Legal Clerk - LAC Federal

Location: USA - IL - Springfield

LAC Federal is seeking a qualified Legal Clerk for a federal agency in Springfield, IL. The Legal clerk is expected to provide all clerical services required to perform the tasks related to the support of the agency’s fact witness and victim management process by providing a variety of direct assistance to agency’s Victim-Witness personnel, Attorney, legal assistants, administrative staff, and other agency personnel. This is a full time (40 hour a week; Monday-Friday) benefited contract position starting July 2, 2018.

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Provide witness management assistance prior to, during, and after trial. Typical assignments include: work directly with fact witnesses, provide assistance and support to ensure appearance for court, pre-trial conferences, and grand jury.
• Receive visitors, field phone calls, questions and other inquiries from fact witnesses and victims seeking information pertaining to court, pre-trial conferences, grand jury appearances and expense reimbursement. Obtain pertinent information for files and documents necessary to arrange witness travel and reimbursements.
• Initiate contact/notify fact witnesses and victims concerning travel arrangements, appearance date/time, and determine any special circumstances or needs of the fact witness and victims. Use judgment to determine when Attorney should be notified of special circumstances or needs of fact witnesses and victims.
• Confer with Attorney concerning fact witness and victim appearance and special circumstances regarding witnesses (special authorizations, international witnesses, military/federal employee witnesses, or hostile witnesses). Complete and submit proper documentation for special authorizations and obtain prior approval before proceeding with travel arrangements.
• Prior to appearance of fact witnesses and victims, ensure all travel documents and appearance date and time have been provided to witness. Make necessary arrangements for fact witness and victim travel and lodging according to agency’s policies and procedures.
• Meet with fact witnesses upon arrival and escort or provide directions to designated hearing or pre-trial conference, offer and perform courtroom orientation, accompany witness to court, ensure a safe waiting area is available, and collect necessary documentation and signatures for fact witness reimbursement documents.
• Prepare and submit documentation for fact witness reimbursement, i.e. witness vouchers and other required documentation for fact witnesses. Furnish requested information concerning pending and completed fact witness vouchers. Gather required documentation and reconcile Government Travel Accounts.
• Obtain information, confer, and coordinate with the Court, Probation, Pretrial, U.S. Marshals Service, investigative agencies, and other counterparts, when necessary.
• Complete variable aspects of recurring documents in conformance with the rules governing their style and format. Compose original letters that do not require legal interpretations, but require a good working knowledge of legal procedures and specialized terminology relevant to fact witness laws and regulations.
• Assists the Victim-Witness Staff to enter and update victim data in the Victim Notification System (VNS).
• Assists the Victim-Witness Staff with mailing of victim-witness notification letters and information regarding the mandatory reporting provisions of the Crime Control Act of 1990. Ensures victims and witnesses are kept informed of developments throughout the case.
• Perform general office procedures pertaining to fact witness management and assist the Victim Witness Coordinator with some victim management, including, but not limited to: establish and maintain a variety of fact witness and victim files, documents and databases; assemble documents and other information for fact witness and victim file material and retention in accordance with established procedures and agency regulations; if requested, establish and maintain calendar and/or database of active and pending fact witness and victim appearances; track hearings, trial dates, grand jury and scheduling conferences; perform other administrative and logistical fact witness and victim management related duties as required/assigned.
• Additional tasks, duties and administrative/legal responsibilities may be included that will require similar knowledge, education and experience to assist in other areas of the office.

REQUIREMENTS

• High school Diploma is required, undergraduate degree is preferred
• Good communication skills, interpersonal communications and dealing with people
• Knowledge of legal terminology
• Knowledge of litigation and court proceedings
• Provide word processing and data entry/retrieval
• Ability to review and analyze data and information from multiple sources
• Ability to establish case/project files
• Ability to enter and retrieve data from databases
• Ability to prepare and format management reports
• Ability to manipulate, transfer, compute and print information
• Ability to prepare and correct reports and correspondence using word processing software
• Schedule appointments
• Answer inquiries regarding case-related information as maintained in the database
• Answer inquiries regarding case-related status
• Obtain additional information from other agencies/organizations
• Maintain internal status information on the disposition of designated information, files, and assets
• Assure information is accurate and perform analytical computations necessary to process data
• Provide administrative information and assistance concerning case or file to other agencies or organizations
• Must be a US Citizen and must meet the agency’s residency requirement
• Must be available to start July 2, 2018

LAC Group is an Equal Opportunity Employer / Affirmative Action Employer who values diversity in the workplace.