Legal Administrative Assistant

Barnes & Thornburg LLP•Ann Arbor, MI

2d•Onsite

About The Position

Performs a variety of secretarial duties for attorney(s) to whom assigned according to established policies and procedures. Maintains positive contact with clients, attorneys and staff and observes confidentiality of client matters. This position also serves as a crucial backup for our front desk receptionist, ensuring continuous coverage and a welcoming first point of contact.

Requirements

Ability to read and write in order to proof and perform minor editing (e.g., punctuation, grammar, spelling) of routine law office correspondence and legal case matters.
Perform non-complex arithmetic calculations when verifying calculations on forms and documents; maintain records and filing systems at a level normally acquired through completion of high school or equivalent.
Approximately one to two years on the job experience necessary in order to gain an understanding of law office policies and procedures and produce accurate legal documents with minimal supervision.
Ability to transcribe legal documents, correspondence and reports from rough draft or dictation.
Ability to organize and prioritize numerous tasks and complete them under time constraints.
Ability to proofread typed material for grammatical, typographical or spelling errors.
Interpersonal skills necessary in order to communicate and follow instructions effectively from a diverse group of clients, attorneys and staff to provide information with ordinary courtesy and tact.
Interpersonal skills necessary in order to communicate in person, by e-mail and telephone to provide information with ordinary courtesy and tact.
Work occasionally requires a high level of mental effort while producing a high volume of information performing other essential duties.
Work occasionally requires more than 40 hours per week to perform the essential duties of the position; may require irregular hours.

Responsibilities

Prepares correspondence, memoranda and other legal documents from written and oral drafts; drafts standard correspondence, and other documents.
Submit attorney expense reports and invoices via accounting system.
Reads, sorts and dates incoming mail. Ensures that outgoing mail is timely delivered. If necessary, routes mail to specific delivery service and follows up on timely delivery.
Establishes and maintains calendar and deadline reminder systems; utilizes master calendar system.
Opens new files, requests conflict of interest checks with file room records, and maintains all client and general files. Conducts periodic review for possible storage of older files; prepares files to be closed.
Processes bills; proofs billing sheets; reviews and edits bills.
Works closely with administrative support staff; proofs documents returned from word processing; ensures that attorney time sheets are provided to appropriate person in a timely manner.
Performs legal assistant duties as requested.
Acts as coverage for receptionist and receptionist duties, when needed.
Other duties as assigned.