Legal Administrative Float at Barnes in Chicago, IL

Summary: Under the direct supervision of the Office Administrator, the Float Legal Administrative Assistant performs a variety of secretarial duties for attorney(s) or other timekeepers to whom assigned, according to established policies and procedures. Maintains positive contact with clients, attorneys and staff and observes confidentiality of client matters. Provide support to three or four Litigation attorneys in the Litigation Department as a job share assignment. Key Responsibilities: - Operates a computer and other standard office equipment; transcribes dictation as needed. - Prepares correspondence, memoranda and other legal documents from written and oral drafts; drafts standard correspondence and other documents. - Screens telephone calls and records messages according to procedures of the assigned desk. - Handles incoming mail according to secretarial checklist. Ensures that outgoing mail is timely delivered. If necessary, routes mail to specific delivery service and follows up on timely delivery. - Opens new files, requests conflict of interest checks with file room records, and maintains and closes files as requested. - Handling attorney expenses. - Makes appointments for attorney(s), and adds to calendars, as requested. - Processes bills and completes attorney or timekeeper diary, as requested. - Performs overload typing, filing, photocopying, and receptionist relief as time permits and as requested. - Performs legal Litigation duties, as required. - Other duties as assigned. - The employee must be able to perform all essential job duties and responsibilities of this position satisfactorily and as outlined, with or without reasonable accommodations. Reasonable accommodation requests may be accommodated, absent undue firm hardship. Qualifications: - Ability to read and write in order to proof and perform minor editing (e.g., punctuation, grammar, spelling) of routine law office correspondence and patent case matters. Perform non-complex arithmetic calculations when verifying calculations on forms and documents; maintain records and filing systems at a level normally acquired through completion of high school or equivalent. - Approximately one to two years on-the-job experience in Litigation legal work is helpful in order to gain an understanding of law office policies and procedures and produce accurate legal documents with minimal supervision. - Ability to transcribe legal documents, correspondence and reports from rough draft or dictation. - Ability to organize, prioritize and complete numerous tasks under time constraints. - Ability to proofread typed material for grammatical, typographical and spelling errors. - Interpersonal skills necessary to communicate with tact and courtesy with a diverse group of clients, attorneys and staff. - Ability to occasionally exert a high level of mental effort and strain while producing a high volume of information and performing other essential duties. - Work occasionally requires more than 40 hours per week to perform the essential duties of the position; may require irregular hours. This job description is intended to describe the general requirements of this position. As such, it is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of job duties or responsibilities required in this job. Subject to firm needs, duties and responsibilities of this position may change at any time, on a temporary or permanent basis, and with or without notice. Working Conditions: - Normal law office environment with little exposure to excessive noise, dust, temperature and the like. The above is intended to describe the general content of and requirements for the performance of this job. It is not to be construed as an exhaustive statement of essential functions, responsibilities or requirements. Equal Employment and Opportunity Statement: Barnes & Thornburg is committed to equal employment opportunity in both principle and as a matter of policy. We will recruit, hire, train, promote, compensate and provide benefits to all applicants and employees without regard to ancestry, sex, race, color, ethnicity, national origin, gender, age, religion, religious creed, mental and/or physical disability, medical condition, military and/or veteran’s status, genetic information, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity and/or expression, or any other basis protected by applicable federal, state and local laws. This policy applies to all recruiting, hiring, promotions, upgrades, layoffs, compensation, benefits, terminations and all other privileges, terms and conditions of employment. The firm complies fully with all federal, state and local equal employment opportunity laws.