Administrative Assistant (Housing Law)

The Public Law Center (PLC) Consumer Law Unit seeks TWO energetic, passionate advocates, one part-time and one full-time, to join our team in fighting for justice for low-income and self-represented litigants and entrepreneurs in Orange County through innovative, collaborative, community-centered lawyering to address inequities and support access to justice throughout PLC?s projects.

PLC provides high quality legal services to low-income residents and nonprofit organizations in Orange County. PLC handles legal issues in the following areas:

Consumer Law and Bankruptcy, Family Law, Immigration, Housing and Homelessness Prevention, Veterans, Health Law, and Transactional Law assistance. Clients apply for assistance from PLC in all of those areas through specialized phone lines, community and courthouse-based clinics, and through community partner referrals, where staff and volunteers screen clients for eligibility as well as substantive merit.

Qualifications

• Associate degree or an equivalent level of training preferred
• Bilingual English/Spanish or English/Vietnamese strongly preferred; bilingual in other languages will be considered
• 1-3 years work experience as an intake person, paralegal, or legal assistant preferred
• Prior experience working with low-income communities, including the ability to relate to and build rapport with callers
• Strong oral and written communication skills
• Strong, compassionate, and patient telephone skills required
• Ability to manage multiple tasks
• Ability to work independently and as part of a team
• Ability to keep track of open items and follow up where necessary
• Must have own transportation, valid CA Driver?s license, insurance and good driving record
• Must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 unless the applicant has a valid medical reason for not being fully vaccinated or a sincerely held religious belief preventing vaccination

Duties and Responsibilities

• Conduct initial client intakes over the phone, including legal issue-spotting, conflict checks and eligibility determinations
• Update case management software with all details of caller and legal issues
• Perform general case management, including correspondence, investigation, and follow-up with potential PLC clients
• Provide administrative and organizational support to the consumer law team.
• Assist with interpretation and translation for staff and volunteer attorneys as needed
• Assist with multiple weekly clinics in the Bankruptcy Clinic, the Federal Pro Se Clinic, the Reaffirmation Clinic, and the Elder Justice Clinic
• Provide general administrative support to the office, filling in where needed
• Work closely with paralegal and staff attorneys
• Attend weekly case review meetings to present potential new clients to unit
• Other duties as assigned

Salary & Benefits

• Compensation dependent on experience; range of $20.00/hour to $23.00/hour
• Competitive benefits provided for full-time position only
• Currently working on a hybrid-remote schedule (two days in the office and 3 days remote). Hybrid-remote is subject to change.