SUPERVISING PARALEGAL

City of Chicago; Chicago (IL); On-site; USD 65,000 - 95,000; Full time

Job summary

City of Chicago is seeking a senior paralegal supervisor to coordinate paralegal staff, assign cases, and support attorneys in discovery, document management, and trial preparation.

The role requires extensive paralegal experience and ABA credentials, with a focus on accuracy, training, and interdepartmental collaboration within the bureau.

Qualifications

• Seven (7) years of work experience as a paralegal or legal assistant.
• Paralegal Certificate from ABA-accredited institution + 3 years paralegal experience.
• Associate's degree + 4 years paralegal experience.
• Bachelor's degree + ABA certificate + 2 years paralegal experience.
• Master's degree + 3 years paralegal experience.
• Juris Doctorate + 2 years paralegal experience.

Responsibilities

• Supervises and trains paralegals within the division.
• Assigns cases to paralegal staff.
• Gathers information, drafts discovery, communicates with client departments and witnesses.
• Monitors preparation of legal documents and ensures accuracy with policies.
• Trains staff on paralegal functions and procedures.
• Maintains staff time records.
• Revises legal digests for in-depth research.
• Provides technical assistance in transcripts and briefings.
• Consults with division attorneys and private counsel to facilitate discovery.
• Oversees maintenance of court documents.
• Supervises filing and indexing of documents and deposits.
• Produces visual exhibits for trial and hearings.
• Oversees filing of documents for litigation efforts.
• Performs other paralegal duties and liaises with City departments.

Skills

Paralegal supervision

Case assignment

Legal research

Discovery drafting

Electronic filing

Client liaison

Education

ABA-accredited paralegal certificate

Associate's degree + paralegal experience

Bachelor's degree + ABA certificate

Juris Doctorate + paralegal experience

ABA law school degree + paralegal experience

Tools

Litify

Pacer/CM-ECF

Logikcull/File & Serve

Microsoft Office

Job description

(Additional vacancies are possible pending budget approval)

Applications for this position will be accepted beginning 9-23-26 until 11:59pm CDT on 10-7-26.

Under general supervision, coordinates and supervises the work of paralegals providing paraprofessional legal, administrative, and clerical support to attorneys, and performs related duties as required.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES

• Supervises and trains paralegals within the division.
• Responsible for assigning cases to paralegal staff.
• Gathers and extracts information, drafts discovery answers and communicates with client departments, witnesses and outside agencies.

• Monitors the preparation of legal documents (e.g., summonses, depositions, subpoenas) and related summaries by staff and reviews completed work to ensure accuracy and consistency with departmental policies.
• Trains and instructs subordinate staff on paralegal functions, legal research techniques, and departmental operating procedures.
• Maintains staff time records.
• Reviews and examines legal digests to conduct in-depth legal research for attorneys' use in court proceedings.
• Provides technical assistance to paralegals engaged in abstracting complex transcripts and briefings.
• Consults with division attorneys and private counsel to facilitate the case discovery process.
• Oversee the maintenance of court documents.
• Supervises the indexing and filing of court documents and depositions and/or creates and trains staff on customized computer applications for these purposes.
• Creates and supervises the production of visual exhibits (e.g., graphs, tables, charts) used at trial and hearings and develops methods and procedures to display the information as required.
• Oversees the filing of court documents for various litigation efforts.
• Performs other paralegal and administrative duties as needed to support the bureau.
• Serves as a liaison with other City departments to facilitate information exchange.

Additional duties may be required for this position

Location: 2 N. Lasalle

Chicago, IL. 60602

Days: Monday-Friday

Hours: 9:00a.m to 5:00p.m.

THIS POSITION IS IN THE CAREER SERVICE

Qualifications

• Seven (7) years of work experience as a paralegal or legal assistant.
• OR
• Paralegal Certificate obtained from a training institution accredited by the American Bar Association (ABA), plus three (3) years of work experience as a paralegal or legal assistant.
• OR
• Graduation from an accredited college with an Associate's degree, plus four (4) years of work experience as a paralegal or legal assistant.
• OR
• Graduation from an accredited college or university with a Bachelor's degree, plus a paralegal certificate from a training institute accredited by the American Bar Association (ABA), plus two (2) years of work experience as a paralegal or legal assistant.
• OR
• Graduation from an accredited college or university with a Master's degree, plus three (3) years of work experience as a paralegal or legal assistant.
• OR
• Graduation from an accredited American Bar Association (ABA) law school with a Juris Doctorate, plus two (2) years of work experience as a paralegal or legal assistant.

NOTE: To be considered for this position you must provide information about your educational background and/or work experience. You must include job titles, dates of employment and specific job duties. (IF you are a current City employee, Acting Up cannot be considered). If you fail to provide this information at the time you submit your application, it will be incomplete, and you will not be considered for this position. There are three ways to provide the information: 1) you may attach a resume; 2) you may paste a resume; or 3) you can complete the online resume fields.

Educational & Employment Verification:

Please be advised that if you are selected to be hired you must provide, upon request, adequate information regarding your educational and employment history as it relates to the qualifications of the position for which you are applying. If you received your degree internationally, all international transcripts/diploma must be accompanied by a Foreign Credential Evaluation. If the City of Chicago cannot verify this information, any offer extended to you will be withdrawn and you will not be hired.

SELECTION REQUIREMENTS

This position requires applicants to complete an interview which will include a written exercise and/or skills assessment as part of the interview. The interviewed candidate(s) possessing the qualifications best suited to fulfill the responsibilities of the position, based on the oral and written parts of the interview, will be selected.

Desired Skills:

• Previous experience supervising other employees, paralegals, or outside vendors/contractors
• Previous experience using Litify or other legal management applications
• Proficiency in using electronic court filing systems, i.e.(Pacer/CM-ECF)
• Proficiency in using legal databases, i.e. (Logikcull and/or File & Serve)
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office Suite

For Information on our employees benefits please visit our benefits website at:

https://www.chicago.gov/city/en/depts/fin/benefits-office.html

For Information on our salary and title structure visit our classifications website at:

https://www.chicago.gov/content/dam/city/depts/dhr/supp_info/JobClassification/2025_Classification_and_Pay_Plan.pdf

APPLICATION EVALUATION:

Initial evaluation will be based on information provided on the application and the documents submitted. The Department of Human Resource staff will review applications after the final posting date. Staff will follow any and all required Employment/Hiring Plan provisions, federal, state and local laws, and Collective Bargaining Agreements when applicable. Staff will apply hiring preferences as required by the municipal code. Placement on an eligibility list is not an offer or guarantee of an interview nor employment with the City of Chicago.

COMMITMENT TO DIVERSITY:

To further our commitment to hiring applicants with diverse experience the City of Chicago has adopted the following ordinances 2-74-020 and 2-74-075. The ordinances provide a preference to applicants who meet minimum qualifications and who are veterans of the Armed Forces, and/or residents of Socio-Economically Disadvantaged Areas (SEDA) and/or Chicago Public School (CPS) high school graduates to be referred to departments for consideration. These hiring preferences do not apply to bidders, as Collective Bargaining Agreements define the hiring process for bidders. For positions covered by a collective bargaining agreement, bidders will be considered before external candidates. To learn more about our hiring practices click here.

ALL REFERENCES TO POLITICAL SPONSORSHIP OR RECOMMENDATION MUST BE OMITTED FROM ALL APPLICATION MATERIALS SUBMITTED FOR CITY EMPLOYMENT.

The City of Chicago is an Equal Employment Opportunity, Military Friendly and Fair Chance Employer.

City of Chicago

Brandon Johnson, Mayor