LEGAL ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT III

Helena, City of (MT); Helena (MT); On-site; USD 42,000 - 52,000; Full time

Job summary

The Helena City Attorney’s Office is seeking a Legal Administrative Assistant to support civil and criminal matters, case management, and budgeting in the state capital. You will work with attorneys and paralegals to draft pleadings, coordinate court hearings, and maintain secure records.

Responsibilities include creating case files, filing documents with courts, and assisting with daily operations to ensure efficient services for city departments and the City Commission.

Qualifications

• Experience with legal drafting and review for civil or criminal matters preferred.
• Familiarity with court pleadings, notices, subpoenas and filings.
• Ability to coordinate with attorneys, paralegals, and court staff.
• Proven track record in maintaining secure records and case management systems.

Responsibilities

• Assist attorneys and paralegals in preparing a variety of legal pleadings, motions, subpoenas, and other civil documents.
• Coordinate and schedule court hearings, including jury and judge trials, with city attorneys and police officers.
• Create and set up case files in the case management system, enter information, and upload reports and documents.
• File legal documents with courts and respond to information requests from staff and the public.
• Track budgets, payroll information, and office expenditures; assist with office policy improvements.
• Support witnesses and attorneys in preparing for hearings and tracking outcomes.
• Organize electronic files and maintain share drives for easy access.

Skills

Data entry

Legal drafting

Independent judgment

Record keeping

Planning

Clear communication

Policy interpretation

Research and analysis

Education

Associates degree in legal studies or related field

Job description

As a Legal Administrative Assistant, you will be at the operational heart of the Helena City Attorney’s Office. Working closely with our Administrative Coordinator, you won’t just handle paperwork—you will actively power the legal engine that protects and serves our state capital. From supporting high-stakes civil litigation and misdemeanor prosecutions to assisting with office budgets and record systems, your work directly ensures city departments, boards, and the City Commission have the legal foundation they need to thrive. If you are a detail-oriented professional looking to make a tangible impact on the Helena community, this is your opportunity.

Duty I: Legal Drafting and Review (35%)

• Assist attorneys and paralegal in the preparation of a variety of legal pleadings, including motions, witness notices, subpoenas, and bond and sentence revocations.
• Assist attorneys and paralegal within the City Attorney’s Office with the preparation of ordinances, resolutions, deeds, easements, and other civil legal documents.
• Assist attorneys and paralegal in the coordination of discovery in criminal cases in both digital and paper format.
• Tracking and secondary review of agreements for various city departments.
• Maintain secure records, logs and files, verifying accuracy of information, and recording documents.

Duty 2: Administrative (35%)

• Coordinate and schedule court hearings, including jury and judge trials, with deputy city attorneys and police officers.
• Assist in assuring efficient office operations by helping establish and maintain office policies that facilitate such operations by meeting with staff to identify and resolve problems; monitoring work flow; reviewing and evaluating work products, methods, and procedures; recommending improvements in workflow, procedures, and use of equipment and forms.
• Assists the Administrative Coordinator with preparing and monitoring the office budget including analyzing and determining annual budget needs, revenue requests for designated accounts, and monitoring expenditures to verify fund balances and proper accounts of the approved budget.
• Serves as a secondary resource and information source regarding office policies, procedures, objectives, and operational functions. This function includes receiving and interviewing office visitors, city staff, and telephone callers; answering questions and providing information where judgment, knowledge, and interpretations are utilized; resolving complaints; referring callers, city staff, and visitors to appropriate sources as necessary.
• Assist attorneys in contacting witnesses in preparation for hearings, collecting and documenting witness information including restitution information, and contacting defense attorneys.
• Assist attorneys and paralegal in tracking outcomes from omnibus hearings and jury confirmations.
• Assist attorneys and paralegal in tracking lab results and communicating with expert witnesses in criminal cases.

Duty 3: Clerical (30%)

• Create and set up criminal and civil case files in case management system, which includes but is not limited to, entering information in the case management system and uploading reports and other relevant documents.
• File legal documents with courts.
• Respond to requests for information from staff and public.
• Type, proofread, and process a variety of documents, including general correspondence, reports, memoranda and spreadsheets.
• Coordinate, maintain, process and balance department payroll information.
• Prepare, review and process payment claims; and order, receive, store, and distribute supplies.
• Track files for record retention compliance.
• Assist paralegal in organizing electronic files in case management system and share drive.

• Basic operational characteristics, services, and activities of a municipal law department.
• Principles and applications of civil, criminal, and administrative law.
• Understanding of workings of courts and filing of court pleadings.
• Legal terminology, procedures, and technology.
• Modern office administrative management practices and methods.
• Modern office equipment including computer equipment and applicable software programs.
• English language usage, spelling, vocabulary, grammar, and punctuation.

• Principles and procedures of record keeping and filing systems for both physical and electronic records.
• Record retention laws.
• Basic mathematical principles.
• Principles and practices used in dealing with the public.

Skills/Abilities:

• Type and enter data at a speed necessary for successful job performance.
• Learn, interpret, and apply the policies, procedures, laws, codes, and regulations pertaining to assigned programs and functions.
• Prepare drafts of legally significant documents for attorney review, both from scratch and by using templates.
• Use independent judgment to respond to and assist with a wide variety of issues dealing with multiple subject matters and varying degree of complexity.
• Perform general clerical work involving the use of independent judgment and personal initiative.
• Respond to inquiries and requests for information regarding policies and procedures.
• Prepare and maintain accurate and complete records.
• Research, collect, compile, and analyze information and data.
• Prepare and administer budgets.
• Plan and organize work to meet schedules and deadlines.
• Communicate clearly and concisely, both orally and in writing.
• Establish, maintain, and foster positive and harmonious working relationships with those contacted in the course of work.

Physical Demands:

Ability to work in a standard office environment. Mobility to work in a typical office setting and use standard office equipment, vision to read printed materials and a computer screen, and hearing and speech to communicate in person or over the telephone. Requires the ability to move or lift documents and materials weighing up to 30 pounds. Accommodation may be made for some of these physical demands for otherwise qualified individuals who require and request such accommodation

Safety:

Performs all functions in the safest possible manner and according to policies and procedures. Participates fully with safety trainings. Reports unsafe work conditions and practices, work-related injuries, illnesses, and near-misses as soon as possible to assigned supervisor.

Minimum Qualifications (Education, Experience and Training):

Any combination equivalent to experience and education/training that would provide the required knowledge, skills, and abilities would be qualifying. A typical way to obtain the knowledge, skills. and abilities would be:

Experience:

5 years of increasingly responsible legal administrative, clerical, and drafting and review experience.

Education/Training:

Associates degree in legal studies or related field.