ABOUT WILLAMETTE UNIVERSITY: Willamette University, founded in 1842, is a nationally-renowned private university enrolling 2800 students across five colleges. Our historic campus, adjacent to the Oregon State Capitol, hosts a distinguished undergraduate liberal arts college in Salem, Oregon. Our downtown Portland campus is home to the Pacific Northwest College of Art (PNCA). We offer a wide range of professional graduate programs, including Oregon's top-ranked MBA program, the Northwest's oldest law school, as well as MA/MFA programs at PNCA and master's degrees in data science and computer science.
Willamette University provides a high-value and comprehensive benefits package to eligible employees. Our Benefits Summary includes options for health, dental, life insurance, retirement, substantial paid time off, tuition and more. If you need assistance applying for a job or have any questions on recruitment at Willamette, please contact our HR Department, or call us at .
LAW CLINIC OFFICE MANAGER & PARALEGAL The Office Manager position provides comprehensive administrative management for Willamette University School of Law's Clinical Law Program, supporting the Criminal Defense Clinic, Immigration Clinic, and Trust and Estates Clinic. This position performs many complex duties that require knowledge of basic accounting, court processes and procedures, and the ability to proofread and edit legal documents. The Office Manager also performs paralegal functions, assisting with case preparation and client services. This position must effectively communicate with clients, students, attorneys, and court personnel in writing, in person, and by telephone.
The Clinical Law Program at Willamette University School of Law operates as a fully functioning law office within the academic environment. The Clinical Law Program provides students with hands-on, professional experience in actual law practice, under close supervision by full-time faculty who are recognized experts in their fields. Students participating in the Clinical Law Program represent real clients through our Criminal Defense, Immigration, and Trust and Estates Clinics. The program maintains the dual mission of providing exceptional legal education for our students and delivering high-quality legal services to underserved populations in Oregon. In keeping with the long tradition of legal clinics as "living models of justice," this unique, hands-on experience develops critical lawyering skills while filling an important role within the landscape of legal services providers in Oregon.
The Clinical Law Program serves vulnerable populations including elderly clients, non-English speakers, immigrants, and indigent individuals facing criminal charges. The Office Manager must demonstrate strong cross-cultural competency and sensitivity when working with these diverse populations. Because the Clinical Law Program is both a functioning law firm and a teaching clinic, a successful Office Manager will work cooperatively with clinic faculty toward the dual goals of providing outstanding client representation and outstanding legal training for students. This position is dependent on the continued receipt of legislative funding.
Duties and Responsibilities Office Management and Administration
- Acts as Clinical Law Program Office Manager. Greets visitors and clients, answers telephones, checks and responds to voicemail, checks and responds to clinic email inquiries, maintains clinic calendars and orders office supplies.
- Retrieves mail from post office box and law school box daily.
- Sends outgoing mail for students and faculty.
- Performs routine user maintenance on printers and copy machine.
- In cooperation with clinic instructional staff, manages workflow and responsibilities within the clinic, including the work of the legal assistant.
- Exercises discretion in communicating information to non-clinical faculty, students and staff, and in handling departmental records and files, personnel actions, performance evaluations, grade reports, merit, promotion and tenure decisions, and similar confidential materials.
Financial Management
- Maintains updated financial records, including managing clinical law program budget, submitting payment and reimbursement requests, and managing p-card transactions for clinical expenses.
- Maintains attorney billing system and regularly follows up with clients concerning outstanding bills.
- In coordination with clinic faculty, maintains client trust (IOLTA) account records. The maintenance of the client trust account itself shall be handled by clinic faculty.
- Keeps updated records of clinic budget and expenses, provides clinic financial report to faculty at least monthly.
- Works with clinic faculty to cover insurance responsibilities for the clinic.
- Works with clinic faculty to submit reimbursement requests for clinic expenses or faculty development expenses, including for fees associated with travel to client meetings, court appearances, and conferences.
Paralegal Functions and Client Support
- In coordination with clinic faculty and students, performs initial client intake and conflict checks.
- Performs recurring conflicts checks with faculty and enrolled students on at least a monthly basis; maintains records and alerts clinic faculty to any changes.
- In coordination with clinic faculty and students, types, proofreads and edits client correspondence, pleadings and forms.
- In coordination with clinic faculty and students, delivers and electronically files documents with the court.
- Opens new client files (electronic and/or hard files), works with clinic faculty to establish file tickler protocol for each client file, and works with clinic faculty and students to send and maintain file closure documentation.
- Preserves files in accordance with document retention policy; destroys files in accordance with document destruction policy.
- Safeguards the confidentiality of client and student information.
- Able/willing to become a Notary Public in Oregon.
- Attend necessary client meetings in order to assist with signing/notarization of legal documents.
- Assists with legal research, gathers facts, and retrieves information as needed.
- In coordination with clinic faculty and students, physically delivers, mails, and/or electronically files documents with the court, and serves a copy on appropriate parties.
- Demonstrates sensitivity and adaptability when working with vulnerable populations, including elderly clients, non-English speakers, immigrants, and indigent individuals facing criminal charges.
- Assists with income eligibility screening for potential clients while maintaining dignity and respect.
- Helps facilitate communication with non-English speaking clients by coordinating interpretation services as needed.
Student Education and Support
- Communicates with OSA to identify registration dates and informs clinic faculty of those dates.
- Oversees all aspects of the clinic registration process, including arranging dates and rooms for student information sessions, distributing and collecting clinic applications, responding to student inquiries, providing completed applications to clinic faculty members, sending clinic acceptance and waitlist letters.
- After each semester's application process and concurrent with registration, provides OSA with a list of students to enroll as beginning and advanced students in each clinic.
- Confirms number of credits sought by each enrolled student, and provides that information to faculty.
- In coordination with clinic faculty, conducts a clinic orientation at the beginning of each semester.
Trains students on case management software (CLIO), office procedures and policies, and assists them with client interactions during in-person meetings.
Performs other duties as assigned.
Minimum Qualifications - Minimum of two years of legal assistant or relevant administrative experience
- Any combination of education and experience that provides the required knowledge, skills and abilities necessary to perform the essential functions of the position will be considered
- Minimum of two years' word processing experience and proficient with email
- Ability to learn and use computer calendaring, time billing, and various computer utility programs
- Must possess excellent telephone and interpersonal communication skills
- Must possess excellent skills in written and spoken English and in basic math
- Ability to work independently, establish and maintain harmonious relations with staff, faculty, students, clients, and court personnel
- Ability to appropriately prioritize tasks in a fast-paced environment
- High attention to detail
- Strong cross-cultural competency and demonstrated ability to work effectively with diverse populations
- Commitment to social justice and serving vulnerable communities
- Ability to maintain composure and professionalism when working with clients in crisis or distress
Preferred Qualifications - Bachelor's degree
- Spanish language proficiency
- Experience with Google Suite, Clio, Odyssey File and Serve, DocuSign, PACER, and Adobe Acrobat Professional
- Ability to accurately type 60 words per minute
Typical Work Schedule Monday-Friday 8am-5pm.
Salary: $28.85/ hour . click apply for full job details