Paralegal Specialist 1 (PCN 03-1293)

Full Job Description

This recruitment is exempt from the Hiring Freeze (Administrative Order 358).

What You Will Be Doing

In your role as Paralegal Specialist 1, you will supervise a team of paralegals in tthe Office of Special Prosecutions and help members in your community who are directly impacted by crime and help victims and witnesses understand their rights and navigate them through the criminal justice system.

This includes providing them updates throughout the life of a case as well as informing them of resources available to them.

You will also play an important role of the prosecution team working through the criminal justice system to resolve legal issues, including building relationships with other agencies such as law enforcement, court personnel and victim advocates.

Mission and Culture

Our mission is to seek justice, promote public safety and public respect for government through prompt, effective, and compassionate prosecution of cases in a matter that advocates for the interests of the victims, respects the law enforcement agencies, responsibly stewards public resources, and holds offenders accountable while at the same time protecting the constitutional and legal rights of the accused.

Benefits of Joining Our Team

The Working Environment You Can Expect

In our office, you will be a team leader and work in one or more areas of law in addition to remotely supervising the paralegals in the Office of Special Prosecution. The office environment is friendly, fast-paced, and never boring. The work will require minimal travel.

This position is located at 310 K Street, Ste 701, Anchorage, AK 99501. The hours are Monday through Friday, 8:00 AM – 4:30 PM.

You will supervise 5 paralegals, work with 19 attorneys and 6 support staff located in Office of Special Prosecutions.

Who We Are Looking For

Competency Based Minimum Qualifications Instructions

This job class uses competency based minimum qualifications.

Please ensure your application (through work history, volunteer experience (duties summary), training, education, licenses, certifications, etc.) supports how you have gained the knowledge, skills, abilities, and behaviors (competencies) and that you possess the minimum required competencies for the job class.

Requirements

Competency Description The competency description(s) listed below have been designed to promote a common understanding of the essential elements of the job class.

They highlight the more general and customary knowledge, skills, abilities (KSAs), tasks, and behaviors used to describe the competency.

They typically list expectations, as opposed to specific tasks, and are to be used only as parameters and guidelines.

A competency’s description is not intended to exclusively define every KSA, task, and behavior needed to successfully meet the competency, but rather to provide the manager/agency with a broad reference of options as to how an applicant can meet the job expectation.

Please ensure your application (through work history, training, education, licenses, certifications, etc.) supports/demonstrates you possess the minimum required competencies for the job class.

PI01C1 – Paralegal Specialist 1

Any combination of education and/or experience that provides the applicant with competencies in:

• Law: Knowledge of State and federal laws, including legal and court procedures, regulations, guidelines, precedents, admissibility of evidence, case preparation, and/or settlements for applicable areas of law practiced or supported.
• Compliance: Knowledge of procedures for assessing, evaluating, and monitoring programs or projects for compliance with State and federal laws, regulations, and guidance.
• Leadership: Influences, motivates, and challenges others; adapts leadership styles to a variety of situations.
• Legal, Government, and Jurisprudence: Knowledge of laws, legal codes, court procedures, precedents, legal practices and documents, Government regulations, Executive orders, agency rules, Government organization and functions, and the democratic political process.
• Technical Credibility: Understands and appropriately applies principles, procedures, requirements, regulations, and policies related to specialized expertise.

Equivalent to those typically gained by:

Post-secondary and/or vocational education in a legal, paralegal, criminal justice, or similar legal support area and/or progressively responsible experience providing a variety of legal support in either the legal, law enforcement, legislative, or social service field; or practice in social service field with experience in either the legal, law enforcement or legislative field.

Special Note:

Positions may require incumbents to be able to obtain a Notary Public upon hire, and to be able to pass a criminal background check to meet security requirements for using criminal record networks such as Alaska Public Safety Information Network (APSIN) and National Crime Enforcement Information Center/National Law Enforcement Telecommunications System (NCIC/NLETS).

If this requirement is present, it will be stated in the vacancy announcement.

Some positions are required to work regular overtime during the standard workweek, on weekends, and/or holidays to provide support to the assigned duty attorney. If this requirement is present, it will be stated in the vacancy announcement.

“Competencies” means a combination of interrelated knowledge, skills, abilities, and behaviors that enable a person to act effectively in a job or situation.

“Paraprofessional” work is typically associated with and supportive of a professional field.

It involves extensive practical knowledge gained through experience and/or specific formal or on-the-job training.

Work in these occupations may involve substantial elements of the work of the professional or administrative field, but requires less than full knowledge of the field involved.

“Professional experience” means work that is creative, analytical, evaluative, and interpretive; requires a range and depth of specialized knowledge of the profession's principles, concepts, theories, and practices; and is performed with the power or right to decide or act according to one's own judgment.

“Progressively responsible” means indicating growth and/or advancement in complexity, difficulty, or level of responsibility.

“Technical” means performing tasks, methods, procedures, and computations that are covered by established precedents or guidelines and often require a high degree of skill, care, and precision.

“Training” and “education” in this guidance are synonyms for the process of acquiring knowledge and skills through instruction.

It includes instruction through formal and informal methods (such as classroom, on-line, self-study, and on-the-job), from accredited and unaccredited sources, and long-duration (such as a post-secondary degree) and short-duration (such as a seminar) programs.

“Typically gained by” means the prevalent, usual method of gaining the competencies expected for entry into the job.

Qualifications

**NOTE: PLEASE READ THE FOLLOWING CAREFULLY**

THIS RECRUITMENT IS FOR ALASKA RESIDENTS ONLY

This recruitment is open to Alaska Residents only. Applicants must meet Alaska Residency Requirements to be considered for employment at this time.

If selected for an interview, the applicant must provide the following:

Special Notices

The Alaska Public Safety Information Network (APSIN) is utilized in this position. A background check and fingerprinting will be required.

The incumbent will be required to obtain APSIN access, which will be done through the office.

Members of the Criminal Division are held to high standards of professionalism even in our personal lives. The incumbent must maintain the strictest of confidences with information they will be exposed to and have access to.

The incumbent must maintain the strictest of confidences with information they will be exposed to and have access to.

Applicants should be aware that due to the nature of the work being performed in this office, the incumbent must have the ability to tolerate some exposure to graphic pictures, coarse language, and detailed descriptions of sometimes horrific criminal acts.

Background Check
The successful candidates must pass a comprehensive background investigation, which includes a criminal history check.

Application Notice

You can ONLY apply for this position through the Workplace Alaska website or via a hardcopy application.

If you accessed this recruitment bulletin through a job search portal, such as AlaskaJobs or any other database, you MUST use a Workplace Alaska online or hardcopy application to apply successfully.

Instructions on how to apply with Workplace Alaska may be found on the Workplace Alaska “How to Apply" page. Your application must be submitted by 5:00 p.m. Alaska Standard Time on the closing date.

Education

If post-secondary education is required to meet the minimum qualifications, you must fill in the Education section of the application.

If you have not obtained a degree, please indicate the number of units completed.

Copies of transcripts are required to verify educational credentials if used to meet the minimum qualifications for a position.

Transcripts can be attached at the time of application or provided at the time of the interview.

Special Instructions for Foreign Education

Education completed in foreign colleges or universities may be used to meet the minimum qualifications listed above.

If utilizing this education, you must show that the education credentials have been submitted to a private organization that specializes in the interpretation of foreign educational credentials and that such education has been deemed to be at least equivalent to that gained in conventional U.S.

education programs; or an accredited U.S.

post-secondary institution reports the other institution as one whose transcript is given full value, or full value is given in subject areas applicable to the curricula at the post-secondary institution.

It is your responsibility to provide such evidence when applying.

Work Experience

If using work experience not already documented in your application, also provide the employer’s name, job title, employment dates, and whether full or part-time.

Applications will be reviewed to determine if the responses are supported and if minimum qualifications are clearly met.

If they are not, the applicant may not advance to the recruitment interview and selection phase.

Note: Attaching a resume is not an alternative to filling out the application in its entirety. Noting, "see resume" or any similar response on any portion of your application may lead to a determination that your application is incomplete and removal from consideration for this job posting.

Bargaining Unit

If you are a current state employee, please mark the union you are a member of at the time of application. If you are not a current state employee, do not complete this question.

EEO Statement

The State of Alaska complies with Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

Individuals with disabilities, who require accommodation, auxiliary aides or services, or alternative communication formats, please call 1-800-587-0430 or 465-4095 in Juneau or (907) 465-3412 (TTY) or correspond with the Division of Personnel & Labor Relations at: P.

O. Box 110201, Juneau, AK 99811-0201. The State of Alaska is an equal-opportunity employer.

Additional Information

Workplace Alaska Application Questions & Assistance

Questions regarding application submission or system operation errors should be directed to the Workplace Alaska hotline at 1-800-587-0430 (toll-free) or (907) 465-4095 if you are in the Juneau area. Requests for information may also be emailed to recruitment.services@alaska.gov.

For applicant password assistance, please visit the reset password page.

For specific information about this position, please contact the hiring manager at the following:

Tiffany Saporito

Paralegal Specialist

tiffany.saporito@alaska.gov