ELDE - Paralegal

City of Oakland; Oakland (CA); On-site; USD 60,000 - 85,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Work/Life Balance

Paid holidays

Vacation

CalPERS retirement

Health insurance

Dental

Vision

Sick leave

401(k) options

Job summary

The City of Oakland's Office of the City Attorney is seeking a Paralegal for an exempt one-year assignment. The role supports attorneys in defending the City in litigation and emphasizes complex document drafting, discovery, and case preparation.

Ideal candidates have a paralegal certification or a bachelor’s degree with relevant experience, strong research skills, and the ability to organize and manage multiple priorities in a public sector environment.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or advanced degree in any subject, or ABA-paralegal certificate plus 1 year paralegal experience.
• High school diploma and 3 years of law-related experience under an attorney who is active in the State Bar of CA.
• Knowledge of Civil Procedure, rules of evidence, City Charter, and related codes.

Responsibilities

• Draft legal documents including discovery responses, pleadings, motions, and memos.
• Gather, organize, summarize, and analyze materials for pre-trial processes.
• Provide paralegal and strategic support to attorneys during hearings and trials.
• Prepare administrative records and liaison between attorneys, clients, witnesses, and the public.
• Research questions of law and summarize results for memoranda or reports.
• Prepare witnesses to give testimony and assist with public records requests.

Skills

Legal research

Legal writing

Effective communication

Case management

Education

Bachelor's degree or higher

ABA-approved paralegal certification

Tools

Electronic databases

Job description

The City of Oakland is an equal opportunity employer that values workforce diversity, inclusion, and equity. Oakland has a long history of activism around issues of justice and equity. Both oppression and this resistance to oppression have shaped the city’s historical roots and the lives of its residents to this day. As public servants in one of the most diverse cities in the nation, we strive to develop employees who understand the harm and impacts of systemic inequity to create lasting, meaningful outcomes for everyone. Oakland strives to establish an environment that embraces the richness of culture, community, and individualism of employees.

Exempt Limited Duration Employee (ELDE): This is an at-will position, exempt from the provisions of the City of Oakland Civil Service Rules (per Charter Section 902f). Exempt Limited Duration positions may not exceed a period of one year.

The Position

The City of Oakland's Office of the City Attorney is recruiting to fill one (1) Paralegal vacancy within the Office of the City Attorney. This is an exempt limited duration assignment and is expected to last one year. Join a dynamic and diverse team committed to defending the City of Oakland in various types of litigation and initiating legal action when the community's quality of life or economic interests are jeopardized. The ideal candidate will be able to perform complex work to support the City Attorney in advocating the City's interest in lawsuits filed against or on behalf of the City.

Examples of Duties

Duties may include, but are not limited to the following:

• Draft legal documents, including propounding and responding to discovery, pre-trial/trial documents, pleadings, motions, correspondence and memoranda.
• Gather, organize, summarize and analyze materials obtained through the pre-trial/project-oriented process.
• Provide paralegal and strategic support to attorneys during the hearing, pre-trial, trial, and post-trial process.
• Gather and organize documents for administrative proceedings, including preparation of administrative records.
• Act as a liaison between attorneys, clients, witnesses, employees and the public.
• Provide logistic support, including collecting legal documents at a variety of venues.
• Research specific questions of law for precedents, related case law, and/or citations and summarize the results in the memoranda or reports.
• Analyze or distinguish cases that may have relevance, and present oral and/or written conclusions to attorney.
• Prepare witnesses to give testimony.
• Assist with public record requests and other inquiries from the public.
• Monitor progress of cases/projects as appropriate.

Knowledge and Abilities

• Legal and factual research and interview methods, including accessing computerized databases.
• Applicable Codes of Civil Procedure and rules of evidence; related municipal, state, and federal codes; and the City Charter.
• Legal terminology, formatting and legal writing.
• Computer applications and electronic databases.

Ability to

• Communicate effectively orally and in writing.
• Provide paralegal support during the trials and court or administrative hearings.
• Conduct discovery process with witnesses; investigate incidents during the discovery process.
• Make independent judgments within established guidelines.
• Prepare legal documents, including pleadings, motions, and discovery documents.
• Organize work, set priorities, meet critical deadlines and follow up on assignments with a minimum of direction.
• Research and summarize case law and other legal documents.
• Analyze and interpret a variety of data and information.
• Monitor progress of cases and projects as appropriate.
• Follow oral and written directions.
• Use computers for word processing.
• Manage time and use appropriate work methods, techniques and equipment to achieve the most effective and efficient result in the time available; balance multiple priorities and focus on desired outcome.
• Handles sensitive and stressful situations with tact and diplomacy.
• Maintain confidential files and information.
• Establish and maintain effective and productive work relationships with other members of the organization and the public.

Any combination of education and experience that is equivalent to the following minimum qualifications is acceptable.

Experience and Education

Bachelor's degree or an advanced degree in any subject from an accredited college or university, or a certificate of completion of a paralegal program approved by the American Bar Association, and one (1) year experience as a paralegal or related field. up to two (2) years of experience may be substituted for education.

High school diploma or general equivalency diploma and three (3) years of law related experience under the supervision of an attorney who has been an active member of the State Bar of California for at least the preceding three (3) years.

What's in it for you?

• Work/Life Balance: 37.5-hour work weeks
• 15 paid holidays
• Vacation: 2 weeks per year minimum with the ability to accrue more depending on public sector years of service
• Retirement: CalPERS (California Public Employees’ Retirement System) with a pension formula of 2.5% @ 55 (for Classic CalPERS members) and 2% @ 62 for new CalPERS members. Classic Employees contribute 8% of pre-tax wages. The City of Oakland does not participate in Social Security
• Health: The City of Oakland pays the full cost of employee and eligible dependent coverage at the Kaiser rate. Other plans include Anthem, Blue Shield, United Health Care, and other HMO and PPO plans
• Dental: Delta Dental full premium for employees and eligible dependents
• Vision: VSP full premium for employees and eligible dependents
• Sick leave: Employees accrue 12 days per year
• Deferred Compensation: 457(b) pre-tax plan and an after-tax ROTH 401(k) plan
• Other benefits include a Flexible Spending Account, Wellness Program, Employee Assistance Program, Tuition Reimbursement, Life Insurance up to $200k & Employee Training.

Benefits described herein do not represent a contract and may be changed without notice. Additional information can be found at: Working for Oakland

Applicants are required to submit criminal history information upon request after receiving a conditional offer of employment. If the requested information is not furnished in a timely manner, applicants will not qualify for further consideration and will be removed from the eligible list.

Disaster Service Workers

All employees are designated Disaster Service Workers through state and local law. Employees are required to complete all Disaster Service Worker-related training as assigned and to return to work as ordered in the event of an emergency.