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New Mexico Courts · 1 month ago

Appellate Paralegal (U) #10116510-21600, Full-Time, At- Will, in Santa Fe, NM

Santa Fe, NM

Full-time

Hybrid

Mid, Senior Level

$24.74/hr - $49.47/hr

1+ years exp

New Mexico Courts is seeking a full-time Appellate Paralegal to support the Supreme Court in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The role involves providing paralegal assistance, ensuring the accuracy of legal documents, conducting legal research, and coordinating various administrative tasks within the Clerk's office.

Government Administration

Responsibilities

Providing paralegal support to the Court, including ensuring the accuracy, consistency, and conformity with technical standards of appellate court dispositions and other documents and performing other duties as may be assigned

Preparing, editing, performing technical analysis, and proofreading appellate opinions, decisions, dispositional orders, and other documents

Reads and reviews the cited cases to ensure that they stand for the proposition and checking record cites to ensure that the facts are accurately represented in appellate court dispositions, records and documents

Assures all citations are correct and in accordance with the New Mexico Appellate Courts Technical Handbook, The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation, and other reliable style and technical guides

Performing legal research using a variety of sources, including electronic databases, case law, statutes, Court rules, law journals, and historical documents and annotating case impacts and/or negative subsequent history

Drafting and docketing legal documents (i.e., memoranda of Court action, orders, and other documents required for review and approval)

Preparing Court files for oral arguments or conferences and circulating or filing appellate dispositions to comply with Court procedures

Trains and mentors other staff on case information and administrative processes in the Clerk’s Office

Performs advanced legal research; prepares correspondence and orders; serves as a liaison with other court staff, state agencies, and the public; provides customer service and information to the public; reviews court forms and rules to ensure compliance with New Mexico statutes and court rules; coordinates the timely processing of documents; managing Clerk of the Court/office files; maintains the Official Roll of Attorneys, including admission of new attorneys, and monitors and processing all attorney status changes; maintains and prepares Supreme Court Rules Committee orders and membership rosters; maintain calendars and prepares statistical reports; and manages administrative minutes

Assists with the preparation of responses to Inspection of Public Records Act requests

Coordinates the timely processing of documents

Manages processes, documents, records, and files as assigned

Other duties as assigned

Qualification

Legal researchAppellate court proceduresTechnical writingMicrosoft OfficeG Suite applicationsLegal citation proceduresCommunicationOrganizational skillsConflict resolution

Required

Graduation from a paralegal program that is: (1) approved by the American Bar Association; (2) an associate degree program; (3) a post-baccalaureate certificate program in paralegal studies; or (4) a bachelor's degree program

Graduation from a post-secondary legal assistant program which consists of a minimum of sixty (60) semester hours or equivalent, as defined by the American Bar Association guidelines for the Approval of Paralegal Education Programs, of which at least eighteen (18) semester hours or equivalent are general education courses and eighteen (18) semester hours or equivalent are legal specialty courses

A bachelor's degree in any field plus two [(2)] years of substantive law-related experience under the supervision of a licensed attorney. Successful completion of at least fifteen (15) semester hours of substantive paralegal courses may be substituted for one year of law-related experience

Graduation from an accredited law school and not disbarred or suspended from the practice of law by the State of New Mexico or any other jurisdiction

Certification by the National Association of Legal Assistants, Incorporated, the National Federation of Paralegal Associations, Incorporated or other equivalent national or state competency examination plus at least one (1) year of substantive law-related experience under the supervision of a licensed attorney

A high school diploma or equivalent plus seven (7) years of substantive law-related experience under the supervision of a licensed attorney

Good oral and written communications

Good working knowledge of grammar, punctuation, spelling, and proper sentence structure

Proficiency with Microsoft Office and G Suite applications

Knowledge and understanding of legal terminology, technical writing, and editing

Familiarity with appellate court dispositions, including without limitation opinions, decisions, memorandum opinions, dispositional orders, and other orders

Knowledge of legal and Court writing styles

Understanding of legal citation procedures and rules

Knowledge of math and statistics

Utilization of pleadings, briefs, and case records

Knowledge of Court rules, policies, and operations

Familiarity with Court case management systems

Experience with legal research, including electronic databases such as Westlaw, Lexis, New Mexico One Source of Law, and other electronic legal databases

Familiarity with legal resources such as the New Mexico Statutes Annotated (NMSA 1978), the New Mexico Rules Annotated (NMRA), law review articles, and legislative materials

Familiarity with common legal citation, usage and writing references, such as The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation, Garner's Dictionary of Legal Usage, The Gregg Reference Manual, and Black's Law Dictionary

Knowledge of rules and filing procedures

Experience with hard copy calendaring and case file scanning

Basic understanding of organizational management

Conflict resolution skills