The Advocacy Assistant provides critical support to MLSA's Director of Advocacy by assisting with administrative tasks, providing legal assistant support work, and providing support to MLSA's overall strategic advocacy work. The Advocacy Assistant will support the diverse civil legal casework of MLSA's Director of Advocacy and provide general support to both the Director of Advocacy and other MLSA attorney staff as needed. The Advocacy Assistant also provides assistance with clients applying for services with MLSA and aids as the primary client point of contact for MLSA's Helena office.
- Greet and assist walk-in applicants as needed and manage the front office with the support of an AmeriCorps member.
- Coordinate with intake staff to gather relevant information from applicants and clients.
- Communicate in a timely manner with applicants and clients to obtain information as needed.
- Provide administrative support for the Director of Advocacy including help with scheduling, file maintenance, and compliance tasks.
- Draft correspondence and simple pleadings or use appropriate MLSA form letters as directed by the Director of Advocacy.
- File pleadings at local courts and examine and retrieve relevant court documents from the courthouse file and other documents as needed or requested.
- Assist with case file management including organizing and maintaining electronic and paper files, entering notations as appropriate, and archiving/destroying closed case files pursuant to MLSA policy.
- Participate in community outreach and program initiatives as appropriate, including giving community presentations.
- Other duties as assigned by the Deputy Director and Director of Advocacy.
- Commitment to addressing the civil legal needs of Montanans living in poverty.
- Paralegal, Associates Degree or 2 years of experience, preferred.
- Excellent oral and written communication skills.
- Ability to work independently with a high degree of accuracy and attention to detail.
- Ability and willingness to establish and maintain effective relationships with clients, the public, judges, court personnel and the bar.
- Ability to travel, occasionally overnight.
- A commitment to providing high quality legal assistance to a diverse population of eligible clientele in Montana.
- Ability and willingness to work cooperatively and collegially within a decentralized statewide law firm.
- Proficient at the use of technology, including, but not limited to, word processing, spreadsheets, internet-based programs and computer-based legal research.
- Willingness to learn and further develop technology skills and abilities.
- Ability to interact well with the public.
The successful candidate will demonstrate an interest in working with vulnerable populations and a passion for social justice work.
$35,000/year DOE. MLSA offers an attractive benefits package, including health, dental, vision and life insurance, retirement and educational loan repayment assistance.
Apply via https://montanalegalservices.bamboohr.com/jobs/view.php?id=21 or by emailing resume, cover letter and references to [email protected].
MLSA is an equal opportunity employer and we consider the diversity of our staff to be vital to our organization's success. We strongly encourage and welcome people of all cultures, races, educational backgrounds, life experiences, socio-economic classes, sexual orientations, ages, genders and physical abilities to apply.