Legal Clerk Job Descriptions, Average Salary, Interview Questions

Legal clerks handle all the administrative duties for lawyers and judges, including preparing legal documentation and trials, conducting research, offering customer service, and greeting clients. Legal clerks must have a working knowledge of legal proceedings. To perform this function, legal clerks need to be highly organized, have excellent communication skills, and be proficient with computers. [Your Company Name] is hiring an experienced legal clerk to take our business to new heights. As an ideal candidate, you have proven experience performing legal research and providing legal reports to support lawyers and judges.  

Typical duties and responsibilities

• Prepare legal drafts
• Assemble and organize information for legal forms and documents
• Research and study laws, regulations, and court decisions
• Prepare legal memoranda
• Collect and organize case materials such as reports and evidence
• Prepare trial briefs, exhibits, and motions
• Maintain calendar of court dates and hearings
• Administrative tasks including answering phones, managing office supplies, filing, and greeting guests

Education and experience

A high school diploma or GED is required for this position. However, employers prefer that candidates have an associate degree or bachelor’s degree in pre-law, administration, or a related field.

Required skills and qualifications

• Expertise in written and verbal communication
• Proficient computer skills, including Microsoft Office Suite (Word, PowerPoint, and Excel)
• Excellent organization and scheduling skills
• Ability to perform a wide range of clerical duties including maintaining files
• Discretion and an ability to handle confidential information
• Time management skills and ability to prioritize
• Legal research skills

Preferred qualifications

• Requires excellent written and oral communication skills and thorough knowledge of legal research tools such as LEXIS and Westlaw
• Hands-on familiarity with a variety of computer applications, including word processing, databases (such as document review and file management systems), spreadsheets, and imaging
• Hands-on familiarity with ESI tools and knowledge of e-discovery procedures and resources

Technology is at the core of our business – we don’t just sell technology, we use it. The power of digital interviewing allows you the flexibility of using your computer or mobile device to record your interview on your own schedule in the comfort of your home. Our recruiting process allows you to tell your story in a stress-free way that is interactive and fun, so if you receive a link to Share your Story with us, we hope you have an awesome digital experience.

Get inspired by the work you’ll do

• Support attorneys and paralegals in the legal department
• Enter agreements into the electronic signature platform for execution and follow up on a weekly basis to make sure the agreements are signed and a fully executed copy is received.
• Enter all agreements into the contract management system
• Scan or read incoming materials in order to determine how and where they should be classified or filed
• Work with attorneys and paralegals to update and maintain forms and form files
• Enter the document identification codes into the automated/computer system in order to determine the location of the documents to be retrieved
• Gather materials to be filed from departments and employees
• Perform periodic inspections of materials or files in order to ensure correct placement, legibility, and proper condition
• Eliminate outdated or unnecessary materials, destroying them or transferring them to inactive storage according to file maintenance guidelines and/or legal requirements
• Find and retrieve information from files in response to requests from authorized users
• Perform general office duties such as typing, operating office machines, sorting mail, etc.

Your passion is sparked by

• High School Diploma, some colleges preferred but not required
• Established experience working quickly, accurately, and independently with minimal supervision
• Solid background in maintaining a high level of professionalism and confidentiality with the ability to work as business demands require
• Demonstrated proficiency with MS Office applications, especially Outlook, Word, and Excel
• Proven verbal and written communication skills with the ability to use good judgment and common sense when interacting with outside/inside contacts

We are looking for a legal clerk to handle case follow-up for civil litigation. Your goal will be to perform the job with little to no errors, learn quickly, and handle a large volume of legal documents in an appropriate amount of time. Our legal clerks handle the filing, document processing, and data entry of civil lawsuits related to debt collection. Although we are a debt collection firm, our collections handle all correspondence with debtors. We handle all filing and processing with the courts and communication with opposing counsels. This is a great position for someone looking to enter the legal field. We provide extensive on-the-job training and work directly with new hires as they learn legal processes.

Responsibilities:

• Identify legal documents by title and contents
• Enter legal data into our software system, Q-Law
• Communicate with courts to follow up with cases
• Regularly work lists of files to keep up to date
• Work directly with a team of attorneys and clerks to keep files moving through the litigation process
• Request and process documents with the court systems of the state of Florida. This includes scanning, copying, and mailing documents, as well as following up with the court regarding filings
• Background drug, credit, and fingerprint tests done prior to hiring

Skills:

• Well-organized, with sharp attention to detail
• Ability to work under pressure
• Good communication and literacy skills
• A desire to learn more about civil litigation
• Ability to learn quickly and ask the appropriate questions to learn the job to the best of your ability
• Office experience preferred, but not required

The Legal Clerk I is responsible for processing a variety of legal requests related to customer accounts that are received by the Bank such as levies, liens, garnishments, subpoenas, court orders, legal research requests, social security account verification, the establishment of fiduciary accounts and power of attorneys, bankruptcies, and releasing of deceased account holder funds to an estate or beneficiary.

Key responsibilities

• Assists with department administrative duties such as opening, sorting, scanning, and distributing incoming electronic and postal mail, as well as creates cases for received requests to be tracked and managed electronically
• Answers routine inquiries over the phone from a variety of internal and external parties including customers, branches, agencies, and attorneys
• Review legal documentation provided and references any relevant laws and regulations to ensure requests and orders are processed in accordance with Bank and legal requirements
• Conducts any necessary research and processes account holds and releases, payments, invoices, and processing fees as appropriate; notifies customers by mail of actions taken and files responses, records, and payments with courts, agencies, and attorneys
• Ensure items are being processed and sent in to meet court dates and state regulations; documents case progress and keep scanned records of payments and request responses

Minimum qualifications and experience

• 1-2 years of legal documentation processing or banking experience; or a combination of directly related education and experience