Legal Assistant

S R International•Phoenix, AZ

17h•$18•Hybrid

About The Position

This is a primarily virtual position, requiring to be in person four times a month on scheduled days. Tentative start date will be dependent upon interviews conducted, onboarding completed, and the state agency issuing a PO. Local Only Candidates - Resumes must specify the current location of the candidate, all those who do not state current location will not be considered. - AS A REMINDER - Candidates must be local at time of submission, and available for in person interviews within 1 week of the posting close date. Candidates must also be able to start within 2 weeks of an offer being made. The Appellate Services Administration (ASA) provides an administrative hearing and review process for approximately 45 programs administered by the Department of Economic Security (DES). Subject matter generally falls into three main categories: benefit eligibility and overpayment, licensing and certification of service providers, and claimant fraud. This position functions as a Legal Assistant to provide support to the Administrative Law Judges (ALJs) at the Appellate Services Administration (ASA). This function is mission critical, as ASA requires this position to review requests for an appeal, select exhibits for hearings, and distinguish between the different programs and issues of appeals to create packets that will be sent to all parties and used as exhibits in scheduled hearings with multiple parties. Primary duties for this position include verifying incoming appeals, retrieving accurate exhibits for a hearing, entering case documentation into appropriate repositories, assisting Administrative Law Judges with case research, interpreting necessary procedures for research and analysis of case files for hearings, and uploading legal decisions and dispositions for the department to take action on a case. This also includes scheduling the hearings for the ALJs and assisting customers with elevated docket calls.

Requirements

English; speaking, writing, reading
Multi-task capabilities
Manage conflicting priorities and demands
Knowledge of Google Apps (Gmail, Docs, Sheets), Adobe. Acrobat
Operating various office equipment
Use of computer with multiple programs running simultaneously
Customer service techniques
Interpersonal skills to handle internal and external customer complaints and concerns
Effectively communicate (e.g. verbal, written, and reading) with internal and external customers, ALJs, coworkers, agency personnel, supervisors, and managers
Work with minimal supervision
Use critical thinking to analyze complex appeals requests, resolve conflicts between competing information, and extract and capture pertinent legal information
Case management systems (e.g. APS, Clear2There, Guide mainframe, HEAplus, AZTECS, CACTUS)
Office policies and procedures and handling sensitive data
Managing multiple computer programs at one time
Identifying appropriate legal documents in an imaging system to create and send out notices for hearings and create case files
Computer Skills

Nice To Haves

Legal Experience
Arizona Public Assistance and Unemployment Insurance law, practices, and procedures

Responsibilities

Verify incoming appeals
Retrieve accurate exhibits for a hearing
Enter case documentation into appropriate repositories
Assist Administrative Law Judges with case research
Interpret necessary procedures for research and analysis of case files for hearings
Upload legal decisions and dispositions for the department to take action on a case
Schedule the hearings for the ALJs
Assist customers with elevated docket calls
Organization and maintenance of confidential paper and electronic files
Identification of complex legal issues with appeals in a timely manner
Analyze jurisdiction, issues, etc. by reviewing images and paper documents per case
Create hearing packets for ALJs to use as exhibits during the procedural hearing
Determine the timeliness of the request for hearing and register additional issues as needed
Ensure incoming appeals meet noticing deadlines mandated by Federal and State laws
Research-related issues are elevated by legal support staff or referred by ALJs, ASA management or other DES Departments
Identify and correct errors and virtually print missing documents
Elevate appeals to the Board for Appeals as necessary
Enter notes into the case documentation repository
Timely and accurately process requests for postponements, withdrawals, and other requests by parties and ALJs
Adapt to prescribed procedures within the Administration, knowledge of the Administrative Procedures Act
Perform repetitive detailed work with a very high level of accuracy and speed
Concentrate and focus on complex and sometimes conflicting information from a variety of sources
Analyze and research complex case information observing confidentiality policies and making command decisions on assigning workload to meet legally mandated deadlines
Ability to work with customers and staff of various backgrounds, nationalities, and needs