Temporary Legal Support Assistant I - Murrieta

County of Riverside•Murrieta, CA

21h•Onsite

About The Position

The County of Riverside’s Human Resources Temporary Assignment Program (TAP) seeks a Temporary Legal Support Assistant I in Murrieta for the Riverside County Public Defender’s Office. The incumbent will perform a wide variety of specialized and responsible clerical work involving the continual use of legal terminology and procedures; assists in processing and tracking a variety of legal documents, records and correspondence; performs the required specialized legal clerical work in support of legal staff within County offices; performs other related duties as required. The Legal Support Assistant I is the entry level classification in the Legal Support Assistant series and provides clerical support to attorneys and/or other County staff within the Office of the Public Defender. Incumbents are assigned to either perform a moderate range of specialized legal clerical work or, in a training capacity, learn to perform a wide variety of specialized legal clerical work characteristic of the Legal Support Assistant II. The Legal Support Assistant I is distinguished from the Legal Support Assistant II by the latter's ability to understand and apply a more extensive range of legal procedures related to the processing of legal documents. Depending on assignment, incumbents may be expected to promote to the journey level Legal Support Assistant II classification after acquiring the necessary experience and training and demonstrating satisfactory job performance. Work Schedule: 5/40 Bilingual skills in Spanish are strongly preferred but not required. About TAP: The Temporary Assignment Program (TAP) recruits and hires temporary employees for all County departments. TAP assignments are a great way to learn about working for the County while working on a temporary, at-will basis.

Requirements

Graduation from high school or equivalent (e.g., GED, high school proficiency certificate).
One year of clerical experience.
Completion of 18 semester or 27 quarter units from an accredited college or university in secretarial sciences, business education or a closely related field may substitute for the clerical experience.
Knowledge of modern office practices and procedures, including preparing correspondence and reports, filing and operating standard office equipment.
Knowledge of current English usage in business contexts.
Knowledge of statistical and fiscal recordkeeping principles and application.
Knowledge of proper telephone techniques and basic computer skills.
Ability to perform general clerical work and learn specific operations of the office.
Ability to learn legal terminology, codes, forms, documents, and the chronology of legal actions and deadlines required in the preparation, processing and tracking of documentation for attorneys' cases.
Ability to review legal documents and records for correctness of form, sufficiency of information and conformance with prescribed legal requirements.
Ability to exercise good judgment and initiative in the performance of legal clerical work and carry out a variety of clerical activities related to assignments.
Ability to communicate, verbally and in writing, to concisely obtain, record and relay information, explain procedures, forms, and processes with tact and courtesy to the general public, attorneys and law enforcement officers.
Ability to establish and maintain cooperative relationships with the public and explain to concerned parties the basic procedures of the judicial process as they relate to a variety of legal documents.
Ability to spell correctly, construct grammatical sentences and make mathematical computations.

Nice To Haves

Bilingual skills in Spanish are strongly preferred but not required.

Responsibilities

Serve as clerical support to attorneys and other County staff; schedule appointments, screen callers, and initiate reply to routine correspondence.
Maintain files of correspondence and legal documents including a cross-reference index file; file legal papers with the proper courts; enter record of hearings, record pleas, trials, convictions, acquittals, sentences, judgments, orders, and other dispositions of cases.
Complete documents for case files by extracting complete and accurate information from a variety of sources, obtaining necessary signatures and attaching required addenda; review and verify file documents to ensure that receipt and filing with appropriate court or parties is done within statutory time limits.
Review and route calls from the public and/or in person and provide information with discretion and in accordance with established policies of confidentiality; make inquiries of individuals presenting documents or requesting documents to determine adherence to special legal requirements; contact by phone, automated system or in person, judges, attorneys, court clerks, witnesses, medical representatives, and other County departments or government agencies in order to obtain or confirm information for case files or to arrange medical appointments, depositions or hearings; prepare case files and maintain case status records, including the posting of court actions and court dates to calendars.
Perform general office duties (e.g., filing, opening and distributing mail, maintaining logs, keeping statistics, and preparing reports); utilize a variety of computer systems; may interpret legal, procedural or department prerequisites from the record to the public, law enforcement agencies and/or attorneys.
Type from drafts, rough notes, verbal instructions, or taped dictation a variety of correspondence and legal documents, including interviews, proceedings, ordinances, contracts, agreements, orders, motions, complaints, warrants, subpoenas, commitments, decisions, investigation requests, affidavits, briefs, jury instructions, dismissal sheets, reports, appeals, writs, petitions for hearings, and other legal documents; may receive payments, issue receipts, turn in money, and file fee receipts with the court.
Process, obtain or track legal documents through the courts and/or other offices for the attorneys' case building process.
Compile a variety of reports locating sources of information and determining proper format for finished reports; complete legal papers and documents for which general forms are available.