Legal Assistant, Clark County Public Defense

Job Summary

The Legal Assistant acts as personal assistant for administrative and professional superiors and may also be required to act in the capacity of lead worker for other clerical classifications within the Public Defense Office. As assistants to assigned teams of attorneys, the Legal Assistant studies case files and organizes discovery materials, manages attorneys calendar schedules, prepares and submits legal documents for hearings and trials, handles correspondence and communications with clients regarding case status. Alternate assignments may involve performing lead functions such as planning work and setting daily priorities, distributing and checking work, developing office procedures, and resolving minor work or personnel problems and providing input to performance evaluations.

Qualifications

Education and Experience:

Four years responsible experience performing legal support activities such as a legal assistant or paralegal; or

Two years of experience in a legal assistant capacity and completion of legal assistant of paralegal course work at an accredited college or business school.

Special Requirements:  possession of, or ability to obtain, a motor vehicle driver’s license.

Other combinations of education, training and experience that would demonstrate the required knowledge and ability will be considered.

Knowledge of: Legal terminology, forms, policies and procedures; general office practices and procedures; technical and specialized functions, policies and procedures of the work unit, including filing systems and data recording methods; procedures, documents and procedural law related to conduct of legal practice in county court systems; legal terminology and diction; standard formats for legal and business correspondence, court orders and jury instructions; business English, spelling, punctuation, diction and grammar; commonly used office machines and equipment, including various personal computer applications and software programs.

Ability to: Exercise tact and mature judgment in all personal contacts; compose legal correspondence and statistical information and prepare periodic reports; understand and render clear explanation of legal procedures and policies; understand and execute complex oral and written instructions; apply extensive guidelines to a variety of work situations; maintain or supervise the keeping of complex records; interview defendants, candidates, witnesses and victims; develop and maintain effective working relationships with co-workers, supervisors, the general public and employees and officials of other public and private agencies; perform lead worker duties and assist in the maintenance of smooth office work flow and proper office decorum.

SELECTION PROCESS:

Resume and other documents must be attached together in the 'Resume Upload' section of the application.  Multiple files are allowed, but all applicant attachments must be uploaded simultaneously, as there is no way to edit or append uploaded materials after submitting the application.

Application Review (Pass/ Fail) - An online application is required.  Attaching a resume does not substitute for a completed application; incomplete applications will not pass the application review.  Candidates deemed most qualified will be invited to participate in the remainder of the selection process.

Practical Exam (Pass/Fail) - This recruitment may require a practical exam which will be job related and may include, but not limited to, the qualifications outlined in the job announcement.  Candidates deemed most qualified will be invited to participate in the remainder of the selection process.

Oral Interview - The interview will be job related and may include, not limited to, the qualifications outlined in the job announcement.  Top candidate(s) will continue in the process.

Employment references will be conducted for the final candidates and may include verification of education.

It is general policy of the County that new employees should be hired at the lower steps of the applicable range and advance through the range at the normal progression.

Examples of Duties

Duties may include but are not limited to the following:

• Acts as liaison between witnesses and the attorney, interviewing witnesses and victims; answers questions and provides information regarding case status; coordinates court appearances and makes travel arrangements for victims, witness, law enforcement personnel and attorneys; serves subpoenas on witnesses in misdemeanor or felony cases.
• Prepares and maintains diversion, pre-trial and trial case files; handles related correspondence; physically locates candidates and defendants who have moved or whose listed addresses are incorrect; gathers pertinent documents, affidavits, subpoenas and interview records for case files; makes decisions regarding release of evidence in filed and unfiled cases and in diversion cases.
• Studies case files and prepares proposed court orders for use by judges in criminal, domestic and civil actions; originates provisions where guidelines are not available; submits drafts for supervisor’s approval; attends court hearings to present documents for judges’ signature or to act as assistant to the attorney.
• Retrieves criminal history information, obtains prior conviction records of accused felons for inclusions in trial documents; immediately prior to court date, reviews case files for complete information and consistency of court dates.
• Researches and investigates criminal records of potential defendants; recommends level of legal action to be taken; prepares exoneration orders for persons arrested but not charged or diverted.
• Operates personal computer equipment for word processing, spreadsheet, database or other software programs using a wide variety of source documents and formats to set up, prepare and maintain a wide variety of documents; verifies, codes and proofreads input data and data output.
• Receives and reads incoming mail; composes answers to procedural correspondence for supervisor’s approval; routes other correspondence to attorneys, calling attention to items needing immediate consideration.
• Certifies disposition of all felony cases and forwards disposition notices to appropriate authorities; assists attorneys in case preparation and disposition as required; responds to inquiries from neighboring jurisdictions regarding status of pending cases.
• Examines documents and affidavits to assure that all necessary legal steps and points have been covered, and that legal deadlines are met; advises attorneys of upcoming trial commitments and special items needing their attention; prepares notifications necessary for presentation of cases by staff attorneys.
• Develops procedures for handling and locating files from the intake process through the appellate process.
• Calls other attorneys and parties to legal actions to obtain or relay technical information at supervisor’s request.  Maintains frequent contacts for supervisor with attorneys, officials businesses and agencies.
• Maintains statistics and prepares statistical reports.
• Performs lead functions as required, assisting in the planning of work and setting of daily priorities; distributes and checks work; devises and evaluates office procedures and implements changes subject to approval of supervisor; provides technical assistance as needed; resolves minor work/personnel problems and provides input to the supervisor in appraising employee performance.
• Performs other work as required.

Salary Grade

Local 11.7

Salary Range

$28.12 - $37.96- per hour

Close Date

Open Until Filled

Recruiter

Brianna Bradley

Email:

Brianna.Bradley@clark.wa.gov

Equal Opportunity Employer

Clark County is an equal opportunity employer committed to providing equal opportunity in employment, access, and delivery of all county services. Clark County’s Equal Employment Opportunity Plan is available at http://www.clark.wa.gov/human-resources/documents.

Employee Benefits and additional compensation

Clark County provides regular full-time and part-time employees with a comprehensive benefits package which includes medical, vision and dental insurance, paid leave, flexible spending accounts, life insurance and long-term disability, retirement, and deferred compensation.  Some types of employees in some positions and bargaining units might have different benefits and additional compensation.  More specific benefit information for the different bargaining units can be found at https://clark.wa.gov/human-resources/employee-benefits. Also please refer to the specific bargaining unit contract for additional compensation at https://clark.wa.gov/human-resources/documents.

Retirement Information

All Clark County employees must participate in a WASHINGTON STATE RETIREMENT SYSTEM PLAN (PERS, PSERS or LEOFF).Employee contributions begin the first day of work. Current contribution rates vary by plan but could range from 5% to 15% of gross pay, depending on the plan choice. 
 

For additional information, check out the Department of Retirement Systems' web site here: http://www.drs.wa.gov/

If you are in need of ADA/Section 504 assistance for accommodations, please contact Human Resources at (564) 397-2456; Relay (800) 833-6388.