Legal Specialist – Paralegal Services

Job Description

Legal Specialist – Paralegal | The City University of New York

The Tone:
This is a professional role at The CUNY School of Medicine, located in New York, NY. The CUNY School of Medicine is the sole medical school in the City University of New York system and Manhattan’s only public medical school. It is dedicated to recruiting diverse students, particularly those underrepresented in medicine, to train culturally competent health professionals for medically underserved communities. This role provides essential administrative and legal research support to the Legal Department on various employment law, contractual, policy, compliance, and labor relations matters, ensuring the institution’s legal operations are managed effectively.

The TL;DR
• Role: Professional
• Type: Full-time
• Location: In-person, New York, NY
• Pay: $82663–$98995 yearly
• Team: Reports to the Chief Campus Counsel & Labor Designee
• Mission: This person ensures legal compliance and supports the effective management of legal matters for the CUNY School of Medicine and its affiliated entities.
• Tech Stack: Lexis Nexis Uni, Westlaw, Zoom, MS Teams, Microsoft 365, Workshare Compare, Clearwell

What You’ll Actually Do
• Legal Matter Management: Process and track various legal matters, ensuring compliance with statutory deadlines and providing regular updates to legal counsel.
• FOIL Request Response: Manage Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) requests by analyzing, compiling, organizing, redacting, and disclosing responsive records in a timely manner.
• Litigation Support: Prepare for arbitrations, litigation, hearings, and other proceedings through comprehensive legal research and the drafting of opinions, reports, and summaries.
• Confidential Information Handling: Maintain the security of highly confidential information and assist with processing contracts, affiliation agreements, litigation records, and disciplinary actions.
• Data and File Management: Compile and analyze legal data pertinent to cases, prepare summaries, and support the development and maintenance of effective file management systems.

The Must-Haves
• Background: Bachelor’s Degree.
• Experience: Four years’ related experience is required. Five years’ of experience in a law firm or in-house legal department as an officially designated paralegal is preferred, along with experience conducting investigations.
• Skills: Demonstrated ability in writing, accuracy, attention to detail, interpersonal communication, and collaboration. Strong personal organization and work habits are essential, as is proficiency in legal software (Westlaw, Lexis) and administrative tools (Zoom, MS Teams, Microsoft 365).
• Bonus: Graduate degree or J.D.; knowledge of trauma-informed best practices; ability to manage multiple projects simultaneously and work effectively in a diverse academic medical environment; strong understanding of academic medicine culture and the ability to address faculty concerns; experience working with underrepresented, low-income, and marginalized students in health-related or STEM fields; experience with quality curriculum development and assessment principles related to healthcare disparities; advanced understanding of diversity in academic medicine and the impact of educational and healthcare disparities.