Legal Secretary I/II

County of Shasta•Redding, CA

3d•Onsite

About The Position

The current vacancy is in the Shasta County District Attorney’s Office. This position involves performing complex legal secretarial and clerical duties in support of attorneys, which includes active and extensive public interests and contact with other public agencies. The Legal Secretary I is an entry-level position where incumbents are assigned less complex and more routine tasks, with complexity increasing over time and training. The Legal Secretary II is a journey-level position that assumes a higher level of responsibility, handles more complex duties, and operates under minimal supervision. Incumbents may also be assigned as a lead worker. The ideal candidate will possess a calm, positive, and professional demeanor, providing exceptional customer service to attorneys, co-workers, and the public. A high level of attention to detail, accelerated multi-tasking abilities, and organizational skills are essential, as is the ability to manage competing priorities in a fast-paced legal environment with high-stress deadlines. Daily tasks include managing calendars for DA prosecutors, preparing documents for court, and handling correspondence. If assigned to intake, responsibilities include processing incoming cases, entering them into the case management system, and preparing files for review.

Requirements

One (1) year of clerical experience preparing a wide variety of legal documents; OR Three (3) years of responsible clerical experience in an office environment (Legal Secretary I).
Two (2) years of full-time experience comparable to a Legal Secretary I with Shasta County (Legal Secretary II).
Knowledge of office practices and procedures.
Knowledge of style/format of business correspondence, punctuation, spelling, and general English usage.
Knowledge of modern office practices, procedures, and equipment.
Knowledge of filing and recordkeeping methods.
Knowledge of modern office equipment.
Ability to perform legal secretarial and clerical duties.
Ability to learn civil, criminal, juvenile, domestic, probate, family, and other statutes governing the District Attorney, Public Defender and Health and Human Services Agency.
Ability to learn the operations and procedures of the District Attorney, Public Defender and Health and Human Services Agency.
Ability to learn the legal terminology, forms and formatting used in the District Attorney, Public Defender and Health and Human Services Agency.
Ability to organize work effectively to meet critical administrative deadlines.
Ability to determine office priorities.
Ability to meet deadlines and respond to office emergencies.
Ability to interpret and apply specific policies and procedures.
Ability to compose correspondence.
Ability to establish and maintain cooperative working relationships with those contacted in the course of work.
Knowledge of civil, criminal, juvenile, domestic, probate, family, and other statutes governing the District Attorney, Public Defender and Health and Human Services Agency (Legal Secretary II).
Knowledge of operations and procedures of the District Attorney, Public Defender and Health and Human Services Agency (Legal Secretary II).
Knowledge of legal terminology, forms and formatting used in the District Attorney, Public Defender and Health and Human Services Agency (Legal Secretary II).
Ability to perform complex legal secretarial and clerical duties (Legal Secretary II).
Ability to compose correspondence independently (Legal Secretary II).
Ability to act as a lead worker and provide direction, training and feedback to other clerical staff (Legal Secretary II).
Experience with Multi-Calendar scheduling in a professional setting.
Experience processing inter-agency or business to business correspondence.
Experience with Case Management Systems.
Experience with Records Management Systems.
Experience with interaction with confidential documents or records.
Understanding that some tasks may involve reading police reports, hearing stories about criminal acts, exposure to graphic materials, and speaking with defendants, witnesses, and victims on the phone or in person.

Nice To Haves

Calm, positive, and professional demeanor.
Exceptional customer service skills.
High level of attention to detail.
Accelerated multi-tasking abilities.
Organizational skills.
Ability to manage competing priorities.
Comfortable in a fast-paced legal environment with high stress deadlines.

Responsibilities

Learns and performs the less complex legal secretarial and clerical duties (Legal Secretary I).
Performs more complex legal secretarial and clerical duties (Legal Secretary II).
May perform routine administrative duties.
Composes routine memoranda, contracts, resolutions, ordinances and letters.
Maintains Law Library.
Prepares legal forms necessary for filing cases before court, including briefs, motions and orders, warrants, citations, complaints, subpoenas, petitions and resolutions.
Answers correspondence.
Maintains calendar and schedules appointments for attorneys.
Answers the telephone and interviews callers, exercising considerable judgment in giving out information and referring to the proper person.
Makes travel arrangements.
Installs and maintains filing systems.
Opens, sorts and distributes mail.
Operates a variety of modern office appliances.
Prepares conference rooms for meetings.
May be called to court to assist attorneys in trial.
May be called to assist in secretarial and/or clerical positions within the office.
Performs other legal secretarial and clerical duties as assigned.
Exercises independence in preparation of legal forms (Legal Secretary II).
Answers correspondence independently (Legal Secretary II).
Prepares a variety of bills and invoices (Legal Secretary II).
Orders office supplies as necessary (Legal Secretary II).
May act as lead worker and provide direction, training and support to other clerical staff (Legal Secretary II).
Manages calendars for DA prosecutors.
Prepares documents for court.
Receives and answers correspondence from external partners including law enforcement, victims, witnesses, court personnel, and other agencies.
Performs additional administrative clerical duties.
If assigned to intake - process incoming cases, enter them into our case management system, and get the files ready for review by the filing prosecutor(s).