Senior Legal Secretary

The Port Authority of NY & NJ; New York (NY); On-site; USD 66,000 - 106,000; Full time

Job summary

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Law Department in Manhattan seeks an experienced Senior Legal Secretary to provide comprehensive support to attorneys, manage confidential matters, and coordinate complex litigation workflows. You will handle document preparation, records management, invoicing, SAP reimbursements, and cross-functional collaboration with executives, judges, law firms, and internal teams.

Remote work up to one day per week is allowed.

Qualifications

• At least seven years of full-time litigation-related secretarial experience.
• Ability to work ethically with multiple stakeholders and viewpoints.
• Strong drafting and analytical skills with outstanding communication.
• Ability to maintain confidentiality and handle sensitive information with discretion.

Responsibilities

• Provide comprehensive administrative litigation support to attorneys, including calendar management, scheduling, and coordination with judges, law firms, and internal/external parties.
• Assist with legal document preparation, correspondence, pleadings, motions, and deposition notices.
• Maintain electronic and physical litigation files using Law Manager, M-Files and other CMS systems; ensure proper naming, indexing and retrieval.
• Perform office operations such as invoicing, mail handling, petty cash, conference room coordination, and reimbursements in SAP.
• Coordinate communications among attorneys, opposing counsel, medical providers, experts, witnesses, and internal departments.
• Review and complete new assignments and support continuous improvement to increase production efficiency.

Skills

Litigation secretarial experience

Communication skills

Discretion and confidentiality

Microsoft Office Suite

Document management systems

Legal databases understanding

Tools

Westlaw

Best Authority

LawManager

M-Files

SharePoint

Job description

About the Role

The Port Authority of New York & New Jersey (the “Port Authority”) Law Department seeks an experienced and highly organized Senior Legal Secretary to join its Manhattan-based 100+ person team. The successful applicant will be responsible for providing comprehensive legal support and a wide range of highly confidential administrative duties for attorneys within the Law Department.

A senior legal secretary serves as a key resource within the Law Department and is expected to exercise sound judgement, discretion, and initiative when handling sensitive and confidential information. This role facilitates the efficient delivery of legal services by coordinating complex matters and preparing and maintaining legal documents and records, managing schedules and deadlines, and supporting attorneys throughout various legal and administrative processes.

Responsibilities

Administrative Litigation Support

• Interface with numerous constituents and stakeholders, including, executives and staff at all levels, judges and other court personnel, law firms, external agencies and other entities.
• Provide comprehensive administrative support to litigation attorneys by scheduling meetings, arranging independent medical examinations (IMEs), answering telephones, handling correspondence, maintaining attorney files, and serving as the primary point of contact for internal and external communications.

Legal Document Preparation

• Assist with preparation, (including printing of trial binder materials), scanning, and mailing of legal correspondence, pleadings, motions, discovery requests, notices, memoranda, deposition notices, and trial documents.

Records and Case File Management

• Maintain electronic and physical litigation files (this includes ALL records relevant to the file whether in paper form or electronic form) within Law Manager, High Q, M-Files, Vault, shared drives, and other case management systems. Responsibilities in this area include uploading scanning, indexing, filing, properly naming and retrieving documents while ensuring records remain organized and accessible.

Office Operations

• Perform additional operational support including submitting invoices for payment, handling FedEx/USPS mailings, processing petty cash, coordinating conference rooms, filing all incoming mail and electronic mail into the S drive and M files, and assisting with SAP reimbursements and other administrative functions.

Client and Attorney Coordination

• Coordinates communications with attorneys, opposing counsel, medical providers, experts, witnesses, and internal departments to facilitate efficient litigation support while maintaining confidentiality and professionalism.

Projects and Assignments (outside scope of normal daily duties)

• Review and complete new assignments.
• Support continuous improvement efforts to improve production time.

Minimum Qualifications

• Applicants must currently have at least seven (7) years full-time paid litigation related secretarial work experience.
• Ability to work collectively and ethically, considering multiple stakeholder viewpoints and various client interests.
• Ability to engage colleagues, internal clients and external contacts in a collegial and business-friendly manner.
• Applicants must meet all performance and attendance standards and have completed all probationary periods.

Desired Qualifications

• Detail-oriented with strong analytical and drafting skills, accompanied by outstanding communication skills.
• Maintain confidentiality, handle all information with high level of discretion and professionalism.
• Understanding of governmental agencies and willingness to adapt to changing circumstances and needs.
• Ability to work in a fast-paced, collaborative office environment, with demonstrated flexibility and resourcefulness in analyzing and resolving a wide range of complex and novel matters.
• Strong working knowledge of Microsoft Office Suite (Access, Excel, One Drive, Outlook, PowerPoint, Share Point, Word), Adobe Acrobat and familiarity with document/matter management systems (Westlaw, Best Authority; LawManager & M-Files).

Selection Process

The application process varies by position, but typically includes an initial phone interview for qualified candidates, followed by a more in-depth interview(s) and/or assessment(s). Selected candidates who are made a conditional job offer will be asked to undergo a background check.

Compensation, Benefits & On-Site Collaboration Requirements

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey offers a competitive benefits package and a professional environment that supports development and recognizes achievement.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey anticipates that the actual salary offered to a successful candidate will depend on aspects such as experience, knowledge, skills, abilities, and internal factors. The expected compensation range for this role is:

Minimum: $66,482 Midpoint: $86,436 Maximum: $106,392

In accordance with Port Authority policy, this position permits employees to work remotely a maximum of one day per week. In person collaboration is essential to how the Port Authority conducts business, and regular in-office days or team collaboration days may be required on business needs.