Paralegal

The mission of OPDS is to establish and maintain a public defense system that ensures the provision of public defense services consistent with the Oregon Constitution, the United States Constitution and Oregon and national standards of justice.

Trial Division programming or contract services provides effective and efficient delivery of public defense within the state court system by contracting with non-profit public defender offices, consortia, law firms and solo practitioners as independent contractors. PDSC/OPDS managing the contracts through four primary functions:

• assist the OPDS in establishing, revising, and monitoring compliance with statewide public defense policies and procedures.

• negotiate and monitor public defense services contracts for both attorney and non-attorney providers.

• serve as a resource for the Public Defense Services Commission, public defense providers, trial and appellate courts, other state and local agencies involved in the criminal and juvenile justice system, and the legislative assembly; and

• perform research and provide consultation on public defense-related issues.

In June 2023, the Oregon Legislature approved funding for the implementation of a pilot project to establish 9 full-time attorney positions for a pilot program to hire state employees to serve as trial-level appointed counsel and supporting staff, including paralegals, secretaries, and investigators. The pilots will focus in two geographic regions of the state to respond to the unrepresented defendant/persons crisis. Location of the position will be in Medford.

Primary Purpose of this Position:

This position will play a vital role in the intake and case selection process, including obtaining and organizing core case documents and overseeing key aspects of our data collection and case management system. This role will also assist the Program Director in collecting and analyzing in-house and grant partner data for inclusion in semi-annual federal grant reports. This position will provide significant exposure to clients, jails and correctional facilities and staff, courts, and other public safety agencies.

Duties:

Client Contact and Communications with Other Persons:

• Paralegal will enjoy daily in-person and telephone contact with clients, representatives of opposing parties, court officials, witnesses, and experts regarding case development, coordination, and closure activities.

• Review case files for sufficiency of documentation and obtain discovery and additional materials.

• Prepare for litigation by establishing time and location of interviews, preparing subpoenas, collecting, and organizing relevant documents, outlining interview questions, summarizing proceedings, identifying key legal issues, and preparing and organizing exhibits.

• Work with clients and representatives of the opposing party regarding pertinent case records and case status to gather necessary documents during the legal discovery process for submission at hearing for complex cases; develops, organizes, and manages computerized litigation support database.

• Assist in preparation of trial by reviewing, organizing, indexing documents, and managing document flow. Maintain and update casebooks and casefile logs.

• Attend attorney, client or third party and other case-related meetings and write memoranda recording discussions.

• Prepare legal correspondence for own signature or signature of attorney.

• Prepare status reports and calendars; monitor for litigation process deadlines to ensure timely action (i.e., document filings with the court) by attorneys. Locate, interview, ensure availability, and prepare witnesses (including expert) for litigation purposes.

Legal Research and Writing:

• Assist the attorney in the preparation of legal arguments for attorney use in pretrial motions and the filing of legal briefs and responses to criminal cases.

• Research statutory legislative history, administrative rule, and case law by analyzing issues, summarizing cases, and drafting legal documents or memoranda based on the research.

• Assist with discovery motions and public records requests by researching issues, indexing motions and orders, responding to inquiries, reviewing of client records for confidentiality and revising case files.

• If applicable, review legislative bill drafts, committee minutes and exhibits, tape recordings of committee hearings and floor debates, federal house and senate committee reports and hearing records, state laws and journals, the federal congressional record and other relevant documentation. Analyze and summarizes results and conclusions at attorney request.

• Examine the records of opposing parties to identify and acquire those that support the client's case. Write document requests and designate relevant documents. Locate, review, and organize the government’s discovery documents; and provide for production and delivery of documents to the opposing parties.

• Review, analyze, and draft subpoenas, pretrial orders, stipulations, findings of fact, opinions, petitions, responses to subpoenas, responses to motions, and other legal documents. Read and summarize arguments in opponents' pleadings, memoranda, and briefs; summarize, digest, and tag or code transcripts from trials and other proceedings; assist with formal and informal opinions by researching issues and drafting opinions, cite-checking, and proofreading opinions.