Legal Secretary

Crucial Hire; Chicago (IL); On-site; USD 70,000 - 100,000; Full time

Job summary

Crucial Hire, a small two-person Chicago trial and appellate practice, seeks a seasoned paralegal to assist a senior trial lawyer with ongoing matters in business and contract litigation, insurance disputes, chancery, and personal injury.

You will take dictation, prepare filings, manage e-filing across state and federal courts, and organize complex trial materials. Strong transcription, e-filing, and Word skills are essential.

Qualifications

• Ten-plus years supporting a litigation attorney, ideally handling the full workflow
• Paralegal certificate preferred, not required

Responsibilities

• Take dictation and produce finished correspondence, pleadings, motions, and briefs
• E-file in the Circuit Court of Cook County, the Illinois Appellate Court, the Northern District of Illinois, and the Seventh Circuit
• Maintain the litigation calendar: court dates, filing deadlines, briefing schedules
• Format appellate briefs, including tables of contents and authorities
• Organize case files, discovery, exhibits, and trial materials
• First point of contact for clients, opposing counsel, and court clerks

Skills

Dictation

Shorthand

Transcription

E-filing

Advanced Word

Education

Paralegal certificate (preferred)

Tools

CM/ECF

eFileIL

Microsoft Word

Job description

A small 2 person Chicago trial and appellate practice, and this is a seat that barely exists anymore.

About the Role

You'd be the right hand to a name senior trial lawyer with decades in the courtroom. Not one of twenty in a support pool, but the person who takes the dictation, prepares the filing, and knows where every deadline sits before anyone has to ask. The work spans business and contract litigation, insurance coverage disputes, chancery matters, and plaintiff personal injury.

Responsibilities

• Take dictation and produce finished correspondence, pleadings, motions, and briefs


• E-file in the Circuit Court of Cook County, the Illinois Appellate Court, the Northern District of Illinois, and the Seventh Circuit


• Maintain the litigation calendar: court dates, filing deadlines, briefing schedules


• Format appellate briefs, including tables of contents and authorities


• Organize case files, discovery, exhibits, and trial materials


• First point of contact for clients, opposing counsel, and court clerks

Qualifications

• Ten-plus years supporting a litigation attorney, ideally somewhere you carried the whole workflow rather than one slice of it


• Paralegal certificate preferred, not required

Required Skills

• Dictation, shorthand a real plus, fast and accurate transcription works


• E-filing through eFileIL and CM/ECF


• Appellate brief formatting, tables of authorities included


• Advanced Word, and the judgment to be trusted with everything

Schedule

10:00 AM to 6:00 PM, Monday through Friday, in office in the Loop, a block from the Monroe stops. Occasional evenings around filings and trial prep.

Equal Opportunity Statement

The firm is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants receive consideration without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, or any other protected characteristic.

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