Civil Legal Secretary

 THE AGENCY

The Office of the County Counsel provides legal services to the Board of Supervisors, elected officials and County departments and agencies.  It consists of approximately 60 employees and is located in downtown Oakland at 12th and Oak Streets, near Highway 880 and BART.

 THE POSITION

Working a 37.5 -hour week, you will be providing a wide range of civil legal sceretary support activities in the areas of litigation and legal transactional matters.  Duties include civil legal document and correspondence preparation, calendaring, case/file management, court filings, and litigation activities. You will be part of a team working in a fast-paced environment.

Under general direction, provide attorneys in the Office of the County Counsel the full range of civil law secretarial support services.  Duties performed are of considerable variety and may be complex and require independent thought .They often involve preparing time sensitive civil legal documents to abstract information which may be confidential in nature; and performing other assigned duties as required.

Either I

Experience:

The equivalent of three years of full-time experience as a Civil Legal Clerk in the Alameda County Counsel’s Office performing duties such as preparing documents such as pleadings, briefs, legal memoranda and opinions and other papers containing extensive legal citations. (Completion of one year of legal secretarial training curriculum in a recognized business college may be substituted for one year of the required experience.)

Or II

Experience:

The equivalent of three years of full-time experience performing the duties of a legal stenographer or legal secretary for attorneys or judges in a civil legal environment that included preparing documents such as pleadings, briefs, legal memoranda and opinions, and other papers containing extensive legal citations. (Completion of one year of legal secretarial training curriculum in a recognized business college may substitute for one year of the required experience.)

Special Requirement:

Must be able to type into a word processor at a minimum of 50 words per minute from clear copy.

NOTE: The Civil Service Commission may modify the above Minimum Qualifications in the announcement of an examination.

The most suitably qualified candidates will possess the following competencies:

Knowledge of:

• Legal terminology, general legal forms and documents.
• Business English usage, grammar, spelling, vocabulary and punctuation.
• Filing, indexing, and cross-referencing methods.
• Proper telephone etiquette and procedures.
• Law office practice, work procedure and equipment practices.
• Word processing/computer applications and techniques.
• Applicable civil law practice terminology, statutes and court rules.
• Civil law court filing and calendar procedures.
• Law library arrangement.

Ability to:

• Prepare civil legal documents from general instructions.
• Apply specialized knowledge of complex civil legal procedures.
• Identify and correct basic English usage errors in documents.
• Organize and maintain legal files and records.
• Abstract pertinent information from files to prepare civil legal documents.
• Plan, organize and prioritize work.
• Make decisions and use good judgment.
• Analyze and problem solve.
• Work independently in the absence of specific instructions.
• Communicate effectively orally and in writing.
• Deal tactfully with members of the public, co-workers and clients under stressful conditions.

Applicants will be informed via e-mail with reasonable notice in advance of any examination process which will require their attendance. The following dates are tentative and subject to change based on the needs of the Agency:

TENTATIVE SELECTION PLAN:

*WE RESERVE THE RIGHT TO MAKE CHANGES TO THE ANNOUNCED RECRUITMENT & SELECTION PLAN*

Alameda County and the Human Resource Services Department will make reasonable efforts in the examination and/or selection process to accommodate qualified individuals with disabilities and/or medical conditions in accordance/compliance with the State Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA), Federal Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Alameda County’s Reasonable Accommodation Policy and applicable statues.  To request an accommodation due to a disability/medical condition during this or other phases of the examination/selection process, please contact the assigned Human Resources Representative listed on the job announcement before the last date of filing.  Alameda County requires applicants to provide supporting documentation to substantiate a request for reasonable accommodation. In order to qualify for a reasonable accommodation, applicants must have a disability/medical condition pursuant to the ADA, FEHA and applicable statues.

For more information regarding our Reasonable Accommodation procedures, please visit our website, www.acgov.org/hrs 

Alameda County offers a comprehensive and competitive benefits package that affords wide-ranging health care options to meet the different needs of a diverse workforce and their families. We also sponsor many different employee discount, fitness and health screening programs focused on overall well being.  These benefits include but are not limited to*:

For your Health & Welfare Benefits

• Medical – HMO & PPO Insurance
• Dental – PPO & DHMO Insurance  
• Vision
• Basic Life Insurance 
• Supplemental Life Insurance (with optional dependent coverage) 
• County Allowance
• Health Flexible Spending Account
• Dependent Care Flexible Spending Account
• Accident, Critical Illness & Hospital Indemnity
• Long Term Care Insurance
• Employee Assistance Program

For your Financial Future

• Short-term Disability Insurance
• Long-Term Disability Insurance
• Retirement Plan – (Defined Benefit Pension Plan)
• Deferred Compensation Plan

For your Work/Life Balance

• 11 paid holidays
• Vacation and sick leave accrual
• Vacation purchase program
• Management Paid Leave**
• Group Auto/Home
• Commuter Benefits Program
• Guaranteed Ride Home
• Employee Wellness Program (e.g. At Work Fitness, Incentive Based Programs, Gym Membership Discounts)
• Employee Discount Program (e.g. theme parks, cell phone, etc.)
• Child Care Resources
• 1^st United Services Credit Union 

*Eligibility is determined by Alameda County and offerings may vary by collective bargaining agreement.  This provides a brief summary of the benefits offered and can be subject to change.

** Non-exempt management employees are entitled to up to three days of management paid leave. Exempt management employees are entitled to up to seven days of management paid leave.

All notices related to County recruitments for which you have applied will be sent/delivered via email. Please add @acgov.org and alamedacountyHR@acgov.org as accepted addresses to any email blocking or spam filtering program you may use. If you do not do this, your email blocking or spam filtering program may block receipt of the notices regarding your application for recruitments. You are also strongly advised to regularly log into your County of Alameda online application account to check for notices that may have been sent to you. All email notices that will be sent to you will also be kept in your personal online application account. You will be able to view all of your notices in your online application account by clicking on the "My applications" button on the Current Job Openings page.

Please take the steps recommended above to insure you do not miss any notices about a recruitment for which you have applied. The County of Alameda is not responsible for notices that are not read, received or accessed by any applicant for a County recruitment.

NOTE: All notices are generated through an automated email notification system. Replies to the email box alamedacountyHR@acgov.org are routed to an unmonitored mailbox. All notices are generated through an automated email notification system. Replies to the email box are routed to an unmonitored mailbox. If you have questions please go to our website at www.acgov.org/hrs. You may also contact the Human Resources Analyst listed on the job announcement for the recruitment for which you have applied.

Debra Robinson-Harris,  Human Resources Analyst III

Human Resource Services, County of Alameda

510- 272-6437