Atlanta Legal Aid Society, Inc. (“Legal Aid”) seeks a Paralegal for its Home Defense Program. The Home Defense Program is a specialty unit within Legal Aid which assists low-income individuals and families to prevent the loss of the home through foreclosure, predatory lending, or home sale scams. The Home Defense Program is housed within Legal Aid’s Decatur office, and is currently comprised of four attorneys, two HUD-certified housing counselors/paralegals, and a paralegal.
Responsibilities: The Home Defense Program Paralegal is responsible for case intake/management including answering the phone, conducting initial client intakes and interviews, completing questionnaires relating to homeownership and mortgage issues; entering data into and retrieving data from our database and other data bases; researching public records; conducting deed and lien searches; gathering, reviewing, organizing, and scanning documents; providing clients with information and advice under the supervision of an attorney; maintaining a database of client and case data; tracking cases to ensure proper documentation is gathered for grant compliance purposes; preparing monthly, quarterly, and annual reports required by funding sources; handling internal referrals; maintaining outreach schedule and community education materials; organizing, maintaining, and managing files including scanning documents into client database, filing and archiving closed cases; assisting attorneys with document preparation, organization, notarization, and document requests; assisting attorneys during deed and settlement agreement execution, and with depositions and hearings including preparing trial binders and exhibits, and arranging for court reporters; copying, scanning, e-mailing, faxing, and mailing; 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, able to work in a team and alone, have experience or a demonstrated interest in working with low-income persons, and have an appreciation of diversity. Previous work experience in an office environment, experience with law office management software, proficiency in Spanish and a willingness to improve language skills are highly valued. Given the nature of the cases we handle, callers can at times be very emotional. Accordingly, the Home Defense Program Paralegal must be patient, compassionate, even-tempered, and have good people and problem-solving skills.
Salary and Benefits: The salary is $34,500+ depending on experience. Salaries increase annually based on a salary scale. The program provides generous fringe benefits including 13 paid holidays, 6 weeks paid time off, 6 weeks parental leave; health, 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 $65 per month deductible and set off of other loan reimbursement amounts); and a voluntary tax-sheltered annuity with 3% match. Legal Aid also offers a hybrid work schedule that allows staff to work 2 days remotely subject to management approval and a probationary employment period.
Application Requirements: Submit a letter of interest; resume; official school transcript (a copy is acceptable pending your order of an official transcript); recent writing sample; and the names, phone numbers, and e-mail addresses of three professional references as one (1) PDF using our online application system at the following link:
Atlantalegalaid.org/jobs
For technical difficulties in submitting your application, please email [email protected].
Your application will be acknowledged. No phone calls please.
Out of concern for the health and safety of our staff, clients and their families, the Atlanta Legal Aid Society requires that all new hires be vaccinated for COVID-19.
ALAS considers all qualified applicants for employment without regard to race, color, national origin, religion, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, disability, or any other legally protected status.