Paralegal III

State of North Carolina•Wake County, NC

1d•Onsite

About The Position

The North Carolina Department of Justice, led by the Attorney General of North Carolina, represents the state, state agencies, and elected officials, and defends the rights of the people of North Carolina. The Department handles all state criminal appeals cases and assists district attorneys with complex criminal cases at their request. Additionally, the Department of Justice includes the North Carolina State Crime Lab, the North Carolina Justice Academy, and the Sheriffs’ and Criminal Justice Education and Training Standards Divisions. This position provides paralegal and clerical support to Appellate and Post-conviction attorneys preparing the State’s briefs, motions, petitions, responses and other legal documents. The Appellate and Post-Conviction Section of the Criminal Division of the North Carolina Department of Justice represents the State in criminal matters after a defendant’s trial is completed. This includes direct appeals of criminal convictions, state post-conviction petitions, research and preparation of the State’s briefs and oral argument in federal habeas corpus litigation, handling complex criminal appeals and petitions, representing the State in capital litigation, assisting District Attorneys in capital litigation, acting as liaison with Attorneys General and prosecutors on criminal law issues, defending against non-capital federal habeas corpus actions, and preventing expensive and time-consuming retrials or the premature release of criminals who cannot be retried.

Requirements

Ability to communicate effectively and efficiently.
Ability to create documents with minimal errors.
Graduation from an appropriately accredited institution for paralegal training and three years of experience as a paralegal; or Bachelor’s degree from an appropriately accredited institution and three years of substantive paralegal experience; or High school or General Education Development (GED) diploma and seven years of paralegal experience performing delegated, substantive legal work; or an equivalent combination of education and experience.

Responsibilities

Provide paralegal and clerical support to Appellate and Post-conviction attorneys preparing the State’s briefs, motions, petitions, responses and other legal documents.
Proof, cite check, run tables of contents and authorities for filings and other duties for the section as needed.
Prepare templates for documents, proofread and edit all documents, prepare the Tables of Authorities, Tables of Content and Appendixes for briefs and other appellate filings.
Electronically file documents in the United States and North Carolina courts.
Prepare service copies and exhibits for filings.
Collect and prepare discovery documents for capital and non-capital criminal cases.
Check citations to applicable legal authorities, make corrections as necessary and independently make review decisions with minimal review in making final edits.
Organize attorney case information and manage document collection and/or storage.
Track attorney cases.