Job Summary
The Legal Assistant (“LA”) reports to the Chief Legal Counsel (“CLC”) and Deputy Chief Legal Counsel (“DCLC”) and provides legal support to the attorneys in the Legal Department. The Legal Assistant performs a multitude of assignments, including logging labor relations issues and gathering relevant and legal documents for the attorneys. The Legal Assistant provides general administrative and clerical support such as maintaining schedules and managing deadlines, maintaining legal files and databases (whether electronic or hard copies), fielding phone calls, proofreading legal documents, and coordinating with other departments. In addition, the Legal Assistant will be expected to provide legal technical support such as project intake management, conducting legal research, drafting, and editing legal documents and correspondence, and assisting with discovery or Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”) projects. The Legal Assistant may perform other duties as assigned.

Essential Job Duties
• Assist with and respond to in-person, telephonic, electronic mail, or postal communications of legal counsel.
• Manage and coordinate legal counsels’ calendars, which includes, but is not limited to, scheduling appointments, updating changes, notifying legal counsel of all changes, and contacting requestors via phone or email to notify them of all pertinent information.
• Organize and maintain legal counsels’ paper and electronic files.
• Conduct legal research, draft legal and ethics-related documents and correspondence, and edit and format such documents.
• Contact and communicate with other governmental agencies, CCCO Deputy Clerks, Directors, and other staff on behalf of the legal department.
• Maintain and update the CCCO’s legal projects and litigation database, coordinate with the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office personnel as necessary, and determine statuses of pending litigation matters through file management systems of the Cook County Clerk of the Circuit Court, the Federal Courts’ Pacer system, and other court systems as needed.
• Assist legal counsels with elections and their duties related to the Cook County Electoral Board.
• Assist the CLC and DCLC with management and oversight of the CCCO’s FOIA program, including maintaining the FOIA project database, working with Departments to obtain responsive information, and respond to FOIA requesters in accordance with the
requirements of the Illinois Freedom of Information Act.
• Provide legal and administrative support relating to grievances and disciplinary hearings.
• Assist the Chief Ethics Officer with confidential investigations related to Policy Manual enforcement and ethics and compliance matters.
• Attend and participate in off-site CCCO events, including, but not limited to, conferences, legislative hearings, administrative hearings, court appearances, and other off-site CCCO events as assigned.
• Utilize industry standard software, i.e., Microsoft Office, Excel & Outlook, Adobe, and Lexis-Nexis to complete tasks.

Minimum Qualifications
• Bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university.
• Three (3) years of full-time experience as a paralegal, legal administrator, legal support coordinator, or legal assistant.

Preferred Qualifications
• Five (5) years of full-time experience as a paralegal, legal administrator, legal support coordinator, or legal assistant.
• Experience drafting correspondence and preparing documents responsive to internal and external communications.
• Experience with legal research and associated programs, e.g., LexisNexis, Westlaw, etc.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities
• Advanced knowledge of Microsoft Office Suite (specifically Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Publisher).
• Excellent verbal and written communications skills, and specifically the ability to communicate effectively with varying levels of CCCO staff, constituents, and stakeholders about legal and ethics-related matters.
• Ability to draft legal and ethics-related documents, including all manner of pleadings, legal memoranda, reports, and contracts.
• Ability to work independently or with very little supervision to prioritize, plan and organize projects and tasks involving multiple parties related to legal and ethics-related matters.
• Ability to maintain discretion and the utmost confidentiality with policy-related, legal, ethics, and other Administration-exclusive information.
• Excellent judgment with legal and ethics matters, demonstrating the ability to discern when issues must be escalated to a higher level of scrutiny, including review by an attorney.

• Well-organized and skilled with scheduling, file organization, and project management.
• Ability and willingness to work flexible hours, including, but not limited to, evenings and weekends.
• Ability to demonstrate keen attention to detail, accuracy, and precision.

https://www.cookcountyil.gov/service-groups/jobs-and-employment