Senior Legal Secretary
Published Date: Sep 3, 2024
Location: US
Company: Los Angeles Unified School District
SALARY DETAILS
APPLICATION FILING DATES
Application Open Date: 9/3/2024
Application Close Date: 9/24/2024
INFORMATION ABOUT LAUSD
We are LAUSD. We are at the forefront of innovation in public education, focused on a clear and inspiring vision of the future for all of our students as they venture forward on their journey as lifelong learners. Here, you will have the opportunity to exercise your potential in a role supporting the business of education. Our work directly contributes toward the goal of ensuring that our students graduate ready for the world – ready to thrive in college, career and life. LAUSD is the second largest school district in the nation with an enrollment of nearly 575,000 students. We serve an area totaling 710 square miles, with over 1,190 schools and educational centers, and we employ over 74,000 individuals, making us one of the largest employers in our city.
LAUSD Employees: Please be advised that all LAUSD employees must sign in to the GlobalProtect Virtual Private Network (VPN) in order to submit an application from an external network outside of an LAUSD location. For assistance with installing the GlobalProtect virtual network, please contact Information Technology Services at (213) 443-1300 or (213) 241-5200.
DEPARTMENT OR SCHOOL SITE
The Office of the General Counsel (OGC) of the Los Angeles Unified School District seeks to be nothing less than the best public law office in Los Angeles County. The OGC is an ethical, high performance legal department with high professional standards and integrity that provides first class legal service to the teachers, supervisors and administrators who support the District's 600,000 plus students that we educate. The OGC uses their skills to advise and counsel schools and administrative offices, and recognize that their ultimate clients are the students of the District and their families, and work to support the District's vision that all of our students will graduate, be college prepared and career ready.
BENEFITS
Insurance: Paid premiums for your choice of several medical, dental, vision, and life insurance plans.
Retirement: Membership in the California Public Employee Retirement System (CalPERS).
Vacation: Full-time employees earn up to two weeks of paid vacation to start. Three weeks after five years of year-round paid service.
Paid Holidays: Up to 13 days.
JOB DUTIES/RESPONSIBILITIES
- Assists in the preparation of correspondence, legal opinions, presentations, articles for publication, drafts of legislation, and legal documents concerning District business.
- Assists administrators and other authorized personnel in the use of legal reference material.
- Researches appropriate private or governmental sources to secure information required in litigation.
- Performs and/or supervises the performance of the following duties:
- Maintains files related to potential litigation.
- Sets appointments and conferences for attorneys, paralegals, and other staff members.
- Indexes and cross-indexes complex sets of subject files.
- Responds to questions from the general public, parents, students, officials, and employees of the District, and representatives of other governmental agencies regarding the functions and procedures of the office and other matters.
- Prepares legal documents and files litigation documents in appropriate courts, including authorizing requests for preparation of warrants for necessary filing fees.
- Indexes, files, locates, and researches correspondence, legal opinions, and court decisions as requested.
- Receives, opens, processes, and routes office mail.
- Reviews the Daily Journal and other legal newspapers and journals for Court Calendar listings of current litigation with which the office is involved and flagging articles for photocopying and filing in office and/or litigation files.
- May assist in maintaining the office library of legal publications, legal subject files, and confidential files.
- Coordinates work flow when paralegals and attorneys require additional assistance.
- Assists in the maintenance of dockets and calendars to show the status of pending litigation and requests for legal opinions, and reminds paralegals and staff attorneys of deadlines for preparing litigation documents and opinions.
- Assists in the preparation of the budget for the Office of the General Counsel.
- May assign and coordinate all general office duties, including payroll reporting, mileage reporting, supply requisitioning, telephone and reception coverage, and reproduction and distribution of correspondence and legal opinions to lower level support staff.
- May prepare an annual report for contract auditors.
- May attend meetings, take notes, and summarize information obtained.
- May read, make subject listings of, and report on progress of legislation during State Legislative sessions.
- Performs related duties as assigned.
MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS
Education: Graduation from high school or evidence of equivalent educational proficiency. Completion of a certification in legal secretarial science or related field; or certification as a paralegal from a program, preferably approved by the American Bar Association; or an associate’s degree in legal secretarial science or a related field from a recognized college or university is preferable.
NOTE: You MUST upload your degree (i.e. scan or take a picture of your degree) or official transcripts to your candidate profile, under “attachments.”
Experience: Three years of experience that includes assisting attorneys in preparing and compiling legal and litigation forms, pleadings, discovery, and other documents, using legal template software, and screening and routing calls.
Special:
Must be able to work flexible hours including evenings and weekends.
NOTE: Candidates who have completed college or university course work at an institution in a country other thanthe United States, must obtain a complete evaluation of foreign transcripts and degrees. Please be sure to requesta “Detailed” evaluation report. The original of this degree evaluation must be presented. For more information onForeign Transcript Evaluation please visit https://achieve.lausd.net/Page/7876.
DESIRABLE QUALIFICATIONS
The ideal candidate would have the knowledge of:
- Legal terminology
- Office methods, practices, and procedures
- Correct punctuation, spelling, and grammar
- Records and files organization and use
- Rules, regulations, policies, procedures, organization, and functions of the Los Angeles Unified School District
- Rules of Court and code of Civil Procedure with respect to preparing, filing, and serving litigation documents
- Microsoft Windows Operating Systems and Office Suite programs
The ideal candidate will also have the ability to:
- Use legal terminology and procedures and prepare legal documents
- Learn about the various legal services provided by governmental jurisdictions and private agencies
- Organize and set up legal-opinion and subject files and a library of legal publications
- Locate and identify legal opinions, court decisions, and legislation as required
- Read and comprehend legal publications and legislative measures
- Preserve the confidentiality of office matters
- Prepare spreadsheets, PowerPoint presentations, and electronically generated graphics and slides
- Work harmoniously with employees of the District, members of the general public, students, parents, and representatives of other governmental jurisdictions
- Operate a computer and associated peripheral equipment
EMPLOYMENT SELECTION PROCESS
The selection process for this position will tentatively consist of the following: Computer-Based Skill Check Assessment and Technical Interview.
TEST RETAKE POLICY: Candidates that have taken the computer-based skill check assessments (Data Entry, Legal Spelling, Legal Vocabulary, Microsoft Outlook 2016, Microsoft Word 2016, and Microsoft Excel 2016) must wait a period of 30 days before retaking the test.
This is a competitive process as we anticipate a number of well qualified candidates for this recruitment. Please make sure that you describe in DETAIL, your experience, education, and training that most closely relates to this position in the on-line application. In your application you may include a professional resume, but it will NOT be in lieu of a detailed application. Additionally, please attach your unofficial college transcript demonstrating you meet the EDUCATION requirement (refer to the Minimum Requirements section). Please be sure to include correspondence from @lausd.net as an approved sender so that messages aren't accidentally placed into your spam/junk e-mail folder. For more information about the LAUSD employment assessment process, visit the 'My LAUSD Career' section of our website at http://www.lausdjobs.org.
APPLICATION PROCESS
ADDITIONAL POSTING INFORMATION
The Los Angeles Unified School District is committed to providing a working and learning environment free from discrimination, harassment, intimidation, abusive conduct, or bullying. The District prohibits discrimination, harassment, intimidation, abusive conduct or bullying based on actual or perceived race or ethnicity, gender/sex(including gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding/lactation status and related medical conditions), sexual orientation, religion, color, national origin (including language use restrictions and possession of a driver’s license issued under Vehicle Code), ancestry, immigration status, physical or mental disability (including clinical depression and bipolar disorder, HIV/AIDS, hepatitis, epilepsy, seizure disorder, diabetes, multiple sclerosis, and heart disease), medical condition (cancer related and genetic characteristics),military and veteran status, marital status, registered domestic partner status, age (40 and above), genetic information, political belief or affiliation (unless union related), a person's association with a person or group with one or more of these actual or perceived characteristics, or any other basis protected by federal, state or local law, ordinance, or regulation in any program or activity it conducts or to which it provides significant assistance. For inquiries or complaints contact our Equal Opportunity Section, (213) 241-7685.
Selection and promotion are based on a competitive employment assessment process. Candidates who pass all parts of the assessment process are placed on a hiring (eligibility) list based on their assessment score. Hiring departments may make job offers to candidates on the top three ranks of the hiring list. Eligibility typically lasts for12 months. The hiring list resulting from this assessment process may be used to fill open positions in related job classifications.
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