Corporation Counsel- Legal Office Manager

University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire; Eau Claire (WI); On-site; USD 65,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

Eau Claire County is seeking an experienced Legal Office Manager to supervise the Corporation Counsel’s Office, oversee day-to-day operations, and support budget development. The role involves staff training, contract review, and policy management to ensure efficient legal services for county departments and the public.

The position requires strong organizational skills, legal administration experience, and the ability to coordinate across agencies.

Qualifications

• Coordinates and manages general office operations and legal support functions.
• Supports legal documents, hearings preparation, and public information services.
• Performs legal research and interprets laws and precedents.
• Supervises staff on hiring, training, leave, and performance evaluation.
• Prepares financial data and reports for budget and administration.
• Reviews, modifies, and ensures compliance of contracts and policies.
• Manages file systems, retention, and transition to electronic records.
• Schedules court hearings and notifies parties of deadlines.
• Maintains strict confidentiality of program and case information.
• Maintains case files, records, and statistics for legal matters.
• Drafts ordinances and resolutions per legal standards and county codes.
• Organizes ordinance citations and assists in pre-trial processes.
• Processes claims and tracks settlement and collection activities.
• Monitors departmental budget and purchases within approved amounts.
• Oversees reception duties and agency coordination.
• Performs related duties as assigned.

Responsibilities

• Coordinate and supervise office operations for the Corporation Counsel’s Office.
• Provide legal administrative support, prepare documents, and assist in court hearings.
• Conduct basic legal research and interpret laws and cases.
• Supervise staff; manage hiring, discipline, training, and performance.
• Prepare financial data and reports for budget processes and administration.
• Review contracts and ensure compliance with terms.
• Update and implement department policy and file management procedures.
• Schedule cases for court hearings and manage notices.
• Maintain confidential files and records, with secure access.
• Maintain records retention schedules and annual closeout procedures.
• Draft ordinances, resolutions, and legal documents.
• Review county ordinances and update codes as needed.
• Organize and file county ordinance citations; assist in pre-trials.
• Process claims and monitor collection activities.
• Monitor and assist in budget-related purchases.
• Coordinate reception coverage and department communications.
• Perform other related duties as required.

Skills

Office management

Legal administration

Legal research

Staff supervision

Financial reporting

Contract management

Policy management

Case scheduling

Confidentiality

Records management

Records retention

Legal drafting

Legislation review

Court filings

Claims processing

Budget monitoring

Procurement tracking

Debt collection

Small claims enforcement

Reception duties

General duties

Education

Associate degree or Certificate in the legal assistant, paralegal, or related field

Job description

Position Summary The Legal Office Manager supervises and provides general office management and direction to the staff and day-to-day operations of the Corporation Counsel’s office. This position assists in developing and administering the departmental budget, provides ongoing training to staff, and acts as a liaison between the department and other agencies and departments.

Position Summary
The Legal Office Manager supervises and provides general office management and direction to the staff and day-to-day operations of the Corporation Counsel’s office. This position assists in developing and administering the departmental budget, provides ongoing training to staff, and acts as a liaison between the department and other agencies and departments.
Qualifications

• Practices excellent general office management and direction to coordinate the legal specialist support operations of the Corporation Counsel’s Office, such as required reporting, purchasing, information system administration and coordination, and clerical support.
• Provides legal administrative support; prepares and processes legal documents and schedules; performs preparatory work for court hearings; offers public information services to County departments and the public; performs general word processing, and telephone reception duties.
• Performs basic legal research applying expertise in legal terminology and using legal reference books; reviews and interprets specified laws and cases; prepares findings and recommendations in appropriate formats.
• Directs knowledge of the principles and practices of supervision to participate in decisions on hiring, retention, discipline, and other personnel matters; supervises and manages activities of staff that includes determining work procedures and schedules and developing methods for expediting workflow; approves employee requests for leave and overtime as required by operational necessity; evaluates employee performance; coaches and counsels staff to achieve improved performance and productivity; recommends corrective disciplinary action as needed; identifies individual training needs in order to achieve greater departmental performance and productivity.
• Prepares financial data and reports as requested by Corporation Counsel, Finance, Department of Human Services, and Administration.
• Reviews and maintains contracts for the required term and ensures contracts are reviewed, modified, and complied with on a regular basis.
• Reviews and modifies department policy and procedure regarding file management, including file maintenance, retention, and destruction when appropriate; implements conversion to electronic files.
• Schedules and prepares cases for court hearings; ensures timely notice and adherence to legal requirements on various legal matters.
• Adheres to strict confidential program, participant, and organizational information standards; establishes and maintains case files; contacts individuals for court appearances; schedules hearings, trial dates and times.
• Performs records management duties to ensure statutory timelines are met for all cases; maintains statistical records of case numbers and results; prepares and maintains electronic index of bankruptcy notifications received by the county and sends quarterly reports.
• Applies precise records and retention procedures; coordinates and performs the annual closing, retention, and year-end destruction of department records.
• Drafts and prepares legal documents, ordinances, and resolutions in compliance with legal standards for review by Corporation Counsel staff.
• Reviews approved ordinances and amendments made at County Board meetings; uses data classification skills to update county codes and indexes; publishes and distributes as required.
• Organizes County ordinance citations for pre-trials; researches and compiles information; prepares and files paperwork; participates in pre-trials with assigned attorney; notifies Clerk of Courts of outcome and enters results into database.
• Processes claims filed against the County; submits to insurance carrier; maintains record of status; provides reports and maintains retention schedule of claims.
• Assists in reviewing, analyzing, preparing, and monitoring the departmental budget implementing knowledge of the budget process.
• Tracks purchases utilizing organizational and attention to detail skills; follows guidelines to ensure purchases are within budget; reconciles purchases; prepares time tracking data reports.
• Pursues tax intercept on collection files; processes collection efforts on referred accounts; drafts and sends correspondence; negotiates, obtains, and monitors repayment agreements; pursues collection through WDOR/TRIP Program.
• In consultation with attorney staff, determines what actions are necessary to enforce a small claims judgment which may include petitioning the court and appearing at a hearing on contempt, garnishment of wages, and/or execution against property.
• Provides reception coverage for Corporation Counsel; assigns ordinance and resolution numbers; reserves conference rooms.
• Performs other related duties as required or assigned.

Required Qualifications

• Associate degree or Certificate in the legal assistant, paralegal, or related field.
• Three (3) years of full-time experience working in a law office as a paralegal or legal secretary having substantive knowledge of the law, legal office practices, terminology, and proper legal format.
• Appointment will be conditional upon successful completion of a criminal background check.
• Must be able to meet the position's work-related transportation requirements. When using a personal vehicle for County business, employees must comply with applicable County requirements regarding driver's license validity, vehicle insurance, and authorization for work-related travel.

Preferred Qualifications

• Knowledge of Wisconsin Statutes pertaining to the handling of Chapters 48, 49, 51, 54, 55, 59, and 938 cases.
• Bachelor’s degree in business administration or related field.
• Experience working in a local governmental setting.
• Experience in basic accounting procedures used in collections, annual accounts, and budgeting.
• Keyboarding skills of 55 wpm.

Eau Claire County is not only a great place to work, but has many exciting benefits!
Paid Time Off (PTO): Accrual is based on years of service with the County, starting at 6.4 hours accruing each pay period (20.8 days per year), with the maximum accrual rate of 35.75 days per year. All new hires at Eau Claire County receive 40 hours of front-loaded PTO upon hire, which they may begin using immediately.
*Manager PTO accrual available upon request*
Holidays: Eleven paid holidays: New Year's Day, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, a Spring Holiday, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day, the Day after Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve Day, Christmas Day and New Year's Eve Day.
Retirement: The County provides a retirement account in Wisconsin Retirement System (WRS). Employees pay one-half of the actuarially required contributions.
Eau Claire County provides leave under the Family Medical Leave Act: Family and Medical Leave Act | U.S. Department of Labor
AN IMPORTANT NOTE: This information gives only a brief summary of the plans in effect for regular, full-time Non-Represented employees of Eau Claire County and may not be all-inclusive. Eau Claire County's policies and County Code govern if there are differences between this information and the policies.