Atlanta Legal Aid Society (“Legal Aid”) seeks a Paralegal for its Home Defense Program. Our non-profit law firm represents low-income people in a variety of civil legal matters including family, housing, consumer, public benefits, education, and health law. The Home Defense Program assists individuals and families to prevent the loss of their home through foreclosure, predatory lending, or home sale scams. The Home Defense Program is housed within Legal Aid’s DeKalb County office, and is currently comprised of three full-time attorneys, two part-time attorneys, one HUD-certified housing counselor/paralegal, and a paralegal.
Responsibilities: The Home Defense Program Paralegal is responsible for case intake/management including answering incoming calls and handling internal referrals; conducting initial client intakes and interviews; completing questionnaires; entering data into and retrieving data from databases; gathering, reviewing, organizing, copying, scanning, and filing documents; conducting deed and lien searches; providing clients with information and advice under the supervision of an attorney; maintaining a database of client and case data; monitoring grant compliance and preparing grant reports; maintaining a community outreach schedule and community education materials; file maintenance including organizing, filing and archiving cases; assisting attorneys with document preparation and execution, discovery, depositions and hearings; and other paralegal and clerical work.
Qualifications: Applicants must possess excellent oral and written communication skills, strong organizational skills, the ability to enter data accurately, be highly proficient in Microsoft Office and Google Workspace, and have a willingness to learn new software. Applicants must be industrious, dependable, adaptable, detail-oriented, able to see a task through to completion within applicable deadlines, and able to work in a team and alone. In addition, applicants must be patient, compassionate, even-tempered, have good people and problem-solving skills, and have an appreciation of diversity. Prior paralegal or legal assistant experience, experience with law office management software, experience or a demonstrated interest in working with low-income people, proficiency in languages other than English and willingness to improve language skills are highly valued.
Salary and Benefits: The salary is $34,500+ depending on experience. Salaries currently increase annually based on a salary scale. We recently engaged a compensation consultant to review our current structure and make recommendations for improvement. The program provides generous fringe benefits including 18 paid holidays (in 2024), 6 weeks paid time off, 6 weeks parental leave; health (including optional dental and vision coverage), life, and long and short-term disability insurance; partial payment for dependent health insurance; a salary reduction option for a flexible spending account; educational loan reimbursement up to $600 per month (after a set off of other loan reimbursement amounts); and a voluntary tax-sheltered annuity with 3% match. This position may be eligible for Public Service Loan Forgiveness through the U.S. Department of Education.
Application Requirements: Submit a letter of interest; resume; recent writing sample (email, letter or memorandum); and the names, phone numbers and e-mail addresses of three professional references (preferably individuals who have supervised or managed your work) as one (1) PDF using our online application system at atlantalegalaid.org/jobs. Only applications with all of the requested documents will be considered for an interview.
Your application will be acknowledged. No phone calls please. For assistance with technical difficulties in submitting your application, please email [email protected].
Legal Aid considers all qualified applicants for employment without regard to race, color, national origin, religion, age, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, or any other legally protected status.