The County of Kings is seeking one Legal Secretary with excellent organizational and communication skills who displays initiative, integrity, and sound judgement to work in the County Counsel Office. The successful candidate will perform specialized legal secretary duties that require handling sensitive and confidential matters responsibly, professionally, and discreetly. Future vacancies throughout the County for this position may be filled from the eligible list to be established. The typical life of the eligible list is six months.
DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERISTICS
The Legal Secretary classification is utilized in County legal offices such as the offices of the District Attorney, County Counsel, Child Support Services and Minors' Advocacy. Incumbents perform a variety of legal secretarial and administrative support work for attorneys and other legal staff. Legal Secretary is the advanced experience classification in the legal clerical classification series and may be assigned to act as a lead worker for lower level legal clerical staff.
DUTY SAMPLE
Duties include but are not limited to those described below. Reasonable accommodation will be made when requested and determined by the County to be appropriate under applicable law.
Prepares a variety of legal documents, such as legal briefs and memorandums, opinions, subpoenas, court orders, complex writs, appeals, motions, notices, publications; witness lists, conservatorship letters, guardianship letters and jury instructions; provides attorney staff with a variety of administrative and secretarial support as assigned; may receive and screen visitors and callers; provides information, answers complaints, schedules appointments and court appearances; assists attorneys in the preparation of a wide variety of legal documents such as pleadings, briefs, points and authorities, complaints, stipulations, ordinances, leases, contracts, resolutions, opinions, by-laws, memorandums of understanding, requests for proposals, and other legal documents; checks and reviews a variety of documents for completeness and conformance with established regulations and procedures; assists attorneys and other legal staff in special projects such as compiling and assembling information for reports; may take and transcribe notes for letters, case files, legal complaints and reports; may open, sort and distribute correspondence; independently prepares legal documents and replies to certain correspondence; may oversee and prepare statistical, financial and other reports related to grants or governmental mandates; operates a variety of general office equipment utilized in a legal office; prepares and maintains a variety of legal office records and files; may assist in the preparation of the budget; in a lead worker capacity, may assign and review the work of subordinate clerical personnel and provide training as necessary. Drives a vehicle to deliver documents to and retrieve documents from the Courts and other offices.
MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS **Minimum requirements must be met by the closing date**
Please note: Work experience for the last 15 years must be included in the work history portion of your application. It is also important that your application show all the relevant education and experience that you possess, even if it extends beyond the required past 15 years. A resume may be attached, but is not a substitute for completing the application and supplemental questions. Failure to submit a completed application may eliminate you from the recruitment.
PLEASE NOTE: When completing the work history portion of your application please include each level position title and level as a separate entry when applicable. Eg: If you were a Legal Clerk I and promoted to Legal Clerk II, each level should be entered separately to reflect the time held at each level.
Any combination of education, training and experience that would likely provide the required knowledge, skills and abilities may be considered qualifying. A typical way to obtain the required knowledge, skills and abilities would be:
Education: High school graduation or equivalent.
Experience: Two years of legal clerical experience equivalent to a Legal Clerk II with Kings County; OR three years of general clerical experience including at least two years of legal clerical experience. (Substitution: Completion of a recognized legal secretarial vocational program or two years of college coursework in office procedures, legal terminology or related subjects may be substituted for one year of the non-legal office experience.)
License: Possession of a valid appropriate California driver's license issued by the Department of Motor Vehicles.
Special Requirements: 1) Type at a speed of 45 net words per minute; NOTE: It is the applicant's responsibility to attach a typing certificate (signed by a proctor) to their online application prior to submitting their application. Failure to do so may result in your application being disqualified.
For more information on how to add attachments to your application, click here.
2) Ability to qualify for security clearance through a background investigation which includes fingerprinting.
For a detailed job specification, click here.
SELECTION PROCESS: **EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER**
All completed applications and supplemental questionnaires will be reviewed. Depending upon the number of applicants who meet the minimum qualifications, the examination process may include a screening committee (pass/fail) and/or written examination (pass/fail) and/or an oral examination (100%) which may include a written practical component to determine placement on the eligible list.