Paralegal

Job Title : Paralegal – Trust and Estates Litigation

Location : San Diego, CA

Salary : $95,000 - $135,000

Employment Type : Full-Time

About the Firm :

Rapidly growing Southern California-based Trust and Estates Litigation Law Firm is looking to identify and hire a Paralegal on a full-time basis. This position has a vital role in the business by assisting other Paralegals, Attorneys, and Administrative Staff in all areas related to litigation and their overall role with the firm.

Position Overview :

The company has compiled a general list of tasks and responsibilities for this role as follows. Please note that these may change and become more expansive as the firm and role evolve. This list is a general guideline and is not inclusive of all tasks and responsibilities.

Responsibilities Include (but are not limited to) :

Managing assigned cases from inception through close or Trial. This includes, but is not limited to electronic filings, document preparation and editing, legal research, and shepherdizing, as necessary.

Organizing all case-related information for each matter so that it is easily identifiable to the entire Team. This includes the use of the Case Management Workbooks to ensure relevant information is tracked and updated contemporaneously.

Properly calendaring and managing deadlines and reminders to deadlines to ensure the success of the entire Team.

Conducting regular meetings with Responsible Attorneys and support staff to ensure tasks are being communicated and completed timely.

Regularly communicating with the legal and support teams, fellow Paralegals, your Responsible Attorney, the Head of Legal Production, Director of Operations, and Billing Specialist to ensure alignment with goals and objectives.

Holding Case Status Meeting with the Legal Team to ensure new clients are on board, active cases are making progress toward milestones, and closed matters are closed.

Reviewing records of time worked per case and confirm with attorneys, paralegals, and legal assistants to ensure accuracy.

Reviewing paralegal and staff billing to ensure accuracy of billing entries and provide feedback to staff, as necessary.

Reviewing calendar to ensure tasks, hearings and reminders are appropriately calendared.

Sending monthly Case Status Report to the Administrator / Owner showing status & health of the pipeline of active cases (result of the weekly legal team meetings).

Sending monthly Case Status Letter to client to ensure consistency and alignment in strategy and budget.

Evaluating work performance versus work product to ensure tasks are completed within an appropriate timeframe.

Monitoring and reporting on the status of cases and identifies matters that are outside of established deadlines and timeframes for critical milestones.

Using reports and case review meetings, ensuring clients and matters move through workflow pipeline at the right pace, and that the right tasks are assigned with the right due dates, and they are completed on time.

Identifies for the Responsible Attorney where the amount of work that has been done and the work still to do exceed Firm guidelines and expectation for what should be done on a case and by when.

Talking with team to understand why a matter is outside expectations and whether a plan is needed to bring the case in line or whether this is a valid exception to expectations.

Reporting status of clients / matters and any issues or exceptions to the Responsible Attorney weekly.

Ensuring case status meetings occur at least monthly.

Ensuring case status letters are sent regularly.

Reviewing case management system weekly for the quality and timeliness of time entries and documentation of work done on tasks.

Handling special projects of significance assigned by the Owner.

Ensuring goals meetings are set with all new clients, the responsible paralegal, and the responsible attorney within 2 business days of the Firm's retention.

Requirements :

Bachelor's degree or equivalent work experience.

5+ years' experience working as a Paralegal within Trust & Estates.

Experience with law firm project management and process management.