Litigation Legal Assistant

Job Description

Legal Assistant – Litigation (Chicago) | Taft Infrastructure Advisors

The Tone:
This is a Legal Assistant role at Taft Infrastructure Advisors, located in Chicago, IL. Taft is a legal services provider that supports clients through administrative and legal support functions. This role is crucial for delivering exceptional service by providing essential administrative assistance to attorneys and paralegals. The firm operates under a “Client First” philosophy, ensuring all efforts contribute to outstanding client experiences.

The TL;DR
• Role: Legal Assistant
• Type: Full-time
• Location: In-person, Chicago, IL
• Pay: $60000–$82000 yearly
• Team: Supports Litigation attorneys and paralegals within the Chicago office.
• Mission: Serves clients by providing essential administrative support to attorneys and paralegals.
• Tech Stack: Microsoft Office, Kofax/Nuance, InTapp, LMS+, iManage, word processing systems, document management systems.

What You’ll Actually Do
• Administrative Support: Provides proactive administrative assistance to Litigation attorneys and paralegals, including managing calendars, scheduling meetings, transcribing dictation, and assisting in other practice areas as needed.
• Document Preparation: Drafts, prepares, reviews, edits, and formats a variety of legal documents, correspondence, pleadings, and discovery materials according to firm standards.
• Case Management: Proactively monitors deadlines, docket entries, and case status, coordinating and scheduling depositions, conference calls, and sending reminders.
• Information Governance: Manages client contacts, emails, and print documents, processes mail, and creates, maintains, and retires files in accordance with Taft’s Information Governance Policy.
• Court Interaction & Filing: Interacts professionally with court personnel to obtain and provide data, answers questions, and electronically files documents with various courts.

The Must-Haves
• Background: Experienced professional with at least five years in litigation legal assisting, possessing in-depth knowledge of the litigation process and general court operations, and the ability to read, understand, and interpret complex legal documents like pleadings.
• Experience: 5+ years of litigation legal assisting experience obtained in a law firm or other legal setting, demonstrating required proficiency in Microsoft Office programs, practical experience with electronic court filing, and a track record of organizing and saving large volumes of documents to various document management systems.
• Skills: Strong verbal and written communication skills; the ability to reason and apply common sense to resolve problems and follow instructions; outstanding client service orientation; a sense of urgency in responding to requests; and keen attention to detail.
• Bonus: Preferred proficiency with specialized legal software such as Kofax/Nuance, InTapp, LMS+, or iManage, and education beyond high school or relevant legal industry coursework.