Court Clerk II

Travis County; Austin (TX); On-site; USD 42,000 - 62,000; Full time

Job summary

Travis County seeks a diligent Court Clerk to coordinate and perform complex clerical duties supporting court operations in Austin, Texas. You will process court documents, prepare legal instruments, and assist judges with jury selection while serving as a liaison to the public and other agencies.

You will review filings, index and file records, and ensure accurate data entry in case tracking systems. The role requires independent work, strong organization, and adherence to statutory

Qualifications

• Independent decision making in court document handling.
• Strong attention to detail in reviewing and docketing filings.
• Experience in customer service and liaising with the public and agencies.
• Clear communication with judges, attorneys and court staff.
• Familiarity with legal terminology, court procedures and records management.

Responsibilities

• Process court documents such as petitions, indictments or complaints and initiate court cases.
• Prepare and issue legal documents, notices, writs and abstracts of judgment.
• Assist the judge in jury selection and court activities; act as liaison for public and departments.
• Review and file documents, index, and archive using case tracking and imaging systems.
• Maintain courtroom schedules, track cases, and prepare reports and statistics.

Skills

Independent decision making

Attention to detail

Customer service

Communication

Legal documents handling

Education

Associate's degree in Criminal Justice, Public Administration, Business Administration or related

Job description

Under minimal supervision, performs highly responsible work in coordinating and carrying out responsibilities involving assigned causes of action. Makes independent decisions, organizes and prioritizes workload and performs detailed and complex legal procedures associated with the receipt, review, and filing of court documents. Serves as conduit for flow of work to and from assigned court. Reviews and analyzes legal documents, indexes documents by applying appropriate category codes and scans documents into electronic imaging systems. Prepares and issues a variety of legal documents. Assesses fees and performs cashier duties. Assists the public and acts as a liaison between the departments, courts, other agencies and the public. Assists judges in jury selection and other court activities. Reviews work of others. May function as County/District Clerk/Justice of the Peace representative directly supporting the Judges.

DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERISTICS:

This is the third in a series of four court clerical-related job classifications within the Administrative Support job family. Incumbents perform complex duties. This classification is distinguished from Court Clerk I in that incumbents routinely perform the majority of their work in a court setting, function as lead workers or have regular supervisory duties. This classification is distinguished from Court Clerk II Lead in that the primary responsibility is not that of supervisor and incumbents typically do not act as subject area experts.

• Independently processes court documents such as petitions, indictments or complaints initiating a court case in accordance with statutory requirements and enters data into the case tracking system with the appropriate codes. Notifies appropriate authorities of filing when required by law.
• Prepares and issues citations, writs (attachment, habeas corpus, execution, sequestration, supersedes) abstracts of judgment, capiases, warrants, injunctions, protective orders, subpoenas, restraining orders, and notices according to statutes, rules or court orders. May perform accounting related duties, such as calculating judgment amounts, preparing bills of cost, issuing writs of execution and abstracts of judgment.
• Responds to legal and administrative inquiries by clients. Prepares legal documents in the adjudication and disposition of cases for judge's signature. Reviews orders signed by judge to determine further action required. Follows through on action. Receives and processes exhibits to be filed, follows through on orders for consolidation, severance or transfer. May coordinate mental health commitments with other agencies and officers of the court.
• Conducts review of legal documents submitted, including those submitted electronically. Determines the legal and factual issues presented and dockets the filing into the case tracking system with the appropriate code structure. Organizes, bar codes, and scans documents into the document imaging system. Indexes each document by entering the appropriate category codes and descriptions so that documents can be retrieved quickly using a variety of data elements. Performs quality verification procedures on scanned documents prepared by co-workers. Inspects proposed orders and court records for correctness before submitting to judge.
• Prepares appeals, including accepting bonds, and submits them to the Appellate Court. May process, execute and distribute judgments, opinions and mandates from Appellate Court. May maintain bond forfeiture lists, submit files to court for certification by judge, process warrant requests and issuance of warrants, and maintain bond forfeiture lists for missing case files, including continuing to research location of missing case files.
• Prepares, assembles, processes or maintains a variety of reports, logs, forms and official documents generated from court proceedings, such as minutes, abstracts, rulings, orders, criminal commitments, statistics and reports. Makes certified copies, uses appropriate legal terminology and format, ensures all necessary items/paperwork are available, submits orders for judge's signature and/or copies, files and distributes documents, as required. Acts as liaison. Maintains assigned courtroom schedule. Tracks cases submitted to the court. Maintains control of and acts as custodian of exhibits. Reviews orders and filings. May operate electronic courtroom equipment under direction of judge.
• Assists the judge in the jury selection process. Maintains jury records and records excuses and strikes. Establishes and manages communication system with jurors assigned to court.
• May prepare statistical data for monthly report transmission. Develops data quality internal controls. Monitors and audits data. Analyzes changing business needs and their impact on various processes. Develops and designs statistical reports to track data.
• May serve as a trainer. Trains subordinate staff in court operations, procedures and policies. Develops, coordinates and conducts employee training and career development courses. Arranges for outside training and evaluates training received.
• May serve as a lead employee. Supervises, monitors, prioritizes and makes decisions on workload distribution. Reviews employee work for timeliness and accuracy. Keeps division manager informed of significant work issues.
• May serve as a liaison or primary point of contact with defendants, plaintiffs, families, judges, court personnel, Constable's Officers, attorneys, County and District Attorney's Office, law enforcement agencies, interested parties, and the general public regarding status, disposition, pending actions of individual cases and parties' actions. Assists public and departments on office policy and procedures. Responds to legal and administrative inquiries. Takes initial steps to resolve citizen complaints and ensures department policies and procedures are met.
• Attends docket call, court hearings and trials, as required by the court. Routes daily scheduled assigned causes of action on the docket to the courtroom and returns same to the County/District Clerk's office. Reviews documents submitted in court and determines case impact and makes appropriate notations. Reviews and verifies orders signed by a judge to determine required action and follows through on actions, such as orders for consolidation, severance, or transfers and conducts research on cases, as required by the judge.
• Reviews and verifies case documents, makes appropriate notations, processes documents and files for data entry and issues. Enters case dispositions into computer to ensure proper tracking by affected agencies. Reviews additional court case documents to determine and follow through on action.
• May determine the number of cases that will require payment agreement preparation. Negotiates contract/pay agreements with individual parties to determine the amount of court costs. Assesses fees, receives payments and performs as cashier. Makes daily and monthly reports to reconcile receipts.
• May work with representatives of Sheriff's Department, County Attorney's Office, and officials in other counties, court masters, attorneys and hospital representatives in processing Mental Health commitment cases. Creates court hearing docket. Attends commitment and other mental health hearings to record the proceedings and to issue court legal documents for release or to authorize commitment or treatment.
• Performs other job-related duties as assigned.

Education and Experience

Associate's degree in Criminal Justice, Public Administration, Business Administration or a directly related field AND four (4) years of responsible administrative and clerical experience, including working knowledge of legal procedures, terminology, the court system and customer service, and including some experience working in and supporting a court system

OR,

Any combination of education and experience that has been achieved and is equivalent to the stated education and experience and required knowledge, skills, and abilities sufficient to successfully perform the duties and responsibilities of this job.

Licenses, Registrations, Certifications, or Special Requirements

None required.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

Knowledge of:

• Criminal justice system policies and procedures.
• Legal terminology, principles, procedures, documents and forms.
• Office procedures and protocol.
• Scanning equipment and document control.
• County Court at Law Systems.
• Litigation procedures.
• Appeal process from lower courts.
• Warrant process.
• Criminal justice procedures to handle bond forfeiture cases.
• Business letter writing, grammar and punctuation, and report preparation.
• May be required to develop knowledge of and adhere to federal and state laws requiring the confidential handling of certain health information.

Skill in:

• Analyzing legal documents.
• Coordinating the review and processing of legal documents.
• Calculating and collecting money.
• Communicating with attorneys or judges related to case information.
• Drafting correspondence.
• Monitoring, scheduling and assigning work.
• Operating a variety of modern office equipment, including a computer.
• Both verbal and written communication.

Ability to:

• Compile and generate reports.
• Effectively monitor work flow.
• Interpret and process legal data.
• Operate complex databases.
• Work under minimal direction.
• Make independent decisions based on the requirement of statutes, policies and procedures.
• Handle high volumes of detail-oriented work and to delegate.
• Handle multiple tasks simultaneously.
• Effectively deal with dissatisfied customers.
• Prioritize and work independently.
• Establish and maintain effective working relationships with County employees and officials, judges, attorneys, representatives of outside agencies, and the general public.

Physical requirements include the ability to lift/carry up to 20-50 pounds occasionally, visual acuity, speech and hearing, hand and eye coordination and manual dexterity necessary to operate a computer and office equipment. Subject to sitting, client/customer contact, standing, walking, vision to monitor, repetitive motion, stooping/kneeling, squatting, bending, and reaching to perform the essential functions. Extended periods of time at the computer entering data. Subject to heavy workloads, time schedules, deadlines and office interpersonal management duties, and walking to courtroom and outside walking. Transporting file folders to courtroom.

Travis County employees play an important role in business continuity. As such, employees can be assigned to business continuity efforts outside of normal job functions.

Work Hours: 8 am - 5 pm, Monday-Friday.

Location: 501 W. 11th Street, 2nd Floor, Room 2.300, Austin, Texas 78701

Department: District Clerk

Criminal, Driving, Education, and Employment Background Checks Required.

For updates or questions on this position, contact: [e-mail]

This job description is intended to be generic in nature. It is not necessarily an exhaustive list of all duties and responsibilities. The essential duties, functions and responsibilities and overtime eligibility may vary based on the specific tasks assigned to the position.