Legal Assistant

Taft is currently seeking a Litigation/Domestic Relations Legal Assistant to join our team in our Detroit (Southfield) office.

We are seeking a Litigation/Domestic Relations Legal Assistant with 3+ years’ experience to support our Southfield office. A Legal Assistant serves clients by providing administrative support to attorneys and paralegals.  All Taft employees operate under a “Client First” philosophy—in all things, we seek to provide exceptional services to our clients. 

Duties and Responsibilities:

• Exhibits outstanding client service orientation in greeting guests, responding to work requests, scheduling meetings, and conducting telephone conferences.
• Provides proactive administrative support for Litigation attorneys and paralegals. May assist in other practice areas, as needed.
• Displays strong attention to detail.
• Maintains strict confidentiality of matters and information.
• Responds to requests with a sense of urgency and effectively prioritizes work.
• Interacts with court personnel, attorneys and staff in a professional manner to obtain and provide data, answer questions, and resolve problems.
• Prepares and reviews letters and memoranda according to Firm standards using word processing and document management systems.
• Proactively monitors deadlines.
• Processes requests for payment and reimbursements.
• Creates, maintains and retires files in accordance with Taft’s Information Governance Policy.
• Assists in managing client contacts, emails, and print documents as well as processing mail.
• Clearly communicates in a concise, professional manner.
• Transcribes dictation.
• eFile in various courts, including circuit, federal and bankruptcy courts.
• Drafts documents and filings.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

• Proficient in the use of Microsoft Office programs is required.
• Proficiency with Kofax/Nuance, InTapp, LMS+, iManage, Bighand or those software programs’ counterparts strongly preferred.
• Knowledge of the litigation process and general court operations.
• Ability to read and identify pleadings and other documents related to a litigation matter. 
• Ability to communicate effectively with, and follow instructions from, diverse individuals and to provide information with courtesy and tact in person, over the telephone and in writing.
• Ability to reason and apply common sense understanding to resolve problems and carry out instructions furnished verbally or in writing.
• Ability to add, subtract, multiply and divide and perform arithmetic functions normally needed to calculate dates.
• Ability to work under a high level of competency to perform the essential duties of the position.  Ability to occasionally work more than 40 hours per week. 

Education and Experience:

• 3+ years’ Litigation legal assisting experience in a law firm or other legal setting.
• Education beyond high school or coursework related to the legal industry preferred.
• Ability to read, understand and interpret complex documents such as pleadings and other documents related to a litigation matter.

Taft is an Equal Opportunity Employer. The information in this posting presents general duties, tasks, and responsibilities but is not intended to be an exhaustive listing. Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP participates in E-VERIFY.