Legal Secretary

ACCO Engineered Systems; Pasadena (CA); On-site; USD 90,000 - 122,000; Full time

Job summary

ACCO Engineered Systems seeks a Legal Secretary to manage corporate, legal, and compliance obligations across the business and its subsidiaries. You will act as the primary admin liaison to the General Counsel, Board Chair, and Corporate Secretary, overseeing governance, licensing, and litigation matters with professional autonomy.

The role requires strong experience in corporate law, board support, and multi-state regulatory compliance, with exceptional discretion and communication skills for

Qualifications

• Background in corporate law, litigation support, or complex regulatory compliance.
• Familiarity with corporate governance, board communications, and executive office ops.
• Experience with multi-state contractor licensing and corporate filings.
• Ability to analyze entity formation documents and contract terms.
• Strong project management, organization, and deadline-driven work ethic.
• Excellent written and verbal communication with C-suite and board interfaces.
• Discretion, confidentiality, and problem-solving in administrative contexts.

Responsibilities

• Manage and organize legal department files, databases, and repositories.
• Schedule witness depositions, litigation calendars, and discovery processes.
• Maintain construction claims calendar and tax/regulatory deadlines across states.
• Support governance, draft board minutes, and prepare meeting materials.
• Coordinate board meetings logistics, AV, offsite contracts, catering, lodging.
• Monitor contractor licenses and ensure compliance with licensing boards.
• File and renew multi-state registrations and COAs with Secretaries of State.
• Maintain registrations in DIR, SAM.gov, and other portals; resolve anomalies.

Skills

Corporate law

Litigation support

Regulatory compliance

Executive communication

Attention to detail

Administrative coordination

Education

Bachelor's degree or equivalent

CLA/PLS certification (ABA-accepted)

Tools

Google Suite

Microsoft Office

Job description

Job Summary:

The Legal Secretary is responsible for managing, directing, and executing a wide range of high-level corporate, legal, and compliance obligations for the business and its subsidiaries. This position operates with a high degree of professional autonomy and independent judgment, serving as the strategic legal operations anchor and the primary administrative liaison to the General Counsel, Board Chair, and Corporate Secretary. The role is responsible for ensuring the Company maintains active statutory standing by leading corporate governance, managing complex litigation files, and maintaining multi-state contractor and corporate professional licensing systems.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

• Manages, organizes, and maintains the Legal Department's digital and physical file management systems, document repositories, and master litigation databases to ensure absolute confidentiality, compliance, and retrieval efficiency.
• Directs and executes the administrative scheduling of company witness depositions, litigation calendars, and comprehensive discovery-related document collection, tracking, and compliance.
• Establishes and maintains the master construction claims calendar, tracking and auditing statutory lien and claim deadlines across multiple operating state jurisdictions to protect the Company's financial interests.
• Acts as a primary governance resource to the Board of Directors, independently taking meeting notes and drafting corporate minutes for quarterly and special meetings in partnership with the Corporate Secretary.
• Leads the preparation, synthesis, and distribution of comprehensive Board of Directors meeting materials, including executive agendas, corporate resolutions, orientation packets, and annual Board evaluations.
• Directs all logistics and event-planning operations for Board of Directors and executive leadership meetings, overseeing AV integration, offsite location contracts, catering, and lodging.
• Manages and monitors the Company's individual and company-level contractor licenses across state and local jurisdictions, ensuring constant compliance with qualifying agent requirements.
• Directs the filing and renewal of multi-state corporate registrations and engineering Certificates of Authorization (COA) with Secretaries of State and other professional licensing boards.
• Governs and maintains the Company's verified registrations within major public and private compliance portals, including California DIR, SAM.gov, and regulatory entity databases.
• Reviews, identifies, and resolves complex licensing, corporate standing, or litigation anomalies independently, escalating high-risk matters to the General Counsel or Corporate Secretary with proposed solutions.

Position Requirements (Work Experience, Skills, Licenses, etc.):

• Proven background in corporate law, commercial litigation support, or complex regulatory compliance within a corporate or professional services firm.
• Familiarity with corporate governance protocols, board-level communication standards, and executive office operations.
• Extensive knowledge of multi-state contractor licensing boards, public works compliance registries (DIR/SAM), and corporate filing processes with various Secretaries of State.
• Demonstrated capability to analyze and interpret business entity formation documents, regulatory rules, and commercial contract terms.
• Exceptional project management, organization, and analytical skills, with a proven ability to prioritize critical, legal-deadline-driven workloads with zero margin for error.
• Outstanding written and verbal communication skills, including professional phone and email etiquette suitable for interfacing with C-suite executives, Board members, and public officials.
• Advanced technical proficiency in modern digital toolsets, including Google Suite (Gmail, Docs, Drive, Gemini) and Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint).
• Demonstrated ability to exercise absolute discretion, maintain strict confidentiality, and solve complex administrative and organizational problems independently.

Education and Experience:

Required:

• Bachelor's degree in Business Administration, Legal Studies, Public Administration, or a related field; or equivalent combination of extensive legal and corporate secretary experience.
• Minimum of 5+ years of progressive experience in corporate legal departments, law firms, or high-level executive legal support.

Desired:

• Certified Legal Assistant (CLA), Certified Professional Legal Secretary (PLS), or Paralegal Certificate from an ABA-approved program.
• Desired: Previous background working in the construction, engineering, or heavy industrial services industry.
• Desired: Active Notary Public commission, or willingness to obtain one, and experience with corporate board portal platforms (e.g., Board Advantage, Smartsheet).

ACCO Competencies:

• Proactivity/Initiative: Recognizes what needs to be done and accomplishes it in a manner appropriate for one's level/position and with minimal supervision.
• Perseverance: Shows wherewithal to fight for difficult goals despite challenges and to bounce back from adversity.
• Motivation/Dedication: Commits to excellence in pursuing unselfish goals. Initiates action with collective goals, takes responsibility, and shows personal humility.
• Technical Curiosity/Willingness to Learn: Interest in seeking out new experiences, knowledge, and candid feedback; demonstrating an openness to learning and change.
• Insight: The ability to gather and make sense of information that suggests new possibilities.
• Engagement: Shows a knack for using emotion and logic to communicate a persuasive vision and connect with people.
• People Skills: Is approachable and gains the mutual trust and respect of others. Understands people's strengths & weaknesses and actively seeks to understand other perspectives.
• Communication: Fosters open, honest, candid and respectful communication. Effectively assesses, defines and communicates issues in a timely manner, both written and verbal.
• Teamwork: The ability to effectively work toward common goals with others by supporting, encouraging, and sharing information in an authentic and approachable manner.
• Big Picture: Understands and contributes to the organizations' short- and long-term business strategy. On a personal level has independently developed a vision for short- and long-term career success.
• Problem-Solver: Ability to identify, analyze, and solve problems in support of personnel, group, department, or organizational objectives.
• Execution: Effectively takes a vision and translates into action by including the right people. Identify and remove barriers, when possible, to achieve results. Demonstrates appropriate compromise, effective time management, prioritization practices and holds team members (including themselves) accountable for their performance/conduct.
• Professionalism: Respectfully observes and challenges the status quo with intent for improvement. Can take direction, accept feedback, and take full responsibility for their actions. Lead by example through positive influence and ethical leadership with consideration of the entire organization.

Job Responsibility Level:

No direct reports

Travel Requirements:

Travel required 10-30% of the time to other office locations.

Hours:

This is an exempt position. Workdays are scheduled from Monday through Friday. Typically, work hours begin and end between 7:00 am and 5:00 pm as scheduled with the position's supervisor. Work outside of regular hours may occasionally be necessary to meet business needs.

Physical Demands:

(The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.)

• Must frequently lift and/or move up to 10 pounds and occasionally lift and/or move up to 20 pounds.
• Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision and ability to adjust focus.
• Prolonged sitting.
• Frequently required to reach with hands and arms.
• Occasionally required to stand; walk and stoop, kneel, crouch.

Competitive Wages:

$90,000 to $122,000 Annual Salary. Applicants please note that actual compensation is determined by several factors that are unique to each candidate, including but not limited to job-related skills, depth of experience, certifications, relevant education or training, and specific work location, among others. The offered wage or salary is only one aspect of an employee's total compensation.