Municipal Paralegal: Litigation, Public Records & Research

City-of-Cambridge,-Ma; Cambridge (MA); On-site; USD 60,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

The City of Cambridge is seeking a Paralegal to support its Law Department, assisting attorneys with litigation, public records requests, and transactional matters. The role involves electronic discovery, document management, and regular interaction with city officials.

Qualifications include a Bachelor’s degree and at least 3 years of paralegal experience; a Paralegal Certificate and municipal/government background are preferred.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s Degree in related field or equivalent combination of education, training, and/or experience.
• At least three (3) years of paralegal or similar experience assisting in review, research and compliance with laws, rules, and regulations under attorney supervision, either in a law firm or a corporate or public entity’s law department.
• Paralegal Certificate preferred.
• Municipal or other government background preferred.

Responsibilities

• Investigate, analyze, evaluate and make recommendations regarding all manner of damages claims and complaints filed against the City and/or City officials.
• Drafts pleadings, motions, discovery requests/responses, releases, contracts and real estate documents for attorney review.
• Assist with discovery, particularly electronic discovery, and the organization, case management, collection, review and production of documents obtained from litigants and City departments and maintained in electronic databases.
• Perform legal research and draft research memoranda as requested.
• Prepare and file proof of claim in taxpayer bankruptcy cases.
• Coordinate the gathering of any documents from other City departments which are applicable to cases.
• Process subpoenas for records and coordinate the attendance of City employees at depositions and court proceedings.
• Assist with appeals, including the assembling of the record and conducting fact and legal citation checking in legal briefs.
• Assist with drafting and implementing litigation holds across various City departments.
• Prepares filing documents and ensures compliance with Superior Court Rule 9A.
• Assist in case preparation, pretrial and trial preparation, both in and outside the courtroom, including, but not limited to, locating witnesses and creating and assembling exhibits.
• Assist the City’s Public Records Access Officer and Assistant Public Records Access Officer in responding to public records requests as needed.
• Maintain legal opinion and contract files/databases.
• Provides backup with answering telephones and interfacing with members of the public visiting the office.
• Assist with invoice tracking, vendor coordination, and outside counsel documentation
• Perform related work as required.

Skills

Attention to detail

Teamwork

Organizational skills

Microsoft Office

Westlaw/Lexis Nexis

Legal terminology knowledge

Legal research

Written and verbal communication

Confidentiality

E-file systems

Education

Bachelor’s degree in related field

Paralegal experience (3 years)

Paralegal Certificate preferred

Municipal/government background preferred

Tools

Westlaw

LexisNexis

CM/ECF

eFileMA

Job description

The City of Cambridge is seeking a Paralegal to support its Law Department, assisting attorneys with litigation, public records requests, and transactional matters. The role involves electronic discovery, document management, and regular interaction with city officials.

Qualifications include a Bachelor’s degree and at least 3 years of paralegal experience; a Paralegal Certificate and municipal/government background are preferred.