed matters and cases, functions and general procedures of the office.
• Determine which matters should be referred to the AUSA and the urgency of the matter.
• Attend meetings and trainings as may be required and appropriate.
• Produce a variety of written documents and materials utilizing a wide range of office software applications, such as MS Word, MS Excel, MS Outlook, MS Access, Adobe Acrobat Professional or other databases.
• Ensure all documents contain the proper format, spelling, punctuation, capitalization, and grammar.
• When appropriate, provide automated litigation assistance to attorneys in trial preparation and courtroom presentations, including transcribing dictation.
• Utilize various software applications and graphics hardware such as scanners and plotters.
• Prepare documents, charts, and visual materials used in trials.
• Provide technical support e.g., enlarging charts and photographs, duplicating tapes and videos, and marking exhibits.
• Perform other related duties as assigned.

Qualifications

• At least one year of specialized litigation experience required, however over three years is preferred.
• Specialized experience is defined as experience reviewing legal documents such as complaints, motions, orders, answers, pleadings, subpoenas, and libels for completeness of information; retrieving and assembling information for hearing and/or trial use, researching a variety of legal sources to obtain and/or verify information; maintaining file systems; and using automated software to produce legal related reports, documents, correspondence and related materials.
• Requires excellent written and oral communication skills.
• Should have hands-on familiarity with a variety of computer applications, such as MS Word, MS Excel, MS Outlook, and Adobe Acrobat.
• Ability to consistently deliver highest quality work under extreme pressure will be very important.
• Ability to obtain a Public Trust Security Clearance.