Sheriff's Office Legal Processor II - Extra-Help

Full Job Description

About the Position

As a Legal Processor II in the Sonoma County Sheriff's Office Civil Bureau, you will be responsible for answering phone and email inquiries from the public and assisting in-person clients, processing a variety of legal and court documents, and communicating procedures and policies to attorneys, law enforcement, court personnel, and the general public. Additionally, this position is responsible for:

• Formatting complex forms and documents for court
• Distributing time-sensitive documents and forms to all parties involved in a case
• Importing documents and entering data into a central database
• Noticing parties for hearings (including complicated adoption hearings)
• Answering questions regarding the work coming to/through the unit
• Adhering to strict deadlines

What You Bring

As the ideal candidate for this position, you are a positive and proactive team player who possesses:

• Basic accounting experience
• Prior experience working in a law firm or courthouse
• Strong customer service and conflict resolution skills
• The ability to interact with a diverse customer base and relay policies, laws, and procedures to the public
• Emotional intelligence and the ability to communicate effectively
• Attention to detail and a passion for research
• Flexibility and the ability to prioritize assignments based on the requirements of laws and civil codes
• Experience with civil process software

Please note: Sheriff's Office Legal Processors are required to wear a uniform during working hours.

Extra-Help Employment

Extra-help employees relieve or augment permanent staff. Intermittent, extra-help employees are not in the classified civil service and do not have property rights to permanently allocated positions.

In addition, they do not receive most regular employee benefits such as long-term disability insurance coverage, accrual of vacation, participation in the County retirement program, or eligibility to take promotional examinations.

Intermittent, extra-help employees are limited in their employment to a maximum of 1,380 hours within any twelve-month consecutive period.

Extra-help employees who meet the eligibility requirements may qualify for a County contribution toward medical coverage.

*Salary is negotiable within the established range. This recruitment is being conducted to fill a Legal Processor II intermittent, extra-help position in the Sheriff's Office. This employment list may also be used to fill future extra-help positions as they occur during the active status of this list.

Application submissions require the Supplemental Questionnaire to be completed.

Requirements

Experience and Education: Any combination of education and work experience which would provide an opportunity to acquire the knowledge and abilities listed herein. Normally, one year of work experience processing official records equivalent to that of Legal Processor I would provide this opportunity.

License: Possession of a valid driver's license at the appropriate level including special endorsements, as required by the State of California, may be required depending upon assignment to perform the essential job functions of the position.

The position advertised on this announcement does not require possession of a valid California Driver’s License.

Special Skill Requirement: The ability to type at a corrected speed of 45 words per minute may be required for some assignments.

Background Requirements: Applicants for some assignments must successfully complete a thorough background investigation.

Qualifications

Considerable knowledge of: the purpose and processing of a diversity of court and law enforcement related legal documents, forms, and records; basic arithmetic, English grammar, vocabulary, spelling, punctuation, and composition; the operations, procedures, and jurisdictions of the court or department of assignment.

Working knowledge of: the record and computer systems of the Courts and/or the department of assignment; the technical resource materials and information sources applicable to the area of assignment; court or law enforcement related statutes, laws, ordinances and procedures and their applicability to the department of assignment.

Ability to: understand, explain, and apply specific statutes, codes, laws, regulations, and procedures; prepare and process a variety of complex legal documents; maintain complex legal records, assemble materials and prepare reports; locate, identify and correct technical inaccuracies; work independently in performing assignment and in resolving problems and deviations; use independent initiative and discretion in organizing work and carrying out instructions within a structured environment; establish and maintain cooperative and harmonious relationships with judges, attorneys, litigants, law enforcement officers, other employees, and the general public; independently research and prepare correspondence in answer to inquiries about department records, programs, services, procedures, and regulations; make accurate arithmetic calculations; operate a variety of office equipment.

Additional Information

• Your application information and your responses to the supplemental questions are evaluated and taken into consideration throughout the entire selection process.
• You should list all employers and positions held within the last ten years in the work history section of your application and should be as thorough as possible when responding to the supplemental questions.
• You may include history beyond ten years if related to the position for which you are applying. If you held multiple positions with one employer, list out each position separately.
• Failure to follow these instructions may impact your competitiveness in this process or may result in disqualification.

Please visit Getting a Job with the County of Sonoma to review more detailed information about the hiring process, including the application process, examination steps, and department selection process.

Application submissions require the Supplemental Questionnaire be completed.

The supplemental questionnaire is a critical component of your employment application. Responses to supplemental questions are used to evaluate your qualifications. Please provide sufficient information to allow for a thorough evaluation of your qualifications.

The selection procedure will consist of the following examination:

An Application and Supplemental Questionnaire Appraisal (pass/not pass) will be conducted to evaluate each applicant's combination of educational coursework, training, experience, knowledge, and abilities that relate to this position to ensure satisfaction of the minimum qualifications for this position.

Candidates who possess the minimum qualifications for the position will be placed on an extra-help employment list and referred to the department.

The department may contact candidates from the employment list who possess the most appropriate job-related qualifications for further consideration.

Additional Information

Being part of the Sheriff's Office and being expected to keep the public safe requires a thorough background investigation process.

This process includes an assessment of prior work history, verifying educational experiences, court reports, public records searches, and understanding past patterns relating to drug usage, financial patterns, etc.

This entails gathering a significant amount of information from job candidates and speaking to former employers, friends, family members, etc.

Polygraphs, drug tests, and medical and physical examinations are also part of this process. Candidates must be honest and forthcoming about information that may arise during the background process.

Deception during any portion of this process is grounds for disqualification, even after employment. This process can take anywhere from 3-5 months.

Many factors are taken into consideration and one should not assume a credit issue or prior drug use is automatically disqualifying.

Candidates will be given the opportunity to present mitigating information they feel should be considered.

You are encouraged to be as responsive as possible while this process is taking place to help expedite the timeline, and we encourage you to stay patient and interested in this great career opportunity while this process is taking place.

You may also review the Job Classification Screening Schedule to determine the requirements for this position.

Please read the Sheriff's Office Pre-Employment Drug Use Guidelines for further information.

How to Apply

Applications are accepted online at www.yourpath2sonomacounty.org. Paper applications may be submitted by person, fax (707-565-3770), email, or through the mail.

All applications and appropriate supplemental information as outlined in the job announcement must be received by the time and date specified on the first page of this job announcement.

Continuous recruitments may close without notice at any time that a sufficient number of qualified applications have been received.

Applications received after the recruitment closes will not be accepted.

The County of Sonoma values diversity and is dedicated to creating a workplace environment that provides individuals with a sense of belonging.

We are committed to having a diverse workforce that is representative of the communities we serve.

The County is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer where all aspects of employment are based on merit, competence, performance, and business need.

HR Analyst: KK

HR Technician: VH