Legal Secretary

Garden Grove Unified School District•Garden Grove, CA

5d•Onsite

About The Position

Under general direction of General Counsel, works independently to provide legal administrative and secretarial support by performing a variety of confidential, complex, and technical legal assignments that require a high degree of initiative and judgment in applying policies and procedures to a variety of situations affecting district-wide functions and operations; assists General Counsel with administrative details; and performs related work as assigned. This position works 8 hours per day, 12 months per year.

Requirements

Graduation from high school or equivalent
Three years of increasingly responsible secretarial experience within a law office setting.
Ability to compose correspondence and prepare standard legal documents from brief instructions with a high attention to detail and accuracy.
Ability to use legal terminology and follow legal procedures.
Ability to organize, set-up, and use legal opinions and subject files and a library of legal publications.
Ability to perform complex work independently and with minimal supervision.
Ability to read, interpret, apply, and explain laws, rules, regulations, policies, and procedures.
Ability to learn the various legal services provided by governmental jurisdictions and private agencies.
Ability to analyze situations accurately and adopt an effective course of action using independent judgment and knowledge of district policies.
Ability to establish and maintain effective relationships using tact and diplomacy with board members, the superintendent, administrators, employees, and community members.
Ability to work confidentially and with discretion.
Ability to use computers effectively and learn related software programs to enter, extract, compile, and arrange complex data.
Ability to organize and maintain office files and calendars with a high degree of accuracy.
Ability to organize complex material and summarize discussions and actions in written form.
Ability to analyze information and data and compile into comprehensive reports.
Ability to maintain highly sensitive and confidential information.

Nice To Haves

An associate’s degree or higher with college-level coursework in paralegal, legal assistant, legal professional preparation or other directly related field is desirable.
May be asked to obtain and maintain a Notary Public Commission.

Responsibilities

Relieves General Counsel of administrative detail and responds to common inquiries on behalf of General Counsel as appropriate; reminds General Counsel of deadlines for preparing litigation documents, opinions, and other such documents.
Transcribes and types legal pleadings, requests for production of legal documents, contracts, leases, agreements, resolutions, licenses, and a wide variety of other legal forms, correspondence, reports, and documents from dictation, rough copy or notes, with minimum supervision.
Prepares and assembles information into proper legal form following established procedures or general instructions.
Proofreads and corrects various forms, documents, and pleadings in order to ensure accuracy of records and entry of information.
Assists in composing and typing routine memoranda for signature by an attorney.
Copies, mails, faxes, and makes arrangements for filing litigation documents and exhibits in appropriate courts or administrative agencies and for obtaining court transcripts.
Keeps current on filing and service time limits and deadlines; files, indexes, cross-indexes, and locates correspondence, legal opinion, court decisions, and other legal documents as requested.
Assists and arranges for the reproduction and distribution of correspondence and legal opinions, and maintains the office library of legal publications, legal subject files, and confidential files.
Calendars appointments, meetings, hearings, depositions, court appearances, and document and filing deadlines district counsel; makes travel and hotel arrangements.
Performs routine research and assembles data to support the resolution of questions and issues, referring more complex matters to appropriate staff.
Utilizes a variety of computer software programs to perform critical functions such as creating and editing documents, maintaining spreadsheets and databases, and extracting data to prepare reports and monitor budgets.
Prepares and assembles Board of Education agenda items.
Compiles complex information to prepare statistical, financial, and administrative reports.
Provides information to employees, students, parents, and the public as appropriate.
Handles a variety of sensitive, difficult, and complex public relations matters.
Operates a variety of office machines and equipment.
Provides technical guidance and direction to other secretarial or clerical staff as directed.
May take minutes at meetings as necessary and prepare transcripts of the meetings.