Job Description
Boutique Family Law Firm in Birmingham, AL seeking a legal assistant / paralegal to assist with day-to-day tasks.
In many situations, the Legal Assistant may have more direct communication with particular clients than even the lead attorney. While you won't ever be tasked with providing legal advice to any clients, you will be the face of the firm, and customer service is very important at our firm.
WHAT CHARACTERISTICS MIGHT INDICATE THAT YOU WOULD BE A GOOD LEGAL ASSISTANT AT THE YEATTS LAW FIRM?
Not everyone that has been a legal assistant will make a good Legal Assistant here. Likewise, just because you've never been a legal assistant doesn't mean you won't be a good fit as our Legal Assistant. We care more about motivation than skill set.
We’re generally casual and fun to be around. We work in an open-office, and we’re almost never in the office early or working late. However, sometimes we have tight deadlines, difficult cases, and tough decisions to make. We never take those responsibilities lightly.
HERE ARE SOME OF THE FACTORS THAT WE WILL CONSIDER WHEN HIRING THE LEGAL ASSISTANT:
POSITIVITY: Are you a positive person? Are you fun to work with? Are you not going to complain when the work gets hard or tedious? Are we going to want to spend 8 hours in a room with you, every day of the week?
TECH-COMFORTABLE: We use apple computers. We heavily use Clio, Google's G-Suite, and Microsoft Office on an Apple platform. We simply do not have time to teach you the basics of Microsoft products like Word and Excel, so minimum competency on routine programs like these is an absolute requirement. Experience with other programs is highly beneficial. Are you comfortable with using these tools in a competent manner? Are you comfortable learning new skills and implementing them in a way that makes it easier for us to work our cases?
DETAIL-ORIENTED: Are you able to go through a form and make sure that everything is filled out completely? Are you able to find missing pieces, find the pieces, and add them in with minimal oversight?
ORGANIZED: Our attorneys may handle tasks for a dozen matters in a day, therefore it is critical to make sure that the work that has been done and the work that needs to be done is properly categorized and tracked. Are you able to track your time on individual matters? Can you meet or exceed deadlines to keep the office working smoothly? Can you be assertive enough to take charge over matters to ensure that we don't miss court-imposed deadlines?
WHAT SHOULD I EXPECT TO BE PAID? We don't have a set range for this position. We're going to make an offer based on your individual experience. We will also heavily factor the compensation you think you are entitled to. For the introductory period, you will be paid a relatively smaller amount. This will range between $11-$16 per hour, depending on your experience. This period is primarily to determine if you're a good fit. If you're willing to make the investment in time with us, we will factor your progress through the introductory period in getting you on full compensation. The introductory period won't last more than 6 months. After the probationary period, we will offer you a full compensation package, which will be based on the compensation you think you're entitled to with consideration for what the firm can afford. We do offer holidays off and paid time off commiserate with your compensation expectations. However, we do not offer health insurance at this time.
WHAT DOES THE HIRING PROCESS LOOK LIKE? We will review the initial applications and screen for the factors that we have listed here. Our next step will be a short phone interview. After the phone interviews, we will select some applicants for in-person interviews at our office. There may be up to two rounds of in-person interviews. We will make a decision from there.
HOW SOON WILL I BE EXPECTED TO REPORT TO WORK? We are hiring for immediate availability.