Paralegal – Criminal Law and Victim Services Support

Job Description

Paralegal/Victim Witness Assistant | Centre County Government

The Tone:
This is a Paralegal/Victim Witness Assistant position at Centre County Government, located in Bellefonte, PA, US. Centre County Government is a public sector entity dedicated to serving its community through various legal and administrative functions. This role is crucial for supporting legal proceedings, ensuring the efficient flow of court-related documentation, and providing vital assistance to victims and witnesses throughout the legal process.

The TL;DR
• Role: Paralegal/Victim Witness Assistant
• Location: In-person, Bellefonte, PA, US

• Mission: To provide comprehensive legal, administrative, and victim witness support, ensuring accuracy in documentation and efficiency in court processes.
• Tech Stack: Prosecutors Management System, victim witness database, Forensic Rape database

What You’ll Actually Do
• Document Preparation & Drafting: Draft a variety of legal documents, including form motions, pleadings, briefs, legal opinions, memos, and subpoenas, often transcribing dictation and ensuring accuracy for court proceedings.
• Legal Research & Records Management: Independently gather relevant facts and data, summarize legal documents, and perform comprehensive legal and record research, while meticulously maintaining legal files and implementing filing and tracking systems for court cases, appeals, invoices, and billings.
• Court Process & Docketing: Log opinions, orders, and other court decisions, performing necessary docketing, processing legal forms to implement court orders and proceedings, and handling dismissal and expungement documents, including attending hearings to record dispositions.
• Victim Witness Advocacy Support: Provide direct assistance to victim witness advocates by contacting victims, requesting restitution, attending court hearings to ensure restitution is ordered, maintaining the victim witness database, entering data into the Prosecutors Management System, preparing victim/witness folders, and acquiring victim information from law enforcement.
• Administrative & Public Interaction: Greet and assist the general public with paperwork and qualifying processes, open and respond to routine mail, manage telephone calls, interact with clients, the public, and internal departments, and assist attorneys with the preparation of hearings and trial information while also notarizing criminal documents and compiling data for departmental reports.

The Must-Haves
• Background: Foundational understanding of legal procedures, court systems, and victim advocacy principles, allowing for independent work in fact-gathering, document coordination, and support roles.
• Experience: Proven ability in drafting and preparing various legal documents, conducting legal and record research, maintaining complex filing and tracking systems, and accurately transcribing dictation, along with demonstrated experience in data entry and management, particularly with legal databases like a Prosecutors Management System or victim witness databases.
• Skills: Strong aptitude for meticulous detail in checking legal forms, docketing, and processing court documents, complemented by excellent communication skills for interacting with the public, clients, and internal departments, alongside robust organizational abilities for managing departmental files and assisting with hearing and trial preparations.