Legal Assistant
Description
This is an exciting opportunity to work for one of the top law firms in the U.S.! Davis Wright Tremaine LLP is looking for a Legal Assistant to join our team in our New York office.
We offer a hybrid work engagement with two days of remote work, and three days in-office.
Provide and coordinate administrative and clerical support to attorneys and paralegals in various practice groups, supporting effective use of their time. This position requires a high ability to work independently as well as in a team environment with timekeepers and staff members. Expertise in practicing the following responsibilities is required.
At Davis Wright Tremaine, you will find challenging assignments, opportunities for professional growth and community involvement, and a culture of inclusion. DWT fosters inclusiveness and authenticity. Regardless of position, everyone here has a voice and the support is unparalleled.
On a typical day you will:
- Take ownership of own success and attorneys' success
- Welcome challenges and take a proactive approach to problem solving
- Be engaged, interested and curious, offer ideas and solutions to improve service, teamwork and efficiency
- Maintain composure and discretion
- Effectively partner with attorneys and maintain good working relationships with clients, DWT staff and attorneys, and other contacts (agencies, courts, vendors, etc.)
- Easily team up with others, both forming and joining
- Mentor and share information with others
- Efficiently manage complex and challenging workflow
- Utilize resources (administrative secretary, DWTWP, file room, PDXSUPP, colleagues, office management)
- Invest in mentoring Administrative Secretaries and others
- Sustain a high degree of attorney confidence, minimal backlog and minimal overtime
- Maintain a deep understanding of attorneys' practices and goals as well as firm objectives, policies and procedures; proactively identify own training/development needs and collaborate with supervisor to meet them
- Maintain an understanding of firm and practice group goals; identify opportunities to contribute to success by raising concerns and/or opportunities; and offers potential solutions and is willing to participate in the agreed upon course of action to reach the desired goals
- Extensive interaction with clients; acts as intermediary with clients and responds to client requests
- Take initiative to understand attorneys' client service needs; identify opportunities to contribute to client relationship success by raising concerns and/or opportunities to improve; offers potential solutions and is willing to participate in the agreed upon course of action to reach the desired goals
- Manage client billing process, including review and editing of pre-bills
- Maintain up-to-date forms, including collaboration with word processing on templates
- Check in regularly with attorney to ensure all aspects of projects are on track. Prompt as needed. Exercise careful judgment about when to ask for guidance
- Assign appropriate tasks to word processing, file room and other support staff. Follow up on status of all projects to ensure timely completion
- Communicate clearly with all appropriate team members on project status
- Docket deadlines
- Type, proofread, run comparisons, and edit correspondence, memoranda, agreements and other legal and business documents from notes, templates, drafts, or dictated text under time sensitive deadlines
- Maintain attorney and client records, including email and other electronic records
- Open new client and new matter files
- Schedule and coordinate appointments, meetings and conference calls and maintain calendars
- Answer, screen, and respond to phone calls
- Open and route mail, attaching appropriate files and documents
- Prepare and submit expense reimbursement reports and check requests
- Make travel arrangements
- Schedule conference rooms using Resource Scheduler and arrange for food service and audio-visual equipment as needed
- Assist fellow secretaries and additional attorneys as priorities dictate
Join us if you have:
- Ability to read and write English
- 3+ years' experience as a legal secretary in a law firm environment is required
- Ability to understand and follow work directions, manage multiple priorities and respond to urgent requests with minimal supervision
- Ability to take initiative and ownership of projects and follow them through to completion, regardless of who is doing the work
- Expertise in Microsoft Word and Outlook is essential. Must also be proficient in Adobe, Excel and PowerPoint. Experience with Office 2010 and Windows 7 is preferred
- Excellent keyboarding, grammar, spelling and proofreading skills. Transcription skills required
- Excellent communication skills, both verbal and written, with clients, firm members, and other business contacts
- Exceptional interpersonal and customer service skills, as well as the ability to handle stressful situations in a calm, composed manner
- Ability to pay close attention to detail and be highly organized and accurate
- Strong time management skills
- Ability to work effectively in a team-oriented, service environment
- A high school diploma or GED certification is required
- Availability and willingness to work overtime as needed or requested
Who We Are
Davis Wright Tremaine LLP is an AmLaw 100 law firm with 11 offices nationwide. We are relentlessly committed to client service and look for candidates who share that commitment. At DWT, client service means having empathy for each client’s and each lawyer’s work and personal pressures, business objectives, and legal needs; anticipating their needs; and having the capabilities and commitment to deliver what matters most to them.
What’s in it For You?
DWT offers competitive compensation in addition to ample benefits including but not limited to:
- Choice of health and vision insurance plans
- 2 paid volunteer days for qualifying community service work
- Dental plan
- Fertility and adoption benefit
- Paid sabbatical after 13 years of service
- Tuition reimbursement
- Commuter benefits
- Retirement contribution
This job description intends to describe the general nature and level of work being performed by individuals assigned to this position. It is not intended to include all duties and responsibilities.
New York
The annualized salary range for this position in New York City is $75,000 to $106,000 ($41.21-$58.24 hourly). Actual pay will be adjusted based on experience and other job-related factors permitted by law. Full time employees may be eligible for a bonus, health insurance with an optional HSA, short term disability, long term disability, dental insurance, vision care, telemedicine and virtual short term solution based counseling services, life insurance, Healthcare and Dependent Care Flexible Spending Accounts, subsidized backup care and caregiving resources, 401(k), vacation, sick time, and an employee assistance program. Additional voluntary programs include: voluntary accident insurance, voluntary life, voluntary disability, voluntary long term care, and pet insurance. Commuter and Transit programs are also available.
Diversity, equity, and inclusion are part of the fabric of Davis Wright Tremaine – central to who we are and what we do. Our vision is to foster a culture where all talented individuals – including those who are from traditionally underrepresented communities in the legal profession – can have, and can see, a path to success. We embed DEI throughout our law firm with our four-pillar framework: Community, Growth, Education, and Engagement. We invite you to learn more about our commitment to DEI at https://www.dwt.com/about/diversity-equity-and-inclusion.
Davis Wright Tremaine provides reasonable accommodations for those who need them to complete the application or recruiting process and for employees who need reasonable accommodations to perform the essential functions of their positions due to a disability or for religious reasons. If you need to request accommodation during the application or recruiting process, please email [email protected].
#LI-BR1