Legal Counsel

A position with the Missouri Judiciary provides you the opportunity to work with a variety of exceptional, hardworking people and to gain a valuable and rewarding career. It takes many types of talent to advance the mission of the Missouri Judiciary and to keep operations running smoothly. Our positions offer competitive benefit programs, growth opportunities and the ability to work with people in your community.

We are recruiting to fill a Legal Counsel position to perform complex and varied professional legal work in providing legal research, analysis, technical support, representation in hearings, and interpretation of law to judges, commissioners, circuit clerks, or other administrators, in one of the largest judicial circuits within the Missouri State Court System. Work involves the performance of a variety of legal services and technical research duties in facilitating the smooth operation of a large circuit court or division thereof. Work includes preparation of memoranda or orders for judges or commissioners concerning cases before them or review of court procedures, rules, or statutes for a circuit clerk or other administrator. Workis performed under the general supervision of a judge, commissioner,circuit clerk or administrator and is reviewed through conferences and written reports.

General Duties:
Perform varied professional legal services and provide legal technical support to the Circuit Clerk,
Judges, Commissioners and other staff within the Court system; review and process mandates from the
higher courts; review prisoner mail and draft responses and pleadings to requests made by prisoners;
process post conviction remedy petitions; review and respond to prisoner habeas corpus requests;
respond to correspondence received from the Missouri Department of Corrections and other jurisdictions
as it relates to prisoners; reply to criminal record requests; involvement with aiding self-represented
litigants when needed; represent the Circuit Clerk in legal matters, such as responding to subpoenas,
motions to quash, aiding in transportation development district elections, etc.; review court forms for
compliance with rules of court and statutes; assist in the preparation of procedures for Circuit Clerk
employees; evaluate new and pending legislation affecting office procedures to determine relevancy and
procedural changes; research legal questions; confer with attorneys, judges and Circuit Clerk employees
concerning court procedures; and perform other legal work, as required.

Other key responsibilities include: (Any one position may not include all of the duties listed, nor do the examples cover all the duties which may be performed.)

• Reviews, analyzes, studies, searches and annotates laws, court decisions, documents, opinions, briefs and related legal authorities to process suits, trials, hearings, appeals and other litigated matters; may appear at court hearings.

• Reads and digests opinions, briefs, motions and documents and extracts excerpts pertinent to points of law and fact.

• Prepares briefs, legal memoranda and statements of issues involved, including appropriate written or oral suggestions or recommendations to the judge; prepares appropriate orders, findings of fact and conclusions of law for judge.

• Compiles references on laws and decisions necessary for legal determinations.

• Prepares complex service orders such as immediate restraining orders, show cause and temporary injunction; reviews and prepares forms and manuals.

Desired skills and knowledge: (This job description does not include specific physical requirements necessary to perform the job, such as, carrying, standing, lifting. Such requirements vary from position to position and may be determined by the appointing authority.)

• Considerable knowledge of one or more phases of law as required by the assigned duties.

• Considerable knowledge of general law, state laws, established precedent and sources of legal references.

• Considerable knowledge of court procedures and rules of evidence.

• Ability to apply legal principles and specialized knowledge to individual cases and problems.

• Ability to analyze, appraise and organize facts, evidence and precedents concerned in assigned cases and to prepare written opinions.

Minimum qualifications: (The following statement represents the minimum education and experience which will be used to determine qualifications of applicants, provided equivalent substitution will be permitted in case of deficiencies of either experience or education. Education above the minimum stated may be substituted on a year for year basis for the required general experience; experience above the minimum stated may be substituted on a year for year basis for the required education.)

Graduation from an accredited law school and six years of experience in the practice of law.

We are an Equal Opportunity Employer and have a strong commitment to diversity in all its forms. We are particularly interested in receiving applications from a broad spectrum of qualified people who will assist us in demonstrating our essential values of excellence, integrity, justice, stewardship, teamwork and partnership.