Legal Practice Assistant

JOB RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Provide administrative and legal practice support to assigned group of lawyers
• Draft, prepare, edit and proofread all types of written communications for context, grammar, typographic, punctuation and spelling errors as assigned by attorneys or paralegals without being instructed to do so
• Monitor and create requests to administrative departments (Document Services, Service Center, Legal Records, etc.)
• Maintain internal filing systems for electronic and paper documents; establish and maintain calendar and deadline reminder systems
• Process attorney time entries, expense reports and check requests; monitor and track process for timely client billing; proof billing sheets; review accuracy of bills
• Answer and screen telephone calls; read, sort and date incoming mail and deliveries; prepare and route outgoing mail in a timely way to meet deadlines of various delivery services; prepare and submit files via Secure File Transfer
• Open new clients/matters, process and complete conflict of interest and audit checks; maintain efficient and organized paper filing systems; track status of files and proper disposition. prepare files to be closed and coordinate with file room personnel
• Receive clients and visitors; make arrangements for conference rooms, catering and technology
• Handle seminar registrations and attendance; assist with travel arrangements; coordinate attorney attendance for CLE, both locally and out-of-town
• Assist with organizing materials for client development presentations
• Coordinate and monitor filings with government entities and clerk’s offices
• Provide administrative support to attorneys not usually assigned; follow guidelines on coverage support for various practice groups; participate in orientation for new attorneys regarding workflow processes, firm resources and solutions
• Provide support for overload relief with other administrative assistants or Document Services, as requested
• Attend and complete in-house training for software usage as mandated and/or on a volunteer basis
• Participate in and complete web-based online learning coursework as directed by firm management; successfully complete periodic knowledge checks of firm software programs; participate in certification assessments
• Perform all other reasonable and customary legal practice assistant tasks as assigned by attorneys or management
• Participate in firm sponsored trainings including information security, team-building or professional development

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS AND ABILITIES:

1. A minimum 2-3 years of administrative support required, with preference given to candidates with legal or professional services experience
2. Bachelor’s degree preferred
3. A positive attitude with a focus on finding solutions
4. Project management experience preferred
5. Excellent verbal and written communication skills. Ability to actively listen and proofread all written communication for spelling, grammar, and context
6. Above-average technical skills with MS Office and other programs. (Aderant, Kofax Power PDF, UltiPro Knowledge desirable but will train)
7. Ability to organize and prioritize numerous tasks and complete them under time constraints.
8. Ability to concentrate and pay close attention to detail when evaluating legal projects
9. Interpersonal skills necessary in order to communicate in person, by e-mail and telephone and follow instructions effectively from a diverse group of clients, attorneys and staff and work together as a cohesive team
10. Ability to prioritize competing tasks and balance multiple projects simultaneously and take ownership of all projects through completion
11. Work occasionally requires more than 37.5 hours per week to perform the essential duties of the position; may require irregular hours