Legal Industry Job
Descriptions & Practice Areas
Adams & Martin Group Positions
*Use the AMG Salary Guide for pay ranges per position, or ask your NLM.
Legal Secretaries
Litigation Secretary
Litigation Secretaries are very busy people and are great at multi-tasking. They must be very
knowledgeable with all aspects of litigation from the beginning to the end of the case – (i.e., the
litigation timeline - the discovery process, trial preparation, possible settlements, etc.) Must be
knowledgeable with State and Federal Court rules, filing procedures and calendar deadlines;
Experience with Appellate and/or Bankruptcy filings is always a plus since both of these practice
areas are very specialized.
In mid-sized to larger firms, they must be knowledgeable with how and when to generate Table of
Contents and Table of Authorities and how to use Styles. Must understand the importance of
formatting pleadings correctly for each court so that the documents they file with the court do not
get “rejected” by the court. Rejection of a court document may not only ruin the case for the firm
but may also cost the secretary her job (hence, the necessary knowledge of court rules and
procedures)!
Calendar management is crucial for the litigation secretary as he/she needs to stay on top of
deadlines/cut-offs to file and serve documents. He/she will likely need to remind his/her attorney
constantly of upcoming deadlines. Litigation is very fast paced!
Common questions to ask prospective candidates when interviewing/screening:
Did you do e-filing with the State and/or Federal courts (called ECMF)? How many attorneys
did you support (often referred to as the “ratio”, e.g. a 4:1 ratio is four attorneys to one
secretary). How many Partners and/or Associates did they support? What practice areas did
you work in? What document management software did they work with (Casemap, Docsopen,
Legal Solutions are common)? If coming from a small to mid-sized firm, did they do manual
litigation calendaring for their attorneys (counting the days until documents/deadlines due) or
did they rely on a docketing or calendaring clerk to do it for the firm? Did they do document
production, if so, can they format ToC’s and ToA’s and Styles? Can they use Legal MacPac or
Macros? What sort of documents did they generally produce? Did they enter their attorneys’
time? Did they do any legal research? If a smaller firm, did they do their own legal filing?
Handle any office coordination tasks?
Corporate Legal Secretary or Real Estate Legal Secretary
Must be computer literate, redlining, etc., skilled at revising multiple documents and great multitasking abilities; The Corporate Legal Secretary desk is not as intense as the litigation secretary
desk but it definitely needs someone with sharp computer skills. If Real Estate was their focus,
they handle leases, AIRS forms, purchase & sale agreements. Most Corporate Legal Secretaries
use DeltaView software for redlining purposes (redlining=editing and revising documents);
Should be skilled with MS Word/Styles.
Corporate Legal Secretaries focus on mergers and acquisitions for public and private companies,
corporate transactions, securities matters, securities regulation merger and acquisition
transactions, equity and debt financing, corporate governance and operational matters, in
addition to intellectual property for entertainment and entertainment-related fields; and; familiar
with venture capital, bridge financing state and federal securities matters. Should be
knowledgeable with UCC filings. Will also coordinate travel arrangements, meetings, take the
minutes at Board of Directors meetings, etc.
Common questions to ask prospective candidates when interviewing/screening:
How many attorneys/executives did you support (attys if law firm, execs and attys if in-house)?
What software did you use? Did you do document production and redlining? Experience in
redlining in Deltaview or another software? What sorts of documents did you handle most
frequently? If Real Estate was their focus, did they handle lease agreements, purchase & sale
agreements and/or AIRS forms?
Word Processor
The Word Processor in a law firm is the Legal Secretary’s saving grace in deadline driven
environments! The Word Processor is any legal secretary’s right hand person!
Needless to say, this person must be very computer savvy, detail oriented, possess excellent
proofreading skill and should understand the sense of urgency in revising/finalizing documents
for the secretaries/attorneys. Must be knowledgeable with MS Word, WordPerfect, Styles,
Redlining and dictation/transcription machines.
Must be very knowledgeable with formatting pleadings and should know how to generate Table of
Contents and Authorities (hereinafter “TOC/TOA”) using MS Word and/or WordPerfect.
(TOC/TOAs must never be generated “manually” as this will completely mess up the document
when revisions occur and it’s truly a nightmare! Anyone who says they generate TOC/TOAs
manually is clearly not computer literate - this should be a red flag for the recruiter.)
Common questions to ask prospective candidates when interviewing/screening:
What versions of Word are you accustomed to working in? WordPerfect? Can you format ToC’s
or ToA’s using macros? Can you format Styles? Have you used Legal MacPac? Redlining
experience? *In larger firms, they have multiple Word Processing shifts to cover different offices.
E.G. Gibson Dunn and Paul Hastings have graveyard, swing shifts etc. Important to ask
candidates their openness to various shifts.
Paralegals
Litigation Paralegal
Litigation Paralegals are very hands-on with their work. Should be familiar with all aspects of
litigation, the discovery process (including subpoena preparation and propounding and
responding to discovery), trial preparation procedures (including trial binders, preparing
witnesses, etc.) Must have Summation and/or Concordance experience!!!
Must be very organized, detailed oriented, logical thinker, multi-tasker , have strong computer
skills in Word, Excel, Summation, Access and document management databases , and trial
preparation experience. Four year degree and /or ABA paralegal certificate required (Business
and Professions Code 6450). *Three phases for litigation: 1) discovery/pre-trial 2) trial 3) posttrial.
Common questions to ask prospective candidates when interviewing/screening:
Any trial experience? Have you only done trial prep or have you attended trial? If so, how
many? What sorts of trials? Have you done drafting? Legal research? Discovery? Any case
management software experience (e.g. in Concordance or Summation)? Any litigation support
technology experience (e.g. in Livenote, Sanction, Ipro, Opticon etc.)
Corporate Paralegal
Corporate Paralegals focus on legal documents related to articles of incorporation and bylaws,
stock certificates and other securities, UCC financing statements, closing documents for private
transactions, stockholder annual meeting, corporate governance related matters for subsidiary
board and stockholder, SEC registration statements (if public corporation) and periodic reports,
subsidiary corporate minute books and corporate files, conduct legal research on state and federal
law re corporations, LLC’s and securities law, etc.
Corporate paralegals within law firms may do slightly different tasks than those within
corporations but generally their skill set is transferable. Publicly traded corporations (e.g. Mattel)
often require experience filing with the SEC. SEC filings often go by letters and numbers, e.g.
Forms 4, 5, 6, D etc.
Common questions to ask prospective candidates when interviewing/screening:
Any familiarity with SEC forms? If so, which? Drafting contracts? Assembling Corporate
Minute Books?
Contracts Administrator
Often shared skill set with Corporate Paralegals, but Contracts Administrators generally do just
that, focus largely on Contracts. They will draft, revise and edit contracts and will also be
responsible to maintain a contracts database on behalf of the corporation. Contracts can be
vendor agreements, lease agreements, talent contracts, client agreements etc. (plus a number of
other kinds). These types of positions are often found within entertainment firms or companies.
Common questions to ask prospective candidates when interviewing/screening:
Have you drafted contracts? Maintained a contracts database? If so, within what software?
Redlining experience (in Deltaview or another program)? What type of contracts have you
handled?
Entertainment Paralegal
Duties vary depending on the firm’s specialization in the entertainment field. For the most part
the Entertainment Paralegal will focus on transactional entertainment, including theatrical
motion pictures, television, animation, licensing, software development, new media and
advertising and promotions. Paralegal will take the lead under the supervision of attorneys to
negotiate and document development and production agreements and will assist with respect to
financing, distribution, licensing and other transactions. Paralegal will create and maintain chain
of title and transaction notebooks, check proposed credits, and interact with unions and guilds.
Common questions to ask prospective candidates when interviewing/screening:
Familiarity with UCC searches, music licensing and the SAG, DGA and WGA agreements is
always a plus.
Real Estate Paralegal
Real Estate Paralegals duties will include review and analysis of title reports, underlying
documents and surveys in connection with acquisitions, real estate finance transactions; conduct
negotiations with title companies and surveyors re same; review and negotiate title insurance
policies; prepare and file UCC Financing Statements in multiple jurisdictions; review and analysis
of due diligence searches in connection with finance transactions; preparation of entity formation
and authority documents, review and analysis of same; draft and review trust deeds, conveyance
documents; bills of sale, assignments of leases, assignments of purchase agreements,
amendments to purchase agreements, guaranties, and escrow instructions; review ground leases
in connection with finance transactions; revise loan documents; conduct corporate due diligence
and coordinate closings.
Common questions to ask prospective candidates when interviewing/screening:
Experience with Title and Survey, Closing documents, AIRS forms.
Jr. Paralegal
This is a position that typically does require 1-2 years experience within a law firm. Can be
synonymous with Case Asst. Pulling cases from Westlaw, putting together hearing binders,
conducting basic legal research, prepare and serve deposition notices and subpoenas, draft
requests for admissions and productions, digest and analyze responses for discovery requests,
prepare summaries of deposition transcripts, oversea doc production, and organize trial
exhibits/binders/notebooks.
Common questions to ask prospective candidates when interviewing/screening:
Any work with discovery? Depo notices/subpoenas? Did you support senior paralegals or
attorneys? Legal research experience? If so, in Lexis or Westlaw (or both)? Did you do any Bates
stamping?
Case Assistant
The Case Assistant is a perfect position for someone who just obtained their paralegal certificate
and is eager to get their foot in the door within a law firm. It’s a very junior position. Duties will
likely include researching documents, preparing and organizing document production, including
depositions and trial exhibits, distributing case materials to the litigation team, input and retrieval
of information from document databases and assisting with trial preparation, i.e., witness/trial
exhibits, key documents, bates labeling, filing, fed-ex-ing etc.; perform specially assigned projects
as needed.
Common questions to ask prospective candidates when interviewing/screening:
Any work with discovery? Depo notices/subpoenas? Did you support senior paralegals or
attorneys? Legal research experience? If so, in Lexis or Westlaw (or both)? Did you do any Bates
stamping?
Office Support
Document Clerk
Assists attorneys, paralegal and secretaries with bates labeling, production of documents,
redaction of documents, sorting through files, etc.
Common questions to ask prospective candidates when interviewing/screening:
Did you do legal filing? Any legal research experience? If so, in Lexis or Westlaw (or both)? Did
you do any Bates stamping? Any particular software for document/records management?
Docket/Calendar Clerk
Some law firms may use docket clerks; basically this person is responsible for all the firm-wide
calendaring (deadlines, discovery cut-off dates, motion cut-off dates, response due dates, trial
schedules, etc.) Should be proficient with calendaring software programs such as ProLaw,
Compulaw etc.
Common questions to ask prospective candidates when interviewing/screening:
Were you in charge of all of the litigation calendaring for the firm? Are you familiar with
litigation deadlines? What docketing software did you use?
Records/File Clerk
The Records/File clerk is responsible for file maintenance and management. He/she is the go-to
person when an attorney, paralegal or legal secretary needs to locate a document (usually on a
rush basis). Hence, this person needs to be on top of the case files and be very organized as he/she
must be able to locate documents that are usually misplaced by others. Additional duties include
closing and preparing files for offsite storage, index litigation files (i.e., must know the difference
between a pleading and a discovery document), inputting and retrieval of information from
document databases. Often performs conflict checks on new matter memos to be opened and
creates new file folders for attorneys and secretaries.
Common questions to ask prospective candidates when interviewing/screening:
Did you do legal filing? Did you do any Bates stamping? Any particular software for
document/records management? Did you also do offsite storage? Reception/office services
coverage?
Offices Services Clerk
Responsible for copying, faxing, scanning, sorting of documents and distributing mail, ordering
supplies, etc. Often covers reception. Handles conference room scheduling.
Common questions to ask prospective candidates when interviewing/screening:
Did you handle reception coverage? Scanning and copying (if so, what software/machines
used)?
Receptionist (Legal)
Receptionist is the director of first impressions so law firm receptionists are generally extremely
well-spoken and professional. They can also be tasked with admin tasks while at the front desk
(e.g. bates labeling, billing etc.) Assist with administrative duties in addition to being extremely
professional on the phones. Can pinch hit in Office Services (setting up conference rooms etc.).
Switchboard experience a plus (based upon firm size). Must have the ability to screen phone calls
and act as “Gatekeeper” for busy attys and administrators.
Common questions to ask prospective candidates when interviewing/screening:
How many lines did you field? Was it a switchboard or multi-line phone? Do you remember the
type of phone? Did you assist with records department or office services?
Attorneys
*NOTE: Attorney positions are not amongst our primary focus or “pick 6” job titles
and should only be recruited for under special circumstances and upon approval
by your NLM.
Project or Contract Attorneys
Project attorneys for the most part are needed to conduct extensive document review of complex
cases; the review may be of actual physical files/documents and/or online research using various
legal software programs such as Ringtail, Lexis Nexis, Westlaw, etc.
Common questions to ask prospective candidates when interviewing/screening:
What software packages did you use for electronic doc review? How many documents did you
review per day? How large-scale (e.g. # of documents) were the projects you were on?
Associate Attorneys
Must be active member with California Bar (we should always check for their status on the CA bar
website) and will deal with certain practice areas. Are judged by level of experience vis a vis
number of years in practice (e.g. someone who passed the bar in 2007 would likely be considered
a 5th year in 2012 based upon whether they worked that full duration after passing the bar).
Associates will commonly support Partners and depending upon the size of the firm and practice
area, can get more deposition and trial experience in some firms vs. others.
Common questions to ask prospective candidates when interviewing/screening:
What practice areas did you focus on? How many depositions have you taken/defended? Any
first chair depo experience, second chair? Have they gone to trial? If so, 1 st or second chair?
Have they argued motions in court? How much drafting experience do you have? Overall, how
much substantive law and motion experience do you have? The questions you ask will relate to
their years’ of experience and resume. It is not wise to attempt to recruit attorneys early in your
training as a lot of your experience with legal recruiting first comes from recruiting support
staff and eventually, to possibly recruit attorneys.
Common Practice Areas
To follow is a list of the most common practice areas we receive orders for.
There are three major categories of law, Litigation, Transactional and Criminal.
Generally speaking, transactional work involves contracts, purchases, corporate organizational
law or Real Estate matters.
Generally speaking, litigation pertains to disputes between private parties, businesses or
entities. Within Litigation are subsets, Civil Litigation and Business Litigation are the main
categories encompassing many specific practice areas beneath them.
Criminal pertains to any litigation in which a crime has taken place. White Collar criminal
pertains to business crimes regarding executive criminal activity (e.g. Bernie Madoff’s Ponzi
scheme)
Litigation
Within all litigation there is a plaintiff and a defendant. The Defendant is the one being accused,
the Plaintiff is the accuser or the one with a complaint.
Personal Injury (Plaintiff-side or Defense), AKA “PI”.
If plaintiff, they represent the injured party. If Defense, they represent the other party being sued
by the injured party.
Intellectual Property, AKA “IP”
IP Litigation- handles copyright, patent and/or trademark disputes between companies.
Patent Prosecution (W/in U.S. files w/ USPTO, outside with WIPO)- prosecutes patents on
behalf of companies in a dispute.
Trademark Prosecution (files with TTAB)- prosecutes patents on behalf of companies in a
dispute.
Medical Malpractice, AKA “Med Mal”
Represents doctors or hospitals against claims by patients.
Professional Malpractice
Can include Lawyers or other professions accused of malpractice (poor performance)
Insurance Defense
Defends insurance carriers against carriers with a spurious claim for insurance.
Bankruptcy (Chapters 7, 13 etc. most commonly known)
Creditor- represents a company/bank seeking payment from a debtor
Debtor- represents individuals/company filing for bankruptcy
Elder Abuse
Generally involves elderly people in disputes with managed care providers or rest homes.
Securities Litigation
Involves broker dealers and investment firms in disputes regarding investment products that
include securities.
Real Estate Litigation
Deals with Unlawful Detainer, Foreclosure and/or property disputes. Can be tied to Mortgage
Litigation.
Land Use Litigation
Pertains to laws and regulations regarding the usage of land in development and or certain zoning
requirements. Related to Real Estate Litigation and Environmental Litigation.
Environmental Litigation
Relates to regulations that pertain to development of land, zoning requirements and primarily to
govt. statutes/regulations that vary by state to protect the environment. Could also relate to toxic
tort if a company is disposing of hazardous waste inappropriately. Relates to Real Estate
Litigation and Land Use law as well. In CA, often involves CEQA or CERCLA laws and regulations.
Construction Defect
Relates to issues with poorly constructed buildings with “defects” (homes or commercial
properties). Can be a resident or business suing a contractor or homebuilder.
Toxic Tort
Common examples ore: Asbestos, Mesothelioma, Mold. Cases that have to do with a toxic
substance poisoning people either as a result of prolonged exposure through the workplace (e.g.
Waters & Kraus represents a lot of dockworkers and warehouse workers).
Entertainment Litigation
Can include work related to contract disputes, intellectual property matters pertaining to their
trademarked creative work product, libel claims with tabloids etc. Sometimes can represent
entertainers in their personal matters (divorces, custody battles).
Labor & Employment
Pertains to wrongful termination, wage & hour and/or discrimination (age, gender etc.) and/or
contract disputes between employee and employer.
Family Law
Relates to divorce, custody battles and occasionally ties into family trusts. Relates to Trust &
Estate/Probate work.
Trusts & Estates/Probate
Pertains to laws that relate to the size of the deceased’s estate and certain death taxes or estate
taxes that apply. Can tie into Family Law- esp. if there is a trust.
White Collar Criminal
Often pertains to executives accused of securities fraud (can also be Securities Litigation), Ponzi
schemes, embezzlement of corporate funds etc.
Maritime law
Pertains to laws that relate to national/international shipping and ocean travel laws relating to
oceanfaring vessels or possibly offshore structures (oil platforms- also related to environmental
law if spill). Many firms in Long Beach, CA handle this (e.g. Keesal Young & Logan)
Workers Compensation
Workers Comp Defense (defending the employer)
Workers Comp Applicant (defending the worker with a claim)
Corporate/Transactional
Corporate- pertains to corporate contracts
Real Estate- pertains to Real Estate matters regarding purchase & sale of property and leases.
Entertainment- pertains to contracts, royalties etc.
Labor & Employment (more often this practice area falls under litigation, can be transactional if
working with labor contracts)