LAS Paralegal/Alzheimer's Research Assistant

Position Overview

Under the direction of a licensed Program Director and/or managing attorney, supports the Legal Advocacy Service staff statewide, conducts legal research and reviews, and reconstructs and prepares legal memoranda/ decisions/ opinions, letters, motions and other documents.  The paralegal assistant also writes draft legal memoranda or other documents for review and approval by licensed legal staff, obtains legal materials for staff, and analyzes transcripts of hearings for pertinent information. 

Benefit Statement

As a State of Illinois Employee, you will receive a robust benefit package that includes the following:

• Flexible and hybrid work schedules are available in many program areas (when available and dependent upon position)
• Competitive Group Insurance benefits including health, life, dental and vision plans.
• Pension plan through the State Employees Retirement System
• Deferred Compensation Program – voluntary supplemental retirement plan
• Optional pre-tax programs -Medical Care Assistance Plan (MCAP) & Dependent Care Assistant Plan (DCAP)
• 10-25 days of paid vacation time annually (10 days for first year of state employment)
• 12 paid sick days annually which carryover year to year
• 3 paid personal business days per calendar year (pro-rated dependent on start date)
• 13-14 paid holidays per year
• 12 weeks of paid parental leave
• Employee Assistance Program and/or mental health resources

These are just a few of the many perks available to all State employees. For more information about our benefits please follow this link: https://www2.illinois.gov/cms/benefits/Pages/default.aspx 

Essential Functions

• Conducts legal research and reviews, reconstructs, and prepares legal memoranda, decisions, and opinions, drafts motions, letters based on factual evidence presented during hearings under the direct supervision of a licensed attorney which do not involve interpretations of matters of law.
• Obtains legal materials upon request, from law libraries, legal research databases or other sources; composes complex letters, reports, and memorandums; performs special projects and/or compiles statistical reports.
• Assists legal staff with legal research for determining facts and writing legal draft documents; analyzes transcripts of hearings and excerpts pertinent information.
• Maintains a variety of complex, sensitive, and confidential records; schedules appointments and intergovernmental meetings.
• Performs other duties as required or assigned which are reasonably within the scope of the duties enumerated above.

Minimum Qualifications

Requires knowledge, skill and mental development equivalent to completion of four years of college with coursework in such areas as legal, pre-legal, English, statistics or directly related coursework.

Preferred Qualifications (In Order of Significance)

• Prefers two (2) years of working experience as a paralegal or legal secretary interacting with Illinois State Courts
• Prefers two (2) years of experience with civil mental health law, working with doctors, working with social workers and/or case workers, some adult guardianship experience.
• Prefers two (2) years of experience with e-filing, preparing court notices, and preparing and filing pleadings.
• Prefers extensive knowledge of online legal research, Outlook, Abode Acrobat, Microsoft Word, Excel, Power Point and comfortable with computers and other IT software.
• Prefers two years of experience in writing draft memoranda or other legal documents for review and approval by licensed legal staff.
• Prefers extensive knowledge of databases entry, spreadsheets, and statistical reports.

Conditions of Employment

• Requires successful completion and passing of background check and fingerprinting.
• Ability to travel throughout the County for meetings.

The conditions of employment listed here are incorporated and related to any of the job duties as listed in the job description.

About the Agency

Created in 1979, the Illinois Guardianship and Advocacy Commission protects the rights and promotes the welfare of persons with disabilities.  A board of 11 commissioners, who serve without compensation, govern the agency.  The Commission is an executive state agency created to safeguard the rights of persons with disabilities.  By providing legal representation, investigating complaints of rights violations, and providing state guardianship for Illinois’ population with disabilities, the Commission has given a voice to those who have previously gone unheard.