Legal Administrative Assistant

Legal Internships and Externships

Legal Administrative Assistant, Washington, DC, office

The American Association of University Professors (AAUP) is pleased to announce a Legal Administrative Assistant position, to be filled as soon as possible, in our national office located in Washington, DC. The primary responsibility of this position is to provide administrative support for two lawyers in the Legal Department. The position reports to the AAUP Senior Counsel. The position involves working with diverse individuals both inside and outside of the AAUP office.

Duties and Responsibilities

• Maintaining paper and electronic legal department files.
• Assisting with internal and external communications, including processing correspondence and memoranda; fielding and responding to email, telephone, and mail inquiries; proofreading department material; and assisting in preparing department reports.
• Assisting in department scheduling and administration, including maintaining department calendar, schedule, and task lists; processing travel expenses and check requests; and assisting in tracking department budget and expenses.
• Maintaining paper and electronic department and committee records, including copying and filing records, maintaining file lists, and maintaining records on archived files.
• Assisting in maintaining human relations files, calendaring and providing notifications to staff and references, and tracking status of human relations activities.
• Working with other staff to prepare for AAUP meetings and conventions and providing assistance at meetings in the DC area, with possible optional travel to meetings outside of the DC area.
• Assisting in the staffing of AAUP committees served by the department, including preparing notices and meeting materials, and maintaining committee rosters and calendars.
• Assisting in tracking and calendaring litigation, including calendaring deadlines, electronic filing with tribunals, and monitoring case status on LEXIS and PACER.
• Tracking legal compliance and governance documents and submissions and maintaining legal compliance and governance files.
• Accessing cases and conducting basic research on LEXIS and PACER.
• Drafting short letters, emails and summaries of activities of the Legal Department.
• Monitoring pending legal cases, reviewing court decisions and drafting short case summaries.
• Proofing and editing memoranda, briefs and other written documents.
• Other duties as assigned.

Qualifications

• Strong organizational skills and the ability to work independently with modest supervision.
• Strong attention to detail and the ability to prioritize, handle multiple tasks, and meet tight deadlines.
• Strong oral and written communication skills, including the ability to independently draft correspondence; format documents; and proofread material for grammatical, typographical, and spelling errors.
• Strong interpersonal skills, including the ability to work as part of a team and to successfully interact with a variety of personalities.
• Strong technical aptitude and working familiarity with the MS Office suite, particularly Word, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, and Adobe.
• Associate’s degree required, Bachelor’s degree preferred.
• Administrative office experience preferred.
• Experience working in an association or union setting is preferred.

Compensation

Minimum starting salary: $45,000 (salary is based on full-time employment and may be higher depending on preferred qualifications and experience). Generous benefits package.

Position Classification

This regular full-time position is categorized as a confidential Assistant staff position and is excluded from the staff union bargaining unit. AAUP may consider part-time applicants (24-27 hours per week). This is a non-exempt position, eligible for overtime pay.

Applications

To apply, send a resume and cover letter to legalsearch@aaup.org. Please include “Legal Administrative Assistant – YOUR NAME” in the subject line of the email. You may also mail your resume and cover letter to AAUP, 1133 Nineteenth Street NW, Suite 200, Washington, DC 20036, Attention: Legal Administrative Assistant Search. No phone calls please. Review of applications will begin immediately and continue until the position is filled. For additional information about the AAUP, please visit www.aaup.org.

The AAUP is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of age, sex, disability, race, color, religion, national origin, marital status, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, personal appearance, family responsibilities, genetic information, matriculation, political affiliation, or other characteristics unrelated to professional performance.

Women and minorities are encouraged to apply.

Legal Internships and Externships

The American Association of University Professors (AAUP) is seeking qualified interns or externs for summer or the academic year.  

The intern and extern positions will be in a legal department currently staffed with two lawyers and one paralegal and involves significant in-house legal and other support work for the Association. The legal office files amicus briefs in higher education cases of national significance, provides legal information on a wide range of issues to staff and members all over the country, and acts as a resource on higher education issues.  Staff and volunteer lawyers are experts in such areas as academic freedom, discrimination, affirmative action, intellectual property, and employment.  Interns and externs can expect to be asked to research and write on a variety of legal issues including First Amendment, higher education, collective bargaining, election, tax, labor, personnel, financial, and contract issues.

Past legal interns have helped research and write amicus briefs in the federal court system, updated a multi-state survey on faculty handbooks as employment contracts, and researched and written legal outlines and fact sheets on topics such as “Faculty and Defamation Suits,” “Faculty and Family Leave Issues,” and “Academic Freedom and the First Amendment.” Externs should be in their second or third year of law school and be available to work approximately fifteen hours per week.  Summer internships are available to students who have completed their second year of law school.  AAUP legal staff will work with interested applicants to arrange for public interest stipends, academic credit or pro bono credit from their law school.

Qualified applicants will possess excellent analytical skills

• strong writing and research skills
• interest in higher education issues
• enthusiasm and initiative

To apply for an externship or internship position, please send a cover letter, resume, official transcript and writing sample to:

AAUP – Legal Department
ATTN:  DC Internship Program
1133 19th St. NW, Suite 200
Washington, D.C.  20036
legal.dept@aaup.org (If applying by email, please address the Subject line as: “DC Internship + Your Name”)

For more information, please see AAUP’s Legal Program.