Required Experience: 3+ years of extensive litigation secretarial/assistant experience in Law Firm, preferably in casualty litigation/insurance defense
Job Description:
The legal assistant plays an important role in supporting legal professionals in the delivery of legal services to clients. The legal assistant is responsible for providing administrative and clerical support to multiple attorneys. Duties include drafting legal documents, managing case files, assisting in trial preparation, communicating with clients and maintaining confidentiality of sensitive information related to cases and clients.
Essential Functions and Basic Duties:
Draft, review, revise, prepare, format, and edit comprehensive legal documents, such as pleadings, and other communications for the attorney to review.
Review all incoming mail, faxes and emails.
Prepare and send outgoing mail.
Open new files for new matters and new clients, including running conflict searches for new cases.
Organize and manage client files by scanning, saving, filing, naming, and destroying, when appropriate, client data in paper and electronic formats.
Effectively communicate with attorneys, clients, opposing counsel, and adjusters by email and phone.
Calendar emails, e-file documents, paper mail, hand-delivery and faxes.
Schedule depositions, hearings, mediations and inspections.
Federal, state court and agency filings, including e-filing with attorney approval.
Print and circulate e-filed documents.
Answer attorney calls and take messages; forward calls as appropriate.
Review and release time for attorneys as directed.
Prepare for trial by organizing documents, binders, charts, graphs and other evidentiary exhibits under the direction of a paralegal and/or attorney.
Assemble binders for depositions and mediations.
Update client case lists to ensure accuracy.
Update trial, mediation and case lists to ensure accuracy.
Prepare attorney expense reports.
Make travel arrangements for attorneys.
Process vendor invoices.
Assist in training of new hires.
Review pre-bills and distribute for revisions as well as ensuring their accuracy before sending bills to clients. Send invoices to clients and follow-up with clients on past-due invoices.