Office of General Counsel 

Legal Secretary II Annual Salary Range: $69,867 - $93,160

Legal Secretary III Annual Salary Range: $73,365 - $97,816

FLSA Non-Exempt / Non-Union Represented

This position allows for up to four days of remote work per week.

About the Office 

The Office of General Counsel (OGC) is in-house counsel to the State Bar, providing a full range of services, including representation of the Bar in all state and federal courts and before administrative agencies; advocacy of Bar discipline and admission cases in the California Supreme Court; and, providing legal advice to the State Bar Board of Trustees, and all State Bar entities, executives, and programmatic clients.

OGC provides legal advice and representation in the following areas: admissions and discipline, antitrust, Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act, bankruptcy, California Public Records Act, collections, contracts, copyright, governance, labor and employment, legislation, regulations and rules, real estate, regulatory work, and general corporate matters.

Ideal Candidate 

The ideal candidate will have a strong litigation background and will be organized, reliable, accurate, and proactive. This position will primarily assist in-house counsel with state and federal court filings, case file management, and other tasks to support in-house counsel’s litigation and advisory work. Knowledge of how to prepare tables of authorities and finalize papers for filing, file and serve documents in state and federal court, and analyze court rules and calculate court deadlines is required. Proficiency in Microsoft Office suite (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, SharePoint) required and familiarity with ProLaw or similar case file management programs preferred. The ability to work in a fast-paced environment is key, as well as handling multiple deadlines and the ability to learn the various aspects of the State Bar.

Definition

Under direction, the Legal Secretary II assists legal professional, supervisory, and judicial staff member(s) in accomplishing highly confidential secretarial and administrative duties and responsibilities of the department, unit, or individual legal staff member, to which the position is assigned. In addition, the LSII coordinates special projects and performs analysis, editing, evaluation, report preparation, and other duties as assigned. 

Under direction, the Legal Secretary III provides a broad range of highly confidential, advanced secretarial, technical, and managerial assistance in accomplishing the duties and responsibilities of the office, department, unit, or individual legal staff member to which the position is assigned or unassigned. In addition, this subject class assumes formal lead responsibilities for assigned functions and legal support staff. 

Distinguishing Characteristics 

Legal Secretary II 

This is an experienced (minimum of three years in legal secretary role), journey-level classification in the Legal Secretary classification series. It is distinguished from the lower-level Legal Secretary I classification in that incumbents independently perform the full range of legal secretarial and staff support duties. Incumbents in this classification may serve in an informal lead capacity, assisting, training, assigning, and monitoring the work of lower-level Legal Secretary staff. 

The Legal Secretary II is distinguished from the Legal Secretary III classification by the latter’s formal lead responsibilities.

Legal Secretary III

This is the advanced-level and most experienced classification (minimum of six years in a legal secretary role) in the Legal Secretary classification series.

The Legal Secretary III classification is distinguished from other secretarial classes in that incumbents in this class perform the most complex and varied assignments and/or serve in a formal lead capacity over lower-level secretarial staff, which includes: the formal training of legal secretarial staff, assigning, monitoring, and evaluating work of lower-level classes. This class may participate in formal performance evaluations of lower-level classes and make recommendations to supervisors on legal staff performance deficiencies and disciplinary actions, as well as participate and make recommendations on personnel actions such as hiring, promoting/demoting, and terminating staff. 

Examples of Essential Duties 

Duties may include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Provides legal secretarial support, including preparing legal briefs, motions, and memoranda.
• Formats, edits, assembles documents and enters databases for filing in all state, federal, or State Bar courts.
• Assembles and types, in final form, legal pleadings for filing in all state, federal, or State Bar courts, including proofreading and editing documents for accuracy, entering data into a database, and ensuring that litigation deadlines are met. Interprets local court rules for requisite format and several duplications of pleadings.
• Checks legal citations, oversees the production of legal documents and distributes documents to the appropriate court and in-house personnel.
• Proofreads, edits, and/or assembles legal documents, including but not limited to pleadings, contracts, subpoenas, legal memoranda, letters, proposals, and/or other documents unique to the department, office, or unit to which assigned.
• Serves in a formal trainer capacity for new hires.
• Tracks legislative research and analyzes internal data, policies, and legal subject matter, such as labor law and recent court decisions.
• Assists others in preparing for committee or other meetings, including, but not limited to, the preparation, distribution, and printing of notices, agendas and materials, and minutes.
• Assumes responsibility for secretarial assistance, including, but not limited to, calendaring court appearances; making appointments; creating and maintaining legal files and indices; date stamping, faxing, scanning, and copying documents; and screening and routing telephone calls.
• Performs other similar or related duties which may not be specifically included within this position description, but which are consistent with the general level of the job and the responsibilities described, including paralegal and office support duties within the main areas of (1) legislative support, (2) litigation support, (3) legal and policy research, (4) contract administration, (5) transactions support and (6) executive legal support.
• May format, cite, check, and edit Review Department opinions for Judges and maintain version control of all opinions, ensuring their progress from oral argument to timely filing and, at times, publication. 
• May perform legal and policy research, including researching, compiling, and analyzing various internal data, policies, and legal subject matter such as labor law and recent court decisions.
• May provide coverage for other Legal Secretaries during staff absences on a rotational basis by assisting direct supervisors of the absentee secretaries.

Employment Standards 

Knowledge of:

• Workflow principles for maintaining centralized information and data record-keeping systems.
• The complete system of technical processes for providing substantive and procedural legal support.
• Developments in the functional domain(s) of assignments and changes in guidelines applying to the work focus areas, such as matters of legislative support.
• The relevance and importance of various legislative histories, policy issues, agreements, and other information pertinent to the organization’s interests and perspectives in legislative matters from a legislative support perspective.
• Modern office practices and procedures, including standard computer software such as Microsoft Office and case management system applications.
• Broad legal concepts, terminology, documents, and procedures, including specialized legal processes and methodology of legal proceedings and legal research.
• The basic vocabulary, grammar, spelling, and punctuation rules specified in Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary.
• Business math for nontechnical calculations such as addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.
• Filing requirements for State Bar Court and Superior Courts.

Ability to:

• Demonstrate accomplished legal writing skills with accurate, clear, and complete legal documents.
• Organize and maintain digital and paper legal files and records.
• Problem solve to select, organize, and logically process relevant information (verbal, numerical, or abstract) to solve a problem.
• Work independently, and work cooperatively in a team environment.
• Complete multiple tasks and meet deadlines.
• Demonstrate independent judgment and initiative.
• Receive and relay detailed information through verbal and written communications.
• Carry out duties in accordance with policies, procedures, and scope of responsibility.
• Communicate clearly and effectively in person, by telephone, and in writing.
• Demonstrate accomplished computer keyboarding skills.
• Maintain confidentiality of State Bar documents, records, and data, including legally protected personal information, proprietary and pre-decisional information not subject to public information disclosure, sensitive legal and programmatic data, and other sensitive information

Minimum Qualifications

Legal Secretary II

Education: 

• Possession of high school diploma or equivalent.
• Two (2) years of post-secondary education

Experience:

• Three (3) years of directly relevant legal secretarial experience.
• Or an equal combination of education, certification, and/or directly related legal secretary experience that resulted in the successful performance of the job.

Legal Secretary III

Education:

• Associate degree or two (2) years of post-secondary education.

Experience: 

• Six (6) years of legal secretarial experience.
• Or an equal combination of education, certification, and/or directly related legal secretary experience that resulted in the successful performance of the job. 

License, Certificate, and Registration Requirements:

• None required.

Applicants who meet the Minimum Qualifications will be required to successfully complete the State Bar’s selection process for this classification.

We are a diverse, equitable, and inclusive workplace where all of our employees and prospective employees experience fairness, dignity, and respect.