Senior Trial Paralegal/Litigation Paralegal Manager

Job Description:

Key Responsibilities and Deliverables

Paralegal Management Duties

• Matter and task allocation to the paralegal team to ensure optimum overall efficiency and productivity; assessment of resourcing needs; monitoring of workloads across team; issue resolution; supervision and coordination of team; ensuring effective communication across team
• Overseeing quality control of the team’s work including the work of temps
• Onboarding of new paralegal team members; identifying training needs and arranging as appropriate including maintaining those resources
• Holiday and sick leave authorization; monitoring absences & ensuring team members adhere to sick leave policy in line with firm’s guidelines
• Monitor and approve paralegal hours including overtime sign off
• Work on global and local knowledge management initiatives as directed, to maintain and create precedent files, forms and other collections for document precedent repository
• Monitor professional behavior of members of the paralegal team including punctuality and professionalism; resolve personnel/ disciplinary issues swiftly and tactfully, or if necessary, refer the matter to Human Resources; monitor team morale
• Conduct performance reviews
• Conduct regular team meetings
• Work alongside the recruiting department to review resumes and conduct interviews when recruiting new paralegals
• Update policy and procedure documentation
• Approve Chrome River, IT and other paralegal expenses
• Overview of IT administration for the team including staying apprised of and testing new software for the team  
• Approve external vendor invoices (including printing, translations and other services)
• Coordinate billable rate matriculation with Global Finance
• Update and coordinate notary list and notary requests
• Meet individually with all new attorneys in Litigation to provide an introduction to paralegal services
• Yearly presentation (with GT and ACT paralegal managers) to all first-year attorneys about paralegal services
• Build positive spirit, promote teamwork, lead by example, adopt enthusiastic and supportive leadership style
• Mutually respectful and advisory relationship with associates; liaison between paralegal and lawyer teams
• Coordinate matter-based paralegal teams as required to meet associate and client objectives, including task allocation and supervision

Trial Paralegal Duties

• The Senior Trial Paralegal will be assigned to litigation matters expected to go to trial and will be responsible for either personally providing support or arranging and supervising assigned support in the following areas:
  • Coordinate logistics for trials and hearings; source offsite workspace, hotel arrangements, and technical requirements
  • Overall case file maintenance, including indexing and filing case materials
  • Preparing panel submissions, productions, and other materials
  • Manage hard copy and electronic case documents, including managing electronic files and preparing binders
  • Perform substantive cite-checking and extensive Bluebooking of attorney written work product (client memoranda, panel submissions, ABA publications, and scholarly articles)
  • Proofread and edit attorney work product (grammar, usage, and content
  • Research current events and perform key work searches on Lexis and other news data bases
  • Develop expertise in use of document review tools, including the ability to prepare sets of documents to be produced and perform key-term searches over the data
  • Maintain and manage databases and other applications as necessary
  • Liaise with office support staff to ensure efficacy of workflow
  • Assist the practice groups with filings and hearings
  • Perform other paralegal duties as necessary

Job Requirements:

Key Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree required
• 5+ years of paralegal experience
• Experience as a paralegal manager / previous management experience
• Ability to provide clear instructions to paralegals and to train paralegals as required
• Ability to resolve issues/conflicts in a fair and diplomatic manner. Coupled with this is the ability to identify when issues/conflicts need to be escalated
• Excellent people skills, enthusiastic, pro-active, self-motivated, flexible
• Ability to exercise discretion & remain poised under pressure, leadership
• Ability to multi-task and prioritize in a fast-paced environment
• Decisive, maturity of judgment
• Strong organizational skills, excellent attention to detail, efficient
• Reliable
• Knowledge of research databases, including Lexis and Westlaw
• Ability to work overtime and weekends