The San Francisco City Attorney’s Office is looking for a Legal Secretary I with litigation experience to join its Labor Team.

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 attorneys and support staff, 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 the 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/

To learn more about the Office’s efforts to provide a welcoming, diverse, equitable and inclusive workplace please click here.

About the Labor Team The Labor Team is a collaborative and dynamic group of 17 attorneys, three paralegals, a legal assistant, and five legal secretaries.  The Team defends the City in state and federal civil litigation (through trial and appeals) and administrative proceedings involving labor and employment matters and provides proactive advice and risk management strategies to its client departments on all aspects of the City’s labor and employment relationships.  The Team advises and represents the City in its on-going relationships with the more than 30 unions that represent City employees, including collective bargaining, labor grievance arbitrations, and defending unfair labor practice and other administrative charges.

Legal Secretary I Position and Responsibilities Legal Secretaries work under the direction of attorneys and provide a variety of secretarial and clerical duties in a fast-paced, high-volume civil litigation practice.  The responsibilities listed below are representative of the range of duties assigned and are not intended as an exhaustive list.

• Preparing and editing a wide variety of legal documents in proper format, such as briefs, motions, discovery, correspondence, subpoenas, jury instructions, notices, exhibit and witness lists, verdict forms, and legislative documents (including resolutions and ordinances).
• Legal filing (including E-Filing) documents with state and federal trial courts, courts of appeal, and administrative bodies.
• Maintaining attorney calendars and case calendars.
• Opening, maintaining and closing files; abstracting information from various sources to prepare legal documents according to attorney instructions; answering requests for information from attorneys, opposing counsel, court staff and members of the public.
• Coordinating depositions and attorney appearances or meetings.
• Maintaining up-to-date knowledge of court rules and practices according to jurisdiction.
• Utilizing a wide variety of word processing, case management and calendaring software.
• Performing related duties as required.

• Two (2) years of verifiable experience as a legal secretary preparing legal documents including petitions, motions, briefs, complaints and other legal forms.

Desired 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.

Appointment Type:  Provisional - This is not a permanent appointment.  A provisional appointee must participate and be successful in a Civil Service examination for this classification and be selected through an open competitive process in order to be considered for permanent appointment.  Provisional appointments may not exceed three (3) years.

Salary and Benefits

The Legal Secretary I position has a five-step salary scale ranging from $80,990 - $98,436. The successful applicant is appointed to a salary step based on years of experience and additional relevant degrees, certifications, credentials or skills.  

The City offers robust health, retirement and other benefits.  For more information please visit: https://sfdhr.org/benefits-overview.  Legal Secretaries are represented by the Service Employees International Union, Local 1021, which has a Memorandum of Understanding with the City that can be found at MOU. 

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

All your information will be kept confidential according to EEO guidelines.

Filing Deadline: Interested Applicants are encouraged to apply as soon as possible as this announcement may close at any time after January 5, 2022.

Question: if you have any questions regarding this job, please contact [email protected] or Lillian Chow at [email protected].

Application Opening: 11/12/21

Application Deadline: 01/05/2022

Analyst Name: Marylou Remo

CONDITION OF EMPLOYMENT:  All City and County of San Francisco employees are required to be vaccinated against COVID-19 as a condition of employment.  For details on how it is applicable to your employment, please click here.

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.