Appellate Paralegal (U)

Business Unit: 21500

Appellate Paralegal (U) #00000037-21500, Full-time, At-Will, in Albuquerque or Santa Fe, NM

# of Positions: 1

Opening Date: 01-18-2024 - Close Date: -

Target Pay Range/Rate: $36.684 hourly $ 76,302.72 annually

The New Mexico Court of Appeals is recruiting for a Full-Time, At-Will, Appellate Paralegal position #00000037-21500 in Albuquerque or Santa Fe, New Mexico. GENERAL STATEMENT OF DUTIES: Acting under the direction of a Court of Appeals Judge, Supreme Court Justice, Supreme Court Chief Clerk, Chief Appellate Attorney, or other designee, coordinate and fulfill the administrative, technical, and clerical requirements of the Judge’s, Justice’s, Clerk’s, or Attorney’s office. Finalist(s) may be subject to criminal background checks.

EXAMPLES OF JOB DUTIES

The Appellate Paralegal (U) is responsible for providing paralegal support to the Court, including by performing technical reviews of appellate court dispositions and other documents and performing other duties as may be assigned.

Administratively managing the appellate chambers and chamber functions of a Judge or Justice.

Maintaining and monitoring chambers docket and resource calendar, and docketing memoranda of Court action.

Transcribing legal documents, oral arguments, and lower court hearings from tapes and/or handwritten materials.

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

Reading the cases cited to ensure that they stand for the stated proposition and checking the record cites to ensure the facts are accurately represented in appellate opinions.

Assuring all citations are correct 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Performing legal research using a variety of sources, including case law, statutes, Court rules, law journals, and historical documents and annotating case impacts and/or negative subsequent history.

Creating annotated bibliographies of primary source materials that address specific legal issues and related questions.

Drafting and docketing legal documents (i.e., memoranda of Court action, orders, and other documents required for the Justice’s or Judge’s review and approval).

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

Training and mentoring law clerks and paralegals on extensive citation rules, technical reviews, and case information, and providing procedural supervision. Performing advanced legal research; preparing correspondence and orders; serving as a liaison with other court staff, state agencies, and the public; providing customer service and information to the public; reviewing court forms and rules to ensure compliance with New Mexico statutes and court rules; coordinating the timely processing of documents; managing Clerk of the Court/office files; maintaining the Official Roll of Attorneys, including admission of new attorneys, and monitoring and processing all attorney status changes; maintaining and preparing Supreme Court Rules Committee orders and membership rosters; calendaring and preparing statistical reports; and managing administrative minutes

Other duties as assigned.

COMPETENCIES/QUALIFICATIONS
The successful applicant should demonstrate good oral and written communications skills and a good working knowledge of grammar, punctuation, spelling, and proper sentence structure. The successful applicant should demonstrate proficiency with Microsoft Office and G Suite applications; knowledge and understanding of legal terminology, technical writing, and editing; appellate court dispositions, including without limitation opinions, decisions, memorandum opinions, dispositional orders, and other orders; legal and Court writing styles; legal citation procedures and rules; math and statistics; utilization of pleadings, briefs, and case records; Court rules, policies, and operations; Court case management systems; legal research, including electronic databases such as Westlaw, Lexis, New Mexico One Source of Law, and other electronic legal databases; legal materials such as the New Mexico Statutes Annotated (NMSA 1978), the New Mexico Rules Annotated (NMRA), law review articles, and legislative materials; utilizing reference works on legal citation/use and English writing style such as The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation, Garner’s Dictionary of Legal Usage, The Gregg Reference Manual, and Black’s Law Dictionary; rules and filing procedures; hard copy calendaring and case file scanning; other Court agencies and resources; emergency plans; organizational management; conflict resolution; forms of opinions and legal writing styles.

WORK ENVIRONMENT AND PHYSICAL DEMANDS
The following functions are representative, but not all-inclusive of the work environment and physical demands an employee may expect to encounter in performing tasks assigned to this job. Work is performed in an office or court setting. A valid driver's license and travel may be required. The assigned work schedule may include nights, weekends, holidays, and overtime. The employee must regularly interact positively with co-workers, clients, the public, judges, and justices.

This job description is ILLUSTRATIVE ONLY and is not a comprehensive listing of all functions performed

BENEFITS

Medical/Dental/Vision/Rx, Short, and Long-Term Disability Insurance Programs, employee assistance program (EAP) [http://www.mybenefitsnm.com/]

State paid life insurance, supplemental and dependent life insurance

Optional flexible spending accounts for medical, day-care, and travel expenses

Paid time off, up to eight (8) weeks

Paid time off and retirement buyback

Eleven (11) paid holidays

Up to 12 weeks of paid parental leave

Deferred Compensation 457(b) plan

Lifetime Defined Benefits Retirement Plan [http://www.nmpera.org/]

Flexible work schedules and alternative work locations*

Free health care, Rx, and lab work at the facility (Stay Well Health Center) in Santa Fe, NM

Bilingual compensation*

Training and career development opportunities

Higher education opportunities, educational leave, and tuition reimbursement

May qualify for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program (PSLF)

May receive overtime holiday or shift differential pay*

May receive physical fitness leave*

*These benefits vary by job classification or need*

QUALIFICATIONS

• An Appellate Paralegal shall have several qualification options; however, all shall be in accordance with the New Mexico Supreme Court Rules Governing Paralegal Services, Paralegal qualifications, Rule 20-115 NMRA.

• A paralegal shall meet one or more of the following educational, training or work experience qualifications:

• A. 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;

• B. 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;

• C. 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;

• D. 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;

• E. 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; or

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

TO APPLY: Submit a New Mexico Judicial Branch Application for Employment, or a Resume and a Resume Supplemental form, and proof of education to:

Administrative Office of the Courts

Attn: AOC Human Resources Division

202 E. Marcy Street

Santa Fe, New Mexico 87501

Fax: 505-479-2641

Email: jobs@nmcourts.gov

PROOF OF EDUCATION IS REQUIRED.

Applications can be emailed, faxed, or mailed.

EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER