County of Alameda

DESCRIPTION

Under general direction, to plan, organize and supervise the work of Civil Legal Secretaries and Lead Civil Legal Secretaries in the Office of the County Counsel and clerical staff performing a variety of responsible legal clerical functions, requiring a broad knowledge of civil legal terminology, civil legal processes and civil legal secretarial duties; and performing other assigned duties as required.


DISTINGUISHING FEATURES

This class serves as a first line supervisor with the responsibility for the planning and supervision of specialized legal clerical units in support of attorneys. This class differs from the class of Civil Legal Secretary in that the latter serves only to provide civil legal secretarial work to attorneys and does not supervise staff.

EXAMPLES OF DUTIES

NOTE: The following are the duties performed by employees in this classification. However, employees may perform other related duties at an equivalent level. Each individual in the classification does not necessarily perform all duties listed.

1. Interviews, hires, supervises, trains, evaluates and disciplines staff who are engaged in the preparation, examining, filing, recording or issuing of a wide variety of documents pertaining to civil legal transactions or court processes.

2. Makes assignments, established work priorities and may participate in the work of civil legal secretarial and clerical staff.

3. Examines civil legal documents for accuracy, format, content and completeness.

4. Studies changes in civil law affecting office practices and implements procedural changes as required.

5. Composes correspondence related to civil court matters.

6. Assists as backup to Civil Legal Secretaries in direct support of County attorneys as needed.

7. Prepares and maintains office procedure manuals.

8. Prepares statistical reports.

9. Consults on and recommends policies and procedures as related to clerical processing and functions.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

Either I

The equivalent of three years of full-time experience in the class of Civil Legal Secretary in the Office of the County Counsel in the Alameda County classified service. (Non-classified includes District Attorney's Office, Hospital Authority, and the Consolidated Courts.)

OR II

The equivalent of four years of full-time experience performing the duties of a civil legal secretary for attorneys or judges in a legal environment, three years of which must have been equivalent to the Lead Civil Legal Secretary in the Office of the County Counsel and at least one year of which must have been in a supervisory role over other Civil Legal Secretaries.

NOTE: The Civil Service Commission may modify the above Minimum Qualifications in the announcement of an examination.

KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS

NOTE: The level and scope of the following knowledge and abilities are related to duties listed under the "Examples of Duties" section of this specification.

Knowledge of:

• Principles of supervision and training.
• Civil law office work, legal process forms, procedures and terminology.
• Personnel procedures and practices.
• Civil law court filing and calendar procedures and functions.
• Basic principles of office organization and administration.
• Statutes pertaining to Civil law court procedures and the filing of a wide variety of civil legal documents and transactions.

Ability to:

• Prioritize, plan, organize, direct and assign work.
• Supervise, train, evaluate and discipline a civil legal secretarial and clerical staff.
• Review and examine a wide variety of civil legal documents for accuracy and compliance with civil legal procedures and formats.
• Interpret and apply specific civil procedural laws, rules and policies.
• Prepare civil legal documents and statistical reports.
• Establish and maintain effective working relationships.
• Type with speed and accuracy.

CLASS SPEC HISTORY

BG:pf 1/16/03
Newspecs: 1244.doc
Csc Date: 9/17/2003