Career Opportunity

8106-Legal Process Clerk

Recruitment: RTF0138773-01151449

Published: September 19, 2023

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

About:

Department: Public Defender's Office- Clean Slate 
Job class: 8106- Legal Process Clerk
Role type: Temporary Exempt What does this mean?
Hours: Full-time

This is a full time grant position approved until 6/30/2024.

The Public Defender’s office provides legal representation to persons charged with a crime in San Francisco who do not have the financial means to retain their own counsel. Each year, the office serves approximately 20,000 people. The San Francisco Public Defender’s office is a nationally recognized model of public defense. The Public Defender provides legal staffing for each of the misdemeanor and felony preliminary hearing and trial courts, the Mental Health and Youth Defender Unit divisions, the Community Justice Center, Domestic Violence Court, Behavioral Health Court, Veterans’ Justice Court, Drug Court, Intensive Supervision court, Parole Court, Young Adult Court, and Extradition.

The Crankstart Project is a grant supporting the mission and objectives of the San Francisco Public Defender’s Clean Slate program. The Project is designed to substantially expand program staffing to meet the growing demands of background clearance so clients can get connected to jobs, housing, education and public benefits.

Role description

The primary responsibilities of the Clean Slate Unit processing clerk are as follows:

• Processing online applications on a daily basis. This includes transferring client data from submission forms, organizing information to send follow-up background requests to law enforcement and presenting concise client summaries for attorney review;
• Processing hardcopy applications mailed into the office or submitted in-person via office visits of program clinic participation;
• Obtaining court orders and documents for internal record keeping and for disseminating to clients, and creating digital copies of Clean Slate Unit;
• Construction and closure of high volume applications and case files;
• Requesting confidential criminal background reports;
• Competency in Clean Slate law to respond to daily emails and phone calls from clients and prospective applicants;
• Communicating with other agencies such as San Francisco Police Department, California Department of Corrections, Criminal Division of the Superior Court, Office of the City Attorney and Office of the District Attorney;
• Working closely with Public Defender staff, such as attorneys in the Immigration and Trial Units, investigators, and clerks.

The processing clerk will sometimes be required to travel to jail facilities and conduct client interviews, specifically requiring a stellar ability to communicate and interact with challenging clients who may sometimes be psychiatrically impaired. The position also requires an excellent working relationship with community justice partners in order to facilitate community clinics, presentation and outreach activities. This position, while often working independently, will be working with a small collaborative team and keep the team members informed.

How to qualify

Experience:

One (1) year (equivalent of 2,000 hours) of verifiable experience processing and/or researching documents in accordance with laws, codes and/or regulations in a legal, governmental, real estate or financial services environment

DESIRABLE QUALIFICATIONS:

• Bilingual proficiency in Spanish or Cantonese;
• Experience in conducting legal interviews;
• Experience in using EXCEL and setting up a database;
• Experience in reviewing, sorting, and summarizing voluminous court records, police reports and rehabilitation materials submitted by Clean Slate petitioners;
• Familiarity with reviewing criminal background “rap” sheets that range from local San Francisco rap sheets, Statewide “CII” rap sheets, and FBI or federal rap sheets;
• Works Independently but is a team player;
• Experience in social justice work

What else should I know?

HOW TO APPLY:

In addition to the application process, please provide all the following materials by 11:59pm on October 3, 2023 via email to PDR.HR@sfgov.org

Subject: 8106 Legal Process Clerk - Interested in the Position

a.     A contact list (emails & phone numbers) of 4 professional references (3 supervisors and 1 colleague).

b.     An updated resume

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.