Legal Assistant, Office of General Counsel

Organization Founded in 1913, the Illinois Association of School Boards' Vision is excellence in local school board governance supporting quality public education. Job Title and Classification: Legal Assistant; full-time, N4 Position Information DEPARTMENT: Office of General Counsel (OGC) REPORTS TO: Deputy Executive Director, Office of General Counsel OFFICE LOCATION: Lombard SALARY RANGE & BENEFITS: The position offers an annual salary of $40,000 – $50,000, with a generous benefits package that includes holidays, vacation and sick time, medical, dental, vision, life insurance, and retirement benefits. The position will be eligible for Hybrid work after 30 days of employment. Departmental Mission/Vision/Goals OGC’s mission is to honestly, professionally, and credibly protect and preserve IASB through legal risk management and compliance services for the IASB Board of Directors and staff; promote best practices to IASB members; create educational products and services; and maintain strong, collaborative relationships with the public education community. Position Summary This position provides a wide range of administrative and office support activities for the Office of General Counsel (OGC) in the performance of its duties. FUNCTIONS OF THE JOB include the following; essential functions appear in bold type: 1. Provides high-level administrative support 2. Creates and maintains current, organized, and accurate written procedures and electronic and paper files relating to job tasks, duties, and areas of responsibility 3. Ensures all phone calls, emails, and other communications are handled in an efficient and courteous manner 4. Creates and maintains accurate databases and spreadsheets in Excel, as needed 5. Participates in appropriate professional development offerings as needed 6. Participates in cross-training with other policy services support staff and OGC administrative assistant(s) to provide backup 7. Attends periodic meetings both in and out of the office for continuous improvement and alignment of work throughout OGC and the Association 8. Practices reliable and consistent attendance and punctuality 9. Attends the Joint Annual Conference in Chicago annually and performs duties as assigned 10.Attends occasional meetings outside the office that may require overnight travel 11.Contributes to team effort and OGC mission/vision/goals work 12.Performs other duties as assigned Responsibilities for the Office of General Counsel (OGC) 1. Provides high-level administrative and paralegal support 2. Assists in high-level, direct support of General Counsel 3. Conducts legal research independently as needed; this includes using Westlaw/LexisNexis to: a. Retrieve court decisions for the IASB website, recent court and agency decisions, find news articles, and general Internet research related to legal current events b. Review and input Legal References and footnote citations in the IASB Policy Reference Manual (PRM) for PRESS Issues 4. Schedules meeting dates, reserves conference rooms and/or any other meeting places for the OGC, Illinois Council of School Attorneys, or Policy Services for departmental meetings and video conferences, along with arranging for any meals and providing meeting materials electronically 5. Monitors federal and state legislation and follows the promulgation process for federal and state administrative rules 6. Contacts state agencies for information and instructions 7. Maintains school law pages on www.iasb.com 8. Manages details for 9-12 legal panels for the Joint Annual Conference 9. Collaborates with other IASB departments to coordinate statewide and online training 10.Serves as back-up to the primary PS-OGC Legal Assistant. 11.Manage the operations of the timeline for PRESS Issue editing and creation by ensuring that general business processes for OGC are completed by Editors and Policy Directors for the timely delivery of PRESS to subscribers. 12.Exercises discretion and independent judgment with respect to matters of significance. 13.Utilizing Microsoft Word processing and web-based word processing applications, proofreads, edits, and performs legal research for PRESS, PRESS Online, and PRESS Plus 14.Designs, creates, and contributes to forms and exhibits in the IASB Policy Reference Manual (PRM) as assigned by PRESS Editors, requiring invention, imagination, and originality in materials 15.Maintains the IASB PRM base in Microsoft Word and Adobe PDF versions 16.Prepares Microsoft Word documents for transfer to IASB’s contractor (currently MicroScribe) to upload into PRESS Online 17.Executes Word processing and updates of Policy Customizations and Administrative Procedures Manuals, as directed by the Asst. Director, Office of General Counsel and/or General Counsel 18.Assists with creation and maintenance of Policy Services shared files and a list of current tasks, duties and responsibilities as assigned by the Asst. Director, Office of General Counsel 19.Creates and maintains templates for new documents, memos, and online instructions 20.Coordinates processes with IASB’s contractor (currently MicroScribe), including updates and changes 21.Creates, provides, and edits requested reports 22.Creates job tickets and coordinates with the print shop and IASB’s contractor (currently MicroScribe) 23.Manages the creation and maintenance of written procedures for PRESS Issues and electronic and paper files 24.Updates and stocks office supplies for the Lombard office and third-floor space, as necessary Responsibilities for the Illinois Council of School Attorneys (ICSA) 1. Provides administrative and paralegal support 2. Responds to questions from school attorneys about ICSA 3. Maintains active ICSA memberships, including coordination of concurrent memberships with the National School Attorneys Association (NSAA) 4. Maintains accurate records and prepares and maintains the ICSA directory 5. Provides extensive support for all stages of ICSA In-House Counsel Networking Meetings and the ICSA Annual Seminar, using creativity and originality in preparing materials and in maintaining the website 6. Secures ICSA’s status as an accredited Minimum Continuing Legal Education (MCLE) provider under Illinois Supreme Court Rule 795 and the Commission on Professionalism; this includes knowledge of Illinois Supreme Court Rule 795 and completing instruction provided by MCLE from time to time as the Supreme Court’s rules related to MCLE change 7. Assists and supports all ICSA Committees, including in the formatting development, and delivery of ICSA Publications and comments for submission to administrative agencies during rule promulgation. EDUCATION and EXPERIENCE REQUIREMENTS 1. Bachelor’s Degree and/or paralegal certification preferred 2. Demonstrable high-level experience with Microsoft Word and Web-based word processing applications and Excel 3. Experience assisting lawyers and/or lobbyists, and performing legal research 4. Strong customer service background 5. Strong Internet research skills REQUIRED COMPETENCIES To perform this job successfully, an individual must satisfactorily perform each essential duty. The requirements listed below represent the knowledge, skills, and/or abilities required. Reasonable accommodation may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. 1. Ability to use discretion and maintain strict confidentiality 2. Ability to manage multiple, often competing, projects without direct supervision 3. Strong interpersonal skills necessary to successfully work with numerous and varied individuals and groups, including IASB members, attorneys, and other staff 4. Strong communication skills, including excellent grammar - verbal and written 5. Attention to detail, high degree of accuracy, and excellent proof-reading skills 6. Professional demeanor 7. Ability to consistently exercise discretion and independent judgment, be selfdirected, be detail-oriented, master a high degree of accuracy, and have excellent proofreading skills 8. Computer skills and in-depth knowledge of relevant software: a. Microsoft Office Specialist (MOS) Expert; MOS Master preferred with an emphasis on Microsoft Word and Excel. b. For Microsoft Word processing, demonstration of the following skills is required: 1) Understanding of Auto Text and macros in Microsoft Word documents to save time on repetitive tasks; understanding of Auto Text and macros preferred. 2) Ability to review documents for accuracy and consistency in formatting, pagination, link management, and page references. 3) Advanced level of proficiency preferred using Microsoft Word to produce complex legal and policy documents, which must include: a) Work with advanced styles, formatting, columns, tables, alignment, footers, headers, and other page layout features. b) Work with documents that require tables of contents, footnotes, endnotes, and cross references. c) Manage and track document changes with multiple users using highlights and comments. d) Knowledge of Visual Basic Editor c. For Excel, the following skills are required: 1) Filters and Data Manipulation 2) Flash Fill 3) Conditional Formatting 4) Advanced Charting 5) Macros/VBA 6) Sparklines 7) PivotTables d. For web-based applications, the following skills are preferred: 1) NetForum; 2) Higher Logic; 3) Zoom Enterprise; 4) Avery 5) Google Sites 6) SharePoint Sites 7) SurveyMonkey; Kentico; CMS, Sage; Intacct; 8) Westlaw/LexisNexis for legal research; and 9) records retrieval 9. Advanced knowledge of Adobe Acrobat Pro 10.Strong time-management skills and ability to adapt to constantly changing circumstances 11.Enthusiasm for learning new skills 12. Knowledge of and ability to use office equipment, including postal, scanning, copying, and printing SPECIAL CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT: Physical Demands As necessary to perform the functions of the job, sedentary to light work (this position requires the employee to be able to be able to lift, move and safely handle boxes and materials up to 25 pounds); to see (visual acuity including color, depth perception, and field vision for reviewing hard copy documents, viewing a computer terminal, extensive reading, visual inspection involving small defects); hearing (perceiving the nature of sounds at normal speaking levels with or without correction and ability to receive detailed information through oral communication, and to make the discriminations in sound); speaking (expressing or exchanging ideas by means of the spoken word, which include conveying detailed or important spoken instructions to other workers and/or members accurately, loudly, or quickly); fingering (picking, pinching, typing or otherwise working, primarily with fingers rather than with the whole hand as in handling); repetitive motion (substantial movements (motions) of the wrists, hands, and/or fingers). Conduct Standards The highest moral and ethical standards are demanded in accordance with the IASB Staff Standards and Staff Core Values. Employee conduct standards and other aspects of employment are addressed in the IASB Employment Handbook. DISCLAIMER This job description may be changed at any time and is not a contract with the individual employee(s). IASB retains its right to change this job description and assign or reassign duties and responsibilities to this job at any time. Equal Employment Opportunity The Illinois Association of School Boards (IASB) is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer. We are committed to creating an inclusive workplace and we will consider all qualified applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, ancestry, age, disability, genetic information, veteran or military status, or any other protected class under applicable law. Reasonable accommodations are available throughout the hiring process for qualified applicants with disabilities. If you require an accommodation, please notify Human Resources.