Career Opportunity

Legal Secretary I - City Attorney's Office (1458)

Recruitment: RTF0128130-01031463

Published: October 26, 2022

Apply using SmartRecruiters, the City and County of San Francisco's application portal.

About:

This position is being filled as Temporary Provisional (TPV), more information regarding this can be found below.

• Application Opening: October 26, 2022
• Application Deadline: Continuous, earliest close 5:00 p.m. November 4, 2022
• Compensation Range: $85,670 - $104,130
• Recruitment ID: RTF0128130-01031463

About the Office: The San Francisco City Attorney’s Office is an innovative, nationally-recognized municipal law office working to protect and advance the rights and interests of the City and County of San Francisco and its residents.  With just over 300 talented, dedicated, and diverse employees, the Office provides exceptional legal services to the City’s Mayor, Board of Supervisors, officials, and departments.  Our work empowers City leaders with effective, responsive and creative legal solutions and representation so they can deliver critical public services and our affirmative advocacy enhances the lives and wellbeing of San Francisco’s residents and visitors.

The Office recognizes that diversity in the backgrounds, ideas and lived experiences of our employees enriches our workplace and enhances our work.  We aspire to recruit, employ, retain and promote capable individuals representing the full spectrum of our community, and welcome all candidates, including candidates of any race, religion, national origin, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, age and candidates with disabilities.  We have a clear vision: to be the place where a diverse mix of talented people want to come and stay, and where employees feel welcomed, engaged and valued for their work and contributions to the Office and the City.

To learn more about the City Attorney’s Office please visit: https://www.sfcityattorney.org/

Role description

The City Attorney's Office is looking to fill positions on three teams: Litigation/Trial, Tax, and Health.

Litigation/Trial

Under supervision, the Legal Secretary I on the Litigation/Trial Team supports a high-volume, busy litigation and trial practice. The duties associated with the position include but are not limited to:  preparing and editing a wide variety of legal documents in proper format such as briefs, correspondence, subpoenas, jury instructions, notices, exhibit lists and verdict forms; filing (including E-Filing) documents with State and Federal trial courts and courts of appeal; maintaining attorney calendars and case calendars; creating and maintaining files; answering requests for information from attorneys, opposing counsel, court staff and members of the public; and performing related duties as required.

Tax

Under supervision, the Legal Secretary I on the Tax Team provides legal secretarial and clerical services, of a difficult and responsible nature, for the Office of the City Attorney. Attention to detail and the ability to stay up to date on the rules of court and Assessment Appeals Board is required. The duties associated with the position include but are not limited to: word processing, formatting, proofing and editing a wide variety of legal documents including pleadings, briefs, correspondence, subpoenas, contracts, complaints, legislation, memorandums, and judicial council forms; filing legal documents with the Superior Court, the Clerk of the Board of Supervisors, and the Assessment Appeals Board; responding to requests for information from attorneys, government representatives and the public; creating and maintaining filing systems, logs for documents received and returned, and ongoing case management; tracking and helping respond to third-party subpoenas for client departments, bates stamping and redacting using Acrobat Pro, tracking files in Excel, creating spreadsheets as needed, preparing and maintaining templates and materials for litigation and advice, coordinating meetings and maintaining calendars, coordinating meetings and maintaining calendars, and performing related duties as required.

Health

Under supervision, the Legal Secretary I on the Health Team provides legal secretarial and clerical services, of a difficult and responsible nature, for the Office of the City Attorney.  Attention to detail and the ability to stay up to date on the rules of court and administrative courts is required. The duties associated with the position include but are not limited to: word processing, formatting, proofing and editing a wide variety of legal documents including pleadings, briefs, correspondence, subpoenas, contracts, complaints, legislation, memorandums and judicial council forms; filing legal documents with all of the state (including Probate and Criminal Courts) and federal courts, the SF Board of Appeals, the Clerk of the Board of Supervisors, the Office of Administrative Hearings, and the Public Employee Relations Board; responding to requests for information from attorneys, government representatives and the public; creating and maintaining filing systems, logs for documents received and returned, and ongoing case management; tracking and helping respond to third party subpoenas for various client departments, bates stamping and redacting using Acrobat Pro, tracking files in Excel, creating spreadsheets as needed,  preparing and maintaining templates and  materials for litigation and advice, and performing related duties as required.

Appointment Type: Temporary Provisional (TPV), limited to no more than 3 years in duration. This temporary position is excluded by the Charter from the competitive Civil Service examination process, is considered "at will" and shall serve at the discretion of the Department Head. This position will be subject to the Permanent Civil Service examination process. Successful participation in the Permanent Civil Service examination and selection through an open competitive process is needed in order to be considered for the permanent appointment.

How to qualify

Minimum Qualifications

Experience

Two (2) years of verifiable experience as a legal secretary transcribing dictation and typing legal documents including petitions, motions, briefs, complaints and other legal forms; AND

The ability to type 55 net WPM

One year of full-time employment is equivalent to 2000 hours. (2000 hours of qualifying work experience is based on a 40-hour work week.) Any overtime hours that you work above forty (40) hours per week are not included in the calculation to determine full-time employment.

Substitution

A certificate of completion in legal secretarial skills from a recognized college, university, or training program, which involved learning legal terminology and legal formats and forms, may substitute for six (6) months of the required legal secretarial experience.

Desirable Qualifications

• Excellent verbal and writing skills, and an ability to work independently, as well as collaboratively across multiple legal teams

• Ability to manage multiple tasks and deadlines, accept and implement written and oral instructions, and communicate effectively and tactfully with attorneys, office personnel, court personnel, vendors and representatives of other governmental departments/entities and the general public

• Working knowledge of civil legal procedures, legal terminology and court rules

• Adept in Microsoft Office Suite, with a focus on Excel

• Experience with Adobe Professional, Cisco WebEx, Microsoft Team

• Bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university

• Commitment to valuing diversity and contributing to an inclusive working and learning environment

Verification of Education and Experience: Applicants may be required to submit verification of qualifying education and experience at any point during the recruitment and selection process. If education verification is required, information on how to verify education requirements, including verifying foreign education credits or degree equivalency, can be found at http://sfdhr.org/how-verify-education-requirements

Notes:

1. Falsifying one’s education, training, or work experience or attempted deception on the application may result in disqualification for this and future job opportunities with the City and County of San Francisco.
2. Applicants must meet the minimum qualification requirements by the final filing date unless otherwise noted.

Selection Procedures

The selection process will include evaluation of applications in relation to minimum requirements. Applicants meeting the minimum qualifications are not guaranteed advancement to the interview. Depending on the number of applicants, the Department may establish and implement additional screening mechanisms to comparatively evaluate the qualifications of candidates. If this becomes necessary, only those applicants whose qualifications most closely meet the needs of the Department will be invited to participate in the oral/performance interview.

Questions: If you have any questions regarding this job, please contact Marylou.Remo@sfcityatty.org or Jacob.Mast@sfcityatty.org.

What else should I know?

Additional Information Regarding Employment with the City and County of San Francisco:

• Information About The Hiring Process
• Conviction History
• Equal Employment Opportunity 
• Disaster Service Worker
• ADA Accommodation
• Veterans Preference
• Right to Work
• Copies of Application Documents
• Diversity Statement

How to Apply

Applications for City and County of San Francisco jobs are only accepted through an online process. Visit https://careers.sf.gov/ and begin the application process.

• Select the “Apply Now” button and follow instructions on the screen

Applicants may be contacted by email about this recruitment and, therefore, it is their responsibility to ensure that their registered email address is accurate and kept up-to-date. Also, applicants must ensure that email from CCSF is not blocked on their computer by a spam filter. To prevent blocking, applicants should set up their email to accept CCSF mail from the following addresses (@sfgov.org, @sfdpw.org, @sfport.com, @flysfo.com, @sfwater.org, @sfdph.org, @asianart.org, @sfmta.com, @sfpl.org, @dcyf.org, @first5sf.org, @famsf.org, @ccsf.edu, @smartalerts.info, and @smartrecruiters.com).

Applicants will receive a confirmation email that their online application has been received in response to every announcement for which they file. Applicants should retain this confirmation email for their records. Failure to receive this email means that the online application was not submitted or received.

CONDITION OF EMPLOYMENT:  All City and County of San Francisco employees are required to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 as a condition of employment. Someone is fully vaccinated when 14 days have passed since they received the final dose of a two-shot vaccine or a dose of a one-shot vaccine. Any new hire must present proof of full vaccination status to be appointed. Any new hire who will be routinely assigned or occasionally enter High-Risk Settings, must provide proof of having received a COVID-19 booster vaccine by March 1, 2022, or once eligible.

The City and County of San Francisco encourages women, minorities and persons with disabilities to apply. Applicants will be considered regardless of their sex, race, age, religion, color, national origin, ancestry, physical disability, mental disability, medical condition (associated with cancer, a history of cancer, or genetic characteristics), HIV/AIDS status, genetic information, marital status, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, gender expression, military and veteran status, or other protected category under the law.