Location: (HYBRID - home/in office) Sacramento, Fresno, Oakland, Los Angeles, Ontario or San Diego
SALARY RANGE (Depending on Experience and Location):
Sacramento/Fresno Locations
Legal Support 1 $22.71 - $33.23 per hour (BAND 4)
Legal Support 2 $24.96 - $36.59 per hour (BAND 5)
LA/Oakland/San Diego Locations
Legal Support 1 $23.84 - $34.89 per hour (BAND 4D)
Legal Support 2 $26.23 - $38.42 per hour (BAND 5D)
EXCELLENT BENEFITS including 8% 401k Match and a language differential up to $250/mo. Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) - eligible employment.
Application Deadline: Open until filled.
WHO WE ARE
Disability Rights California (DRC) is a statewide, non-profit legal organization dedicated to advancing the rights of Californians with disabilities to live with autonomy, dignity, and respect in a barrier-free, inclusive, and diverse world that values each individual and their voice.
CIVIL RIGHTS Practice Group
We are a statewide team dedicated to empowering people with disabilities. We use a variety of advocacy tools including impact litigation, policy advocacy, and individual representation.
Our current goals include
· Eradication homelessness.
· Protecting and increasing affordable, accessible housing.
· Guaranteeing inclusive and accessible private and public programs.
· Ensuring equal access to transportation and sidewalks; and
· Increasing access to courts.
Job Description and Qualifications
LEGAL SUPPORT 1
The Legal Support 1 acts as legal and administrative support to enhance the effectiveness of the legal/advocacy staff by providing legal secretarial support and information management support. Disability Rights California will provide ongoing training opportunities for this position. We are seeking candidates who are committed to equity, inclusion, and justice across multiple differences, including race, ethnicity, disability, gender identity, orientation, and language.
JOB RESPONSIBILITIES
Essential functions are the job responsibilities an employee must be able to perform, with or without reasonable accommodation. Legal Support 1 essential functions include:
Attorney/Advocate support: – 70%
· Open and close cases.
· Communicate with clients, professionals, and others; and direct telephone calls.
· Case file maintenance both paper and e-files.
· Assemble, serve, and file legal documents with the court and administrative agencies.
· Maintain a tickler system for court and administrative calendaring.
· Provide secretarial support as it relates to the preparation of court filings, forms including, in forma pauperis applications, proofs of service, cover sheets, and following all local rule requirements.
· Create and complete documents, correspondence, and forms.
Administrative/technical support – 30%
· Prepare PowerPoint documents for outreach and training presentations concerning accessibility, formatting, and proofing.
· Coordinate travel and conference calls.
· Distribute of materials.
· Maintain calendar.
· Copy, fax, and process mail.
· Assemble documents and materials for trainings, conferences, and meetings.
· Coordinate logistics and provide off-site assistance at training.
· Provide reasonable accommodation assistance to staff with disabilities.
· Establish and maintain filing systems.
Other Duties
· Provide reception desk back-up.
· Participate in outreach activities to minority and underserved communities.
· Maintain or state on top of current accessibility and application standards.
· Perform other duties as assigned.
LEGAL SUPPORT 2
PURPOSE OF THE JOB
The Legal Support 2 acts as legal and administrative support to enhance the effectiveness of the legal/advocacy staff by providing legal secretarial/paralegal support and information management support. Disability Rights California will provide ongoing training opportunities for this position. We are seeking candidates who are committed to equity, inclusion, and justice across multiple differences, including race, ethnicity, disability, gender identity, orientation, and language.
JOB RESPONSIBILITIES
DRC provides reasonable disability accommodations to enable qualified individuals with disabilities to perform essential functions. Legal Support 2 essential functions include:
Technical – 80%
· Provides support to a team of attorneys and advocates.
· Supports complex litigation and e-filing in various courts in the state of California (federal district courts, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, and state trial/appellate courts), including case planning with attorneys and support teams.
· Utilizes organizational skills to assist attorneys effectively and efficiently with case file maintenance, court filings, and client communications.
· Establishes, maintains, and monitors recordkeeping and program data management systems including document management responsibilities including opening and closing cases.
· Adeptly uses various databases, project management and video conference programs.
· Coordinates and provides logistical support for complex projects, trainings, and conferences.
· Maintains calendar, record appearance dates, and legal deadlines.
· Categorizes legal and discovery documents.
· Monitors case flow documentation.
· Prepares and updates legal binders.
· Performs online legal research for legal advocacy staff.
· Creates and maintains legal templates and forms.
Customer Service – 20%
· Manages high volume client matters.
· Communicates with clients, directs telephone calls, and coordinates conference calls.
· Distributes materials; makes copies; sends fax messages; and processes mail.
· Provides mentorship to other support staff, and reviews and verifies other support staff’s work, including changes to court rules (federal & state), court filings, and formatting of documents.
Legal Support 2 marginal functions
· Coordinates and makes travel arrangements.
· Provides backup support for other administrative support.
· Participates in outreach activities to minority and underserved communities.
· Performs other duties as assigned.
TRAVEL REQUIREMENTS
Ability to travel infrequently for activities such as training or outreach activities up to 10% of the time.
Minimum Qualifications for Legal Support 1
Education and Experience
High school diploma or general education degree (GED); plus one-year legal secretarial experience; or two years of other specialized secretarial or word processing; or equivalent combination of education and experience. Plus:
· Proficient using Microsoft Office Suite including Word, Outlook, and Excel
Licenses / Certificates
None required.
PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS
· Bilingual on Spanish, Asian or ASL language.
· Two or more years of legal secretarial experience.
· Experience using database applications, web-based applications, or work-flow systems.
· Experience using Microsoft Office suite programs, including Access, PowerPoint, or Publisher.
· Experience working with nonprofit and/or social service agencies.
· Contacts with disability organizations and/or within disability communities.
· Contacts with multi-ethnic organizations and/or within multi-ethnic communities.
· Familiarity and/or extensive contacts with one or more of the following: homelessness, criminal justice, substance abuse, or Gay/Lesbian/Bisexual/ Transgender/Intersex (GLBTI) communities.
· Life experience as a person with a disability OR direct experience as a caregiver of a family member with a disability.
LEGAL SUPPORT 2
EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE
High school diploma or general education degree (GED) plus:
· five years of litigation secretarial experience and/or training or a Paralegal Certificate,
· two years of litigation secretarial experience,
or equivalent combination of education and experience.
LICENSES / CERTIFICATES
A Paralegal Certificate preferred.
PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS
· Demonstrated commitment to social justice (disability rights, prisoners’ rights, immigration rights, and/or other types of civil rights issues).
· Experience working with clients confined to institutions (psychiatric hospitals, jails, prisons, immigration detention facilities, etc.).
· Experience using Westlaw or other legal research database and researching local court rules.
· Experience using Summation Case Management or other litigation support and legal review service platform.
· Experience working with nonprofit and/or social service agencies.
· Experience running reports and collecting data.
· Contacts with disability organizations and/or within disability communities.
· Contacts with multi-ethnic organizations and/or within multi-ethnic communities.
· Experience working with and/or sensitivity to persons with disabilities and/or experience working with and/or sensitivity to persons from multi-ethnic communities.
· Life experience as a person with a disability OR direct experience as a caregiver of a family member with a disability.
· Ability to communicate fluently in Spanish, Chinese, Tagalog, Vietnamese, Korean, or American Sign Language.
WORKING CONDITIONS
Work is done in a typical office environment, which includes regular sitting, use of a computer, written and verbal communication through a computer. May occasionally require standing, stooping, kneeling, and crouching primarily related to filing and processing paperwork. May occasionally encounter lifting, as exampled by adding paper to a copy machine.
If you are interested in becoming a part of DRC, please submit the following:
1. Online Disability Rights California Application Form
2. Your resume
3. Cover Letter: We need a workforce that can utilize insights and strategies that can come from both professional and personal experience. In your cover letter, please tell us about yourself and why you are a great fit for this position and for DRC.
Incomplete applications will not be considered.
NLADA Mutual Insurance Co., RRG
