Housing Rights Clinic Legal Assistant/Paralegal

Housing Rights Clinic Legal Assistant/Paralegal

Position Title & Department: Housing Rights Clinic Legal Assistant/Paralegal; School of Law - Legal Clinics

Posting # 5598

This is a full-time, temporary, benefit-based position with an anticipated end date of June 13, 2027. The appointment is renewable at the discretion of the University and dependent upon performance and continued funding.

The USD Legal Clinics ('Legal Clinics') are a small to mid-sized law office, providing free legal services in an academic setting to low-income and underserved clients in the San Diego community.

The Housing Rights Clinic's Legal Assistant/Paralegal provides critical bilingual (fluent in Spanish and English) administrative and litigation support the day-to-day operations of the Housing Rights Clinic.

Duties and Responsibilities:

Translating and Interpreting for Spanish-speaking callers and clients:

• Interprets and translates daily for Spanish-speaking callers and clients of the Housing Rights Clinic.
• Provides interpretation for Spanish-speaking clients at client meetings and at court.

Training students, staff, and professors on software and procedures:

• Conducts trainings for students, staff, and professors on Legal Server, the Legal Clinics' cloud-based case management system.
• Trains new law students on Legal Clinics' standing operating procedures to ease their transition into the work environment.

Direct clinical support for all law students, staff attorneys, and professors:

• Provides general office and case support, including managing case files, organizing documents, data entry, and keeping staff updated on the prescreen status.
• Attends and provides administrative and litigation support at the courthouse and at the county law library two days a week for the Eviction Negotiation Program.
• Coordinates and arranges for client signatures on required documents.
• Maintains and reviews client case files in Legal Server, the Legal Clinics' cloud-based case management system.
• Monitors the shared delegated administrative email inbox and routes messages to appropriate staff.
• Updates spreadsheets and logs to support internal reporting and case tracking.

Assist with daily operations of the Housing Rights Clinic:

• Manages high volume of inbound telephone calls and voicemails.
• Assists with customer service experience of in-person visitors including clients, law students, and professors in a law firm professional manner.
• Interfaces with outside vendors, other USD departments, and the general public.

Special Conditions of Employment:

• Must be able to occasionally work evenings and weekends as needed.
• Must be able to occasionally travel as needed.

Background check: Successful completion of a pre-employment background check.

Degree Verification Requirement: Persons offered employment in this position will be required to provide official education transcripts for degree verification purposes.

Job Requirements:

Minimum Qualifications:

• Must be fluent in speaking and writing Spanish and English.
• High school diploma required.
• Two years of administrative or legal support experience required.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Familiarity with computerized case management systems for legal practice.
• Creativity, initiative, flexibility.
• Positive attitude at all times.
• Paralegal Certificate.

Performance Expectations - Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

• Demonstrated skills in customer service, including problem-solving.
• Ability to communicate effectively both in person and in writing.
• Willingness and ability to learn new skills.
• Excellent attention to detail.
• Successful completion of a pre-employment background check.