Legal Assistant

Department: Justice

Location: TRURO

Type of Employment: Term

Union Status: NSGEU - NSPG

Closing Date: 31-Mar-24 (Applications are accepted until 11:59 PM Atlantic Time)

About Us

The Legal Services Division is the government's law firm, providing a full range of legal advice and services to support government operations and help government achieve its corporate priorities. With a staff of more than 160 lawyers, paralegals, researchers and administrative professionals, the Division is one of the largest law offices in the Province.

For more information on the Department of Justice Legal Services please visit our website: https://novascotia.ca/just/Legal_Services/

About Our Opportunity

Under general supervision from the Legal Services Supervisor, as the Legal Assistant you will provide high quality, specialized legal administrative assistance, and file management support under the direction of two or more lawyers. You will utilize strong secretarial/administrative skills, knowledge of legal terminology and specialized procedures pertaining to certain areas of law. You will perform effectively under the pressures and strain of inflexible deadlines in a highly confidential office setting under minimal supervision.

You will be responsible for creating, tracking, and managing litigation files. The opportunity requires you to be able to adapt to shifting priorities, balance your efforts between providing legal assistance and administrative support, respond in a timely and appropriate manner to inquiries and to be organized in your day to day file management.

Primary Accountabilities

Legal Assistance / Support to Lawyers

• Provide specialized legal assistance for lawyers who provide legal advice/litigation services to government departments and various agencies, boards, and commissions
• Ensure documents assigned by a lawyer are prepared, filed, and/or served within prescribed or assigned deadlines
• Query and retrieve legal case law, precedent materials/documents, or other relevant information as identified by a lawyer

Secretarial / Administrative Support

• Prepare correspondence, presentations, and documents of a legal and non-legal matter
• Respond to inquiries from internal and external clients and the public
• Schedule appointments and maintains lawyers’ calendar and schedule and book rooms, court reporters, travel, discoveries, witnesses, interpreters, case conferences
• Books travel and related accommodations when necessary
• Works in a team environment, providing coverage to assistants on their team and other teams as assigned by the Legal Services Supervisor

Responding to Inquiries and File Management

• Acts as a point of contact to ensure clients have the appropriate information including file updates, process or procedural changes, Division updates and other general matters
• Manages files in the Central Registry filing system, electronic shared directory and in the file/document management databases
• Organize all hard copy and electronic files including filing of documents, data entry and the use of the STAR/STOR classification system
• Ensures that files/filing is up to date and brought forward for review by lawyers as required

Qualifications and Experience

As our successful candidate, you will possess a certificate/diploma from a Legal Assistant or Paralegal program and 3 years of experience in a legal practice or an acceptable combination of education/training and experience.

You have experience and competency in an automated environment, with proficient and accurate typing, dicta typing, MS Word, and data entry skills. You have knowledge of legal terminology, procedures, and documentation, as well as excellent research, analytical and organizational skills. Your excellent communication skills, both written and oral, give you the ability to deal with clients, lawyers and co-workers in a fair, caring, and impartial manner communicating in a clear and concise manner while maintaining confidentiality and impartiality.

Assets include:

• Knowledge of the various levels of Court
• Knowledge of Civil Procedure Rules
• Knowledge of provincial government departments and agencies
• Experience utilizing STAR/STOR record classification system, or other file management systems

We will assess the above qualifications using one or more of the following tools: written examination, standardized tests, oral presentations, interview(s), and reference checks.

Equivalency

Include, but not limited to:

- at least 5 years of legal support experience.

Applicants relying on education and experience equivalencies must demonstrate such equivalencies in their application.

Benefits

Based on the employment status and union agreement, the Government of Nova Scotia offers its employees a wide range of benefits such as Health, Dental, Life Insurance, Pension, General Illness (Short and Long Term), Vacation and Employee and Family Assistance Programs. Click here to learn more about our various benefits offerings and eligibility criteria.

Working Conditions

• May be required to work overtime on occasion
• Typically located in comfortable office environment
• Considerable periods of time sitting at desk interspersed with movement to and from printers, file storage areas or to deposit/retrieve mail
• At times required to bend and lift file boxes from storage shelving and transport to review area.
• Regular need to read and analyze information and significant time focusing on a computer monitor
• Must balance multiple priorities and the demand for accuracy and attention to detail in the preparation of legal documents requires acute concentration and may increase physical and mental stress
• The nature of the work environment may bring staff into contact with individuals who are verbally abusive and physically threatening, exposure to disturbing images or content in some files may occur

Additional Information

This competition is to fill two (2) Term positions in the Truro Office