Senior Litigation Legal Assistant

Synectics Inc.; Los Angeles (CA); On-site; USD 34,000 - 48,000; Full time

Job summary

Synectics Inc. in Los Angeles seeks a dedicated legal assistant to support assigned attorneys and the practice as a whole. You will manage calendars, draft correspondence and pleadings, and handle filing and document management with iManage and other tools.

Collaboration is essential as part of a team that strives for efficient workflows, timely communication with clients, and accurate handling of deadlines and discovery documents.

Qualifications

• Experience providing secretarial support to attorneys.
• Ability to calendar deadlines and manage appearance information.
• Draft correspondence, pleadings, discovery documents; assist with filings.
• Strong proofreading and document management skills.
• Effective client communication and collaborative teamwork.

Responsibilities

• Provide secretarial support to assigned attorneys and other attorneys when workload requires.
• Calendar all deadlines with associated dates and appearance information; monitor deadlines.
• Draft correspondence, memoranda, and other legal documents as needed.
• Prepare shells or drafts for pleadings, discovery, motions, etc.
• Edit and proofread legal documents for accuracy.
• Maintain attorney calendars and calendar deadlines per court rules.
• Assist with filings by preparing documents and managing electronic/file format requirements.
• Learn and utilize current software (iManage, Milana, SharePoint, Teams, Zoom, Word, Excel, PowerPoint).

Skills

Secretarial support

Calendar management

Drafting documents

Client communication

Tools

iManage

Milana

SharePoint

MS Teams

Zoom

Word

Excel

PowerPoint

Job description

The legal assistant is considered a vital part of the practice. Our legal assistants are expected to work as a team to help support the practice as a whole as well as our individual attorneys. Legal assistants help the practice run smoothly and efficiently.

DUTIES

• Provide secretarial support to assigned attorneys and other attorneys when workload requires;
• Calendar all deadlines along with associated dates immediately upon receipt of pleadings, discovery, or other communications that require calendaring. The calendaring should include all appearance information as well as the deadline(s). Calendaring is one of the most important parts of the job as we live and breathe through our calendars. A missed deadline could be the difference in having successful outcome for a case and client;
• Anticipate needs of assigned attorneys in order to promote timekeeper efficiencies (i.e., draft correspondence, prepare shell pleadings and discovery documents well in advance of due date - ideally upon receipt); remember, on the "defense side," the practice only generates income when our attorneys can perform billable tasks; if you can take non-billable functions off your attorneys' plate, do so;
• Coordinate and make necessary arrangements for meetings and appearances (i.e., depositions, mediations, interviews, vendor and facility reservations, etc.);
• Perform court filing:
• Anticipate filing deadlines based on court requirements and proactively advise handling attorneys;

• ii. Accurately file court documents both electronically and in document format as required by the court; determine and follow any local or judge-specific requirements related to same;

• Draft correspondence, memoranda, and other legal documents as needed;
• Prepare shells or drafts for legal documents including pleadings, discovery, stipulations, motions, notices, appeals, petitions, etc.;

• ii. Edit and proofread legal documents for accuracy and completeness;

• Manage and maintain attorney/secretarial calendar by calendaring deadlines, scheduling conferences, depositions, meetings, etc.
• Review incoming documents and calendar appropriately pursuant California Code of Civil Procedure, Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, Court Standing Order (or similar order), or Arbitration Rules, as applicable utilizing our calendar program, Milana, where applicable, or manually when the calendar program is not applicable.
• Answer emails and phone calls, and when necessary, redirect calls.
• Prepare hard copy binders /notebooks for attorneys as necessary.
• Assist with mailing, overnight delivery, copying, scanning, faxing, emailing, note-taking, and travel or dining bookings.
• Learn and utilize current technology/programs (iManage, Milana, SharePoint, Teams, Zoom, Word macros, Forms Workflow, Best Authority/Litera, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc.) and future technology provided in order to efficiently manage workflow and job requirements.
• Maintain, file, and organize legal documents in iManage.
• Follow standard naming and profiling conventions when scanning, emailing, and saving documents to iManage.
• Timely review, follow-up on, and accurately file client-related emails.
• Communicate with clients regarding document uploads;
• Create SharePoint links for secure document sharing.
• Advise attorneys on status of document collection; follow-up with clients as necessary;
• File client-provided documents in appropriate location in iManage and organize the files in a logical manner so that the documents may be easily found and accessed.
• Assist assigned attorneys with completing and tracking CLE compliance, presentations and training programs, other business development activities, and organizing all other non-billable activities.
• Maintain attorney specific case lists, charts, contact lists, and status of cases and outcomes.
• Seek appropriate assistance (from the office manager, attorneys, IT and especially other legal assistants) when conflicts and/or questions arise.
• Provide assistance to fellow secretaries and attorneys not specifically assigned to your desk in a team effort as practice need and workflow arises.