Legal Assistant

Job Overview: Legal Assistant

Reporting to Directors in Legal Services, the Legal Assistant provides legal administrative support services to Solicitors in the Real Estate Law or Planning & Administrative Tribunal Law sections at the City of Toronto. This role involves comprehensive administrative and legal document management, ensuring efficient operation within the legal services division.

Major Responsibilities

• Transcribes Solicitor's notes and prepares a variety of legal documents including correspondence, legal opinions, factums, notices of motion, pleadings, affidavits, books of authority, and applications to Tribunals.
• Formats documents strictly according to prescribed legal requirements for Solicitor review.
• Formats various documents such as agreements, staff reports, and by-laws, leveraging precedents and Solicitor-provided information.
• Drafts letters for Solicitor’s signature and manages Docusign requirements.
• Organizes and maintains evidence, affidavits, witness statements, procedural orders, pleadings, and correspondence.
• Coordinates the service and filing of all legal documents.
• Arranges and coordinates meetings as needed.
• Establishes and maintains comprehensive correspondence, document, and case files using the corporate record management system.
• Ensures current standard form agreements, legislation, by-laws, and precedents are readily accessible.
• Manages the opening and closing of files.
• Enters Solicitor’s dockets into the timing and billing system and processes overtime forms.
• Records hearing and mediation dates in the group hearing calendar.
• Prepares and submits petty cash reimbursements, mileage claims, and continuing legal education course requests.

Key Qualifications

Your application must demonstrate proficiency in the following areas:

• Post-secondary education in a relevant professional discipline or an equivalent combination of education and experience related to legal administrative duties.
• Proven experience in preparing, processing, editing, and formatting diverse legal documents including agreements, notices of motion, pleadings, factums, presentations, and drafting correspondence for signature.
• Experience managing various filing systems, including handling large volumes of both hard copy and electronic information.

Required Skills & Abilities

• Proficiency with MS Office applications (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook), Docusign, iManage, and Adobe Pro.
• Exceptional organizational and time management skills, including acute attention to detail, ability to prioritize tasks, meet deadlines, and manage conflicting priorities.
• Outstanding interpersonal skills, enabling effective oral and written communication at all organizational levels, including the political sphere.
• Strong familiarity with various legal documents (e.g., notices of motion, affidavits, agreements) and their interrelationships.
• Solid working knowledge of legal terminology and phraseology.
• Understanding of office systems and procedures, with the capability to identify problems, inefficiencies, and develop effective solutions.
• Ability to exercise independent judgment, diplomacy, and discretion in handling legal matters.
• Capacity to perform duties with minimal supervision.
• Flexibility to work overtime when required.

Key skills/competency

• Legal Administration
• Document Management
• Legal Terminology
• MS Office Suite
• Docusign
• iManage
• Adobe Pro
• Time Management
• Organizational Skills
• Communication