Paralegal/Legal Secretary

Job Description

Job Description

Position Overview

We are seeking an experienced, highly organized Paralegal / Legal Secretary to support a busy law practice handling a diverse range of legal matters, with particular emphasis on business law, estate planning, wills and trusts, probate, environmental law, water law, and matters involving public agencies.

The ideal candidate will have substantial practical experience working with attorneys, clients, courts, governmental agencies, and opposing counsel and will be comfortable managing multiple matters from initial intake through completion. This position requires excellent judgment, attention to detail, strong written and verbal communication skills, and the ability to work independently while anticipating the needs of the attorneys and clients.

Key Responsibilities

Business Law

• Assist with formation and maintenance of corporations, LLCs, partnerships, and other business entities.
• Prepare and maintain corporate records, resolutions, minutes, consents, and organizational documents.
• Assist with business transactions, contracts, agreements, leases, and related documentation.
• Conduct and organize business and legal research.
• Coordinate filings with the Secretary of State and other governmental agencies.
• Maintain entity records, calendars, deadlines, and compliance requirements.
• Communicate professionally with business clients, accountants, financial professionals, and other advisors.

Wills, Trusts & Estate Planning

• Assist attorneys with preparation and organization of wills, trusts, powers of attorney, advance health care directives, beneficiary designations, and related estate-planning documents.
• Coordinate estate-planning client intake and information gathering.
• Prepare correspondence, checklists, asset summaries, and supporting documentation.
• Coordinate execution and signing appointments.
• Maintain confidential client and estate-planning records.

Probate & Estate Administration

• Assist with probate and trust administration matters from opening through closing.
• Prepare and organize probate pleadings, petitions, inventories, notices, accountings, and other court documents under attorney supervision.
• Track probate deadlines, hearings, notices, filings, and required documentation.
• Assist with gathering and organizing estate assets and liabilities.
• Maintain detailed estate administration files and status reports.

Environmental & Water Law

• Provide paralegal and administrative support for environmental, natural-resource, land-use, and water-law matters.
• Assist with water-rights matters, water transfers, permits, applications, and related documentation.
• Prepare and organize materials involving water districts, reclamation districts, irrigation districts, municipalities, counties, state agencies, and other public entities.
• Track regulatory requirements, agency deadlines, hearings, meetings, filings, and correspondence.
• Assist with preparation of applications, comments, administrative filings, notices, and supporting exhibits.

Public Agencies & Administrative Matters

• Communicate professionally with local, state, and federal governmental agencies.
• Research agency procedures and requirements.
• Monitor public-agency calendars, hearings, agendas, deadlines, and filings.
• Prepare correspondence and supporting materials for communications with governmental officials and agency staff.
• Maintain detailed agency contact records and matter histories.

General Legal Support

• Draft, format, proofread, and finalize correspondence, pleadings, agreements, memoranda, and other legal documents.
• Perform legal and factual research using appropriate legal research resources.
• Prepare exhibits, binders, electronic files, and hearing or meeting materials.
• Maintain accurate electronic and paper filing systems.
• Manage attorney calendars, deadlines, appointments, hearings, and client meetings.
• Maintain strict confidentiality and professional discretion.
• Anticipate attorney needs and proactively manage assigned matters.

Qualifications

Required:

• Significant experience as a paralegal, legal secretary, legal assistant, or similar position in a law-office environment.
• Extensive working knowledge of business law and entity matters.
• Strong experience with wills, trusts, estate planning, and probate.
• Knowledge or substantial experience in environmental law and/or water law.
• Experience working with or communicating with public agencies and governmental entities.
• Excellent legal writing, proofreading, organizational, and document-management skills.
• Ability to manage multiple complex matters and competing deadlines.
• Strong attention to detail and accuracy.
• Professional communication skills and ability to work directly with clients.
• Ability to handle confidential and sensitive information appropriately.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office, PDF/document-management software, and standard legal-office technology.

Preferred:

• Paralegal certificate or equivalent substantive legal experience.
• Experience with California law and California courts and governmental agencies.
• Experience with water districts, municipalities, counties, special districts, or state regulatory agencies.
• Familiarity with probate court procedures and estate administration.
• Experience with business formations, corporate maintenance, and transactional documents.
• Experience with legal research databases and electronic court filing systems.
• Familiarity with environmental permitting, water rights, land use, or natural-resources matters.

Ideal Candidate

The successful candidate is someone who can hit the ground running and become a dependable part of the legal team. We are particularly interested in candidates who have worked on sophisticated or varied matters and who understand that this position requires more than routine administrative support.

The ideal candidate is:

• Exceptionally organized and detail-oriented.
• Comfortable handling complex legal matters with minimal supervision.
• Able to prioritize and manage numerous deadlines.
• A strong legal writer and proofreader.
• Professional and personable with clients and public officials.
• Resourceful and capable of finding answers independently.
• Comfortable learning new areas of law and navigating unfamiliar agency procedures.
• Discreet, dependable, and committed to maintaining client confidentiality.
• Able to work effectively with attorneys, clients, opposing counsel, experts, consultants, and government personnel.