Legal Assistant - Litigation

The City of Fort Worth; Fort Worth (TX); On-site; USD 56,000 - 60,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

11 Paid Holidays

Medical

Dental

Vision

Paid Time Off

Pension Plan

Professional Development Opportunities

Job summary

The City of Fort Worth is seeking a Legal Assistant for the City Attorney’s Office. This role provides administrative and legal support to attorneys, drafts legal documents, and manages case files.

The position requires an associate degree and at least two years of legal assistant experience, with strong attention to detail and confidentiality. You will handle discovery, filings, and court calendar tasks, while interacting with the public and city staff to ensure efficient City Prosecutor’s

Qualifications

• Experience coordinating with courts, law enforcement agencies, attorneys, defendants and victims.
• Experience providing legal support in prosecutor’s or governmental offices.
• Strong knowledge of legal terminology, court procedures, and filing processes.

Responsibilities

• Provides administrative and legal support to prosecutors in the City Prosecutor’s Office.
• Prepare legal documents and correspondence.
• Drafts answers, discovery responses, briefs and other pleadings.
• Maintain physical and electronic case files.
• Track deadlines and enter case data in case-management systems.
• Assist attorneys with court calendars, hearings and trials.
• Answer phones and assist the public and city staff.

Skills

Legal support experience

Court coordination

Legal terminology knowledge

Court filing systems

Attention to detail

Education

Associate degree in Business/Public/Office Administration

Job description

Pay Range: $26.74 - $28.85/hr. | $55,619 - $60,008 annual compensation

Benefits for this position include: 11 Paid Holidays, Medical, Dental, Vision, Paid Time Off, Pension Plan, Professional Development Opportunities. Find Out More!

The City of Fort Worth is one of the fastest growing large cities in the U.S. Our employees serve the needs of nearly 1,000,000 residents, promoting our values of exceptional customer experience, mutual respect, embracing our diversity, continuous improvement, ethical behavior, and accountability.

The Fort Worth City Attorney’s Office is a collegial team of legal professionals providing excellent legal service to the City of Fort Worth. As an in-house legal department, we practice in a wide range of civil and criminal law on behalf of and for the City, including general counsel, litigation, and prosecutorial areas. Local government is the form of government that is closest to the people and working for a well-managed city like Fort Worth gives meaning and purpose as you see the direct and positive impact your legal work has on improving the community.

A Legal Assistant position is available with the Fort Worth City Attorney’s Office. This office is a team of legal professionals focused on providing consistent, excellent legal service and quality customer service to the City of Fort Worth. We strive to be a well-managed office that is proactive and integrated into the day-to-day activities of the City and to be recognized by our peers for exemplary professionalism and ethical behavioral.

Minimum Qualifications:

• Associate degree from an accredited college with major course work in Business Administration, Public Administration, Office Administration, or related field
• Two (2) years of increasingly responsible Legal Assistant experience

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience coordinating with courts, law enforcement agencies, attorneys, defendants, victims, witnesses, and other governmental agencies
• Experience providing legal support in a prosecutor’s office, law firm, court, or governmental legal environment
• Strong working knowledge of legal terminology, court procedures, and the preparation and processing of legal documents.
• Experience utilizing electronic and online court filing systems
• Attention to detail, time management, and the ability to handle confidential information

The Legal Assistant job responsibilities include:

• Provides administrative and legal support to attorneys in the City Prosecutor’s Office
• Preparing legal documents and correspondence
• Drafting answers, discovery responses, briefs, appendices, and other litigation pleadings
• Maintaining physical and electronic files
• Calculating and tracking deadlines
• Enters and updates case information in case-management and court systems and maintains accurate case status information
• Assists attorneys with court calendars, hearings, trials, docket preparation, and other court-related activities
• Copying, scanning, answering telephones, and providing assistance to the general public and city staff

Working Conditions and Physical Demands

Depending on assignment, positions in this class typically require touching, talking, hearing, seeing, grasping, standing, walking and repetitive motions

Sedentary Work – Depending on assignment, positions in this class typically exert up to 10 pounds of force occasionally, a negligible amount of force frequently, and/or constantly having to lift, carry, push, pull or otherwise move objects. Sedentary work involves sitting most of the time. Jobs are sedentary if walking and standing are required only occasionally and all other sedentary criteria are met

Criminal Justice Information Systems (CJIS) Background Check

Applicants for this position must pass a Criminal Justice Information Systems (CJIS) fingerprint-based background check and maintain CJIS eligibility. Due to CJIS requirements related to system access, the following will result in being disqualified for this position: Felony Convictions, Felony Deferred Adjudication, Class A Misdemeanor Conviction, Class B Misdemeanor Convictions in the last 10 years, Class A Misdemeanor Deferred Adjudication, Class B Misdemeanor Deferred Adjudication in the last 10 years, an Open Arrest for Any Criminal Offense (Felony or Misdemeanor), and ALL Family Violence Convictions regardless of class

Conditions of Employment

The City of Fort Worth is proud to be an Equal Employment Opportunity employer. It is the policy and practice of the City to recruit, hire, train and promote a diverse workforce without regard to race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy and gender identity), national origin, political affiliation, sexual orientation, marital status, disability, genetic information, age, membership in an employee organization, parental status, military service, or another non-merit factor.

The City of Fort Worth is committed to full compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable qualified individuals with disabilities to participate in the job application or interview process and to perform essential job functions.

Candidates who do not meet the Education requirement, may be considered if they have more relevant work experience than the position requires. Those selected for employment will be required to pass Pre-Employment checks depending on the position requirements. Those could include, but are not limited to: criminal background check, drug screen, education verification, etc. criminal convictions will be considered on a case-by-case basis. Employees are paid by direct deposit only.

Voluntary Self-Identification

As set forth in The City of Fort Worth’s Equal Employment Opportunity policy,we do not discriminate on the basis of any protected group status under any applicable law.

If you believe you belong to any of the categories of protected veterans listed below, please indicate by making the appropriate selection.As a government contractor subject to the Vietnam Era Veterans Readjustment Assistance Act (VEVRAA), we request this information in order to measurethe effectiveness of the outreach and positive recruitment efforts we undertake pursuant to VEVRAA. Classification of protected categoriesis as follows:

A "disabled veteran" is one of the following: a veteran of the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service who is entitled to compensation (or who but for the receipt of military retired pay would be entitled to compensation) under laws administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs; or a person who was discharged or released from active duty because of a service-connected disability.

A "recently separated veteran" means any veteran during the three-year period beginning on the date of such veteran's discharge or release from active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval, or air service.

An "active duty wartime or campaign badge veteran" means a veteran who served on active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service during a war, or in a campaign or expedition for which a campaign badge has been authorized under the laws administered by the Department of Defense.

An "Armed forces service medal veteran" means a veteran who, while serving on active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service, participated in a United States military operation for which an Armed Forces service medal was awarded pursuant to Executive Order 12985.

Voluntary Self-Identification of Disability

We are a federal contractor or subcontractor. The law requires us to provide equal employment opportunity to qualified people with disabilities. We have a goal of having at least 7% of our workers as people with disabilities. The law says we must measure our progress towards this goal. To do this, we must ask applicants and employees if they have a disability or have ever had one. People can become disabled, so we need to ask this question at least every five years.

Completing this form is voluntary, and we hope that you will choose to do so. Your answer is confidential. No one who makes hiring decisions will see it. Your decision to complete the form and your answer will not harm you in any way. If you want to learn more about the law or this form, visit the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) website at www.dol.gov/ofccp .

How do you know if you have a disability?

A disability is a condition that substantially limits one or more of your “major life activities.” If you have or have ever had such a condition, you are a person with a disability. Disabilities include, but are not limited to:

• Alcohol or other substance use disorder (not currently using drugs illegally)
• Autoimmune disorder, for example, lupus, fibromyalgia, rheumatoid arthritis, HIV/AIDS
• Blind or low vision
• Cancer (past or present)
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• Cerebral palsy
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• Diabetes
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• Intellectual or developmental disability
• Mental health conditions, for example, depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety disorder, schizophrenia, PTSD
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• Traumatic brain injury

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