Gittis Legal Clinics Paralegal

Job Description Summary

The University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School is one of the nation's oldest and most distinguished law schools. The Law School offers a unique approach, incorporating cross-disciplinary legal education, a distinctly collaborative environment, and an innovative curriculum to enrich student learning. The small and highly interdisciplinary faculty achieves scholarly excellence while emphasizing a shared effort to advance understanding of the law. The result is an intellectual community that bridges traditional boundaries and disciplines within a renowned internal culture of collegiality, making the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School an extraordinarily supportive academic community for all its members.

Penn Carey Law staff fulfill a critical role in providing a world-class educational environment, supporting faculty, students, alumni, and fellow staff members in a collegial, inclusive setting.

The Gittis Legal Clinics are Penn Carey Law's teaching law firm, comprised of nine clinics that offer students unique opportunities to develop essential lawyering skills and professional values through experiential learning in diverse practice areas. The Gittis Legal Clinics have a special mission to meet the educational needs of students while addressing critical legal needs of clients and underserved communities.

This Gittis Legal Clinics paralegal will provide paralegal and administrative support and help to educate law students about working in a professional law office. This is an exciting opportunity for an experienced, creative paralegal to participate in the training and preparation of law students for legal practice as well as to handle legal matters when students are unavailable. Gittis Legal Clinics paralegals work collaboratively with faculty and staff colleagues to ensure the successful delivery of high quality educational and legal services. Legal services may involve representation or advocacy in state and federal courts as well as before local, state, federal, and international agencies and legislative bodies. Applicants must submit a cover letter and resume to be considered.

Gittis Legal Clinics paralegals serve as vital members of the Gittis Legal Clinics staff team and report directly to the Gittis Legal Clinics Executive Director. This is a full-time position (35 hours per week). Physical presence at the Law School is routinely expected, although duties and responsibilities may be handled remotely at times.

Targeted Pay Range: $33.31/hour to $42.48/hour.

Job Description

Legal and Administrative Support

• Provide support to law students and clinical faculty representing clients and working on special projects in a broad range of litigation practice areas, including disability, employment, consumer protection, family, guardianship, housing and landlord-tenant, immigration, civil rights, human rights, and public benefits law.
• Assist with referral, selection, and intake of cases and monitor all stages of legal client representation, including performing conflict checks and gathering pertinent client information.
• Train on, model, and ensure clear and efficient communication between students and their clients, team partners, and clinical faculty.
• Open, maintain, organize, and close case files, both in electronic and paper format.
• Stay up to date with court and administrative rules and filing procedures and assist in preparation, production, and submission of administrative and judicial pleadings and other filings (both e-filings and paper filings), and handle service of process in municipal, state, and federal courts.
• Maintain, and train law students to maintain, client/casework databases and a litigation calendar by tracking case events and filing deadlines. Handle case logistics, including communication with court personnel and others, and conduct case-related research as needed.
• Assist students in preparing correspondence, including engagement, introduction, and closing letters to clients, among other documents.
• Support faculty with ongoing casework, including preparation of correspondence when students are unavailable.
• Working with law students, manage transition and closure of client files, including but not limited to meeting with students and faculty, review of client/casework databases, and organization of files.
• Provide assistance with students' various policy projects with partner organizations, educational outreach to client communities, and outreach-related case management, as needed.
• Use iManage document management software, Microsoft 365 (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Publisher, SharePoint, etc.), Adobe Acrobat, LegalServer, and other electronic platforms for both case file maintenance and semester preparation.
• Coordinate communication between the Gittis Legal Clinics and external vendors, including interpreters, translators, process servers, court reporters, and international publishers; arrange for interpretation and translation for clients with limited English proficiency.
• Demonstrate excellent spoken and written communication skills in person and while using multiple course and communication platforms, including Canvas, Outlook, MS Teams, DocuSign, Zoom, and Skype.
• Assist with clients and visitors and handle incoming and outgoing mail

Clinical Course Support and Training

• Assist faculty in using Canvas functions and other tools for smooth course management, including by researching, maintaining, and disseminating curriculum materials.
• Provide logistical coordination and other support for legal practice simulations, classroom exercises, guest speakers, and other course-related activities.
• Train students in office policies and procedures, client and document management systems, case file maintenance, use of legal, office, and communication tools, and law office professional conduct.
• Design/edit training materials and provide routine training to students and faculty in using technology and case management tools effectively. Trouble-shoot technology problems with the law school IT department and/or external support teams/consultants.
• Handle other clinic litigation and project duties as needed.

General Clinic Support

• Collaborate with Gittis Legal Clinics faculty and staff to ensure a cohesive and smooth-functioning law office.
• Contribute daily to a professional, welcoming, collaborative, comfortable, inclusive, and creative problem-solving environment.
• Represent the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School and the Gittis Legal Clinics, as needed, to visitors, callers, and external partners.
• Provide interpretation and translation in Spanish and English, if candidate has an appropriate level of proficiency.

Other Duties and Responsibilities as Assigned

Candidate Qualifications

• Candidates must submit a cover letter and a resume to be considered. (Upload cover letter with resume in Careers@Penn portal). A bachelor's degree, associate degree, and/or paralegal certificate plus at least three years of experience in a law firm, public interest/legal services organization, corporate law department or other legal environment are required. Proficiency in spoken and written Spanish is highly desirable.
• Demonstrated experience with varied aspects of civil trial preparation, including federal and state electronic filing; preparing tables of authorities; scheduling and setting up depositions; preparing exhibits; organizing and preparing briefs; and researching rules of civil procedure and court protocols.
• Demonstrated experience providing professional training, teaching support, tutoring, community education, or otherwise helping people learn new information and/or skills. Must demonstrate an appreciation for the mission of the Gittis Legal Clinics, the clients we serve, and the students we educate. Must understand the importance of confidentially in the legal field and handle sensitive information with care and discretion. Must have an affinity for working with clients with diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds.
• Also required: excellent coordination and organizational skills, including keen attention to detail and the ability to prioritize work; excellent ability to communicate orally with a wide variety of constituents; critical thinking skills and a proven ability to engage in problem-solving creatively and diligently; and competency in using Microsoft Office (Outlook, Word, Excel, Power Point).

In addition, these attributes are highly valued:

• Enthusiasm for contributing to others' professional development and to high quality services and work products.
• A background and/or experiences that will contribute to the diversity, vitality, and cultural perspective of our clinical education program, staff, and clients;
• Experience with using interpreters, translators, and other language access resources;
• The ability to learn quickly and think creatively;
• A willingness to embrace new technology;
• The ability to work in a fast-paced environment, multi-task and prioritize, and manage tasks under pressure;
• A commitment to learning new systems and improving upon existing systems;
• The ability to work well both independently and collaboratively; and
• Demonstrated reliability, responsibility, and initiative.

Job Location - City, State

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Department / School

Law School

Pay Range

$23.80 - $38.22 Hourly Rate