Paralegal – Waukegan

Prairie State Legal Services • Waukegan, IL

21h • Onsite

About The Position

Prairie State Legal Services, Inc. is seeking a Paralegal to join their team in the Waukegan office. Paralegals at PSLS provide a wide range of support to attorneys, enabling them to serve vulnerable community members including low-income individuals, older adults, veterans, and people with disabilities. The services focus on legal problems impacting basic human needs such as physical safety, healthcare access, adequate housing, and financial stability. Prairie State is the sole legal aid organization in much of its service area, committed to providing high-quality legal services in a motivating, collaborative, and rewarding work environment with professional growth opportunities. Prairie State Legal Services is a nonprofit civil legal aid organization with over 45 years of service in northern and central Illinois, maintaining 11 office locations and a staff of over 200 employees. Its 36-county service area includes diverse communities, encouraging staff to use creative approaches to serve clients. Employees benefit from local office expertise and robust program-wide resources. PSLS maintains excellent fiscal controls and high ratings from Charity Navigator and Guidestar. PSLS is an equal opportunity employer dedicated to creating a welcoming environment, recruiting, employing, paying, and promoting qualified applicants and employees without discrimination based on protected characteristics.

Requirements

• 2-year associates degree, 4-year bachelor's degree, and/or a paralegal certificate
• Excellent organizational and oral/written communication skills
• Proficient with computers and online tools
• Travel to other offices is necessary; valid driver's license and/or reliable transportation is required

Nice To Haves

• Spanish-English bilingual candidates are highly preferred
• Previous legal experience preferred
• Experience providing services to low-income individuals

Responsibilities

• Maintain contact with clients to provide information on the status of their cases
• Prepare pleadings and correspondence for Attorneys as assigned
• Prepare correspondence and documents for direct services to clients
• Monitor case files to see that they contain all required documents
• Generate and mail notices for court proceedings and schedule matters on the court docket
• Working with PSLS attorneys to assist clients in a wide range of legal problems, including family law, domestic violence litigation, administrative law, Social Security Disability benefits, landlord/tenant, and other matters
• Supporting the attorneys in their legal work, including assisting with and preparing routine pleadings, notices, subpoenas, correspondence, and other similar documents; scheduling court dates; e-filing; scheduling client appointments in open cases; assisting with medical and other records requests; assisting attorneys with file organization and review of closed files; and assisting with filing
• Entering client information and data into case management software
• Performing a variety of other office tasks such as typing, copying, faxing, and emailing
• Assisting with medical and other records requests
• Periodically assisting with off-site intake

Benefits

• Health insurance, including the opportunity to qualify for a wellness credit
• Dental Insurance
• Vision insurance
• 403b retirement plan, including employer contributions
• Training and education program
• PTO that starts at nearly 3 weeks/year and increases with additional years worked at PSLS
• Paid sick leave
• 6 weeks of paid parental leave after one year of employment
• 12 paid holidays

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Entry Level
• Education Level: Associate degree
• Number of Employees: 11-50 employees