Paralegal

Job Description

Job Description

ACLU of Pennsylvania seeks Paralegal

The American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania (ACLU-PA) seeks a motivated, organized, and detail-oriented full-time paralegal to join its legal department. This role is designed for a person who wants to make an impact on civil liberties and civil rights by providing top-notch administrative, intake and clerical support to the ACLU-PA’s legal team. The position is full-time and reports to the senior supervising attorney in our Philadelphia or Pittsburgh office.   

The Paralegal will join a 10+ person legal department that employs litigation and a wide range of advocacy tools to protect and expand civil rights and civil liberties. The legal department maintains an active litigation docket with particular focus on reducing the number of people held in jail, prison, and immigration detention; immigrants’ rights; TLGBTQIA+ discrimination; protecting democracy and freedom of expression and defending voting rights. The Paralegal will support the administrative needs of the legal team, as well as work with the intake manager to support processing and responding to the requests for legal assistance.   

Our Approach

The ACLU-PA values the humanity and contributions of those we work with, inside and outside of the organization, and will take action to build and sustain an equitable, anti-racist culture that centers the voices and experiences of marginalized and directly impacted people and communities, and an organizational environment where all people feel valued, trusted, and respected. Our work is guided by the principles of freedom, equality, and justice enumerated in the Constitution. We understand that systemic racism and other forms of oppression have prevented the equitable application of these principles to all, and we strive to ensure that our approach accounts for this reality. We also acknowledge that demands of the work as well as the challenging subject matter it often involves take a toll. While we know that the path of this work is long and hard, we also value the importance of personal well-being. To that end, we endeavor to cultivate a culture that is supportive and sustainable and promotes taking care of oneself.

The Paralegal’s essential duties and responsibilities will likely include, but may not be limited to, the following:

• Meticulously organize and maintain electronic and hard copy legal case files, including court filings, discovery documents, attorney correspondence, client-related files, and other case-related documents.
• Prepare legal filings, including by ensuring compliance with court rules, by creating tables of contents and authorities, proofreading/cite-checking, preparing exhibits, filing documents electronically, and coordinating the production, filing, and service of paper documents.
• Assist attorneys with fact development and collection, including preparing and reviewing public records requests, and interviewing clients and witnesses.
• Assist attorneys with preparing and serving discovery requests and reviewing discovery responses.
• Assist attorneys in preparing materials for court hearings, depositions, and client meetings.
• Communicate/coordinate with clients, court personnel, co-counsel, cooperating attorneys, partner organizations, and other stakeholders, as assigned.
• Help manage the legal internship program, including administration of the hiring process and arranging programming and training of interns.
• Assist with hiring, onboarding, and arranging for professional development for the legal department, including recruitment and training of legal department staff and interns.  
• Schedule meetings and conference calls, and manage calendars,
• Maintain internal systems including case tracking, conflicts checks, calendaring, timekeeping, and expense tracking. 
• Manage departmental vendors and contracts (e.g., library and research tools).
• Perform general clerical and administrative duties, including copying, scanning, filing, and mailing.
• Assist in planning and coordination for meetings and events hosted by the legal department.
• Attend departmental and issue-oriented meetings to stay updated on ongoing work.
• Other duties as assigned.

Required Qualifications

• A bachelor’s degree or paralegal certificate from an accredited program, or equivalent experience in a law practice handling litigation in state and/or federal court.
• Two or more years of complex litigation support experience.
• Familiarity with electronic case filing, such as PACER, Westlaw, and PACFile.
• Ability to stay organized, pay attention to details and manage time effectively.
• Experience handling and prioritizing multiple activities and responsibilities under time pressure.
• Strong computer skills, including Microsoft Word and Excel, and ability to learn new computer programs.
• Experience creating tables of contents, tables of authorities, mail merges, and organizing data into spreadsheets.
• Experience being dependable and punctual and responsibly handling confidential information.
• Ability to work cooperatively on a variety of projects with lawyers, other ACLU-PA staff, clients, and co-counsel.
• Excellent interpersonal, verbal and written communication skills.
• Ability to occasionally work evenings and weekends.

Desired Qualifications - Ideally, the successful candidate will exhibit the following characteristics:

• Basic understanding of issues related to civil and constitutional rights.
• Familiarity with Pennsylvania and federal courts.
• Experience with case management software.
• Ability to speak and/or write in Spanish and to assist clients with limited English proficiency.
• Demonstrated personal commitment to advancing the ACLU’s values, mission, goals and programs, with an understanding of a broad range of civil liberties and civil rights issues and their implications.
• Direct personal or professional experience with communities impacted by systemic bias or economic exclusion.

Compensation & Benefits

The salary for the Paralegal is $66,966 annually. Candidates with 5 or more years of relevant experience will be considered for the position of Senior Paralegal. The salary for Senior Paralegal is $75,778. Excellent benefits include generous vacation, personal and sick leave; individual/family employer-provided health and dental insurance; life insurance and long-term disability; defined contribution plan with employer match; and 11 paid holidays. This position is full-time, salaried, and non-exempt.

Location

This position will be based in our Philadelphia or Pittsburgh office. Under the ACLU-PA’s current hybrid remote work policy, the Paralegal will be permitted to work up to three days per week remotely.  

ACLU-PA has a Covid-19 vaccine mandate, and candidates receiving a job offer will be required to show proof of being fully vaccinated against COVID-19 prior to commencing employment. Exemptions to this requirement will be considered on a case-by-case basis in accordance with applicable law.

Application Procedure

Applications will be accepted until July 1, 2026.  Applications must include (1) a resume, (2) a cover letter that best expresses your interest and unique qualifications, and (3) list of three references via our career page No calls, please.

The ACLU of Pennsylvania advances equity and inclusion in the workplace by providing equal employment opportunity to support a work environment free from discrimination on the basis of race, religious creed, color, national origin, ancestry, physical disability, mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, age (over 40), sexual orientation, military and veteran status, and any other basis prohibited by law. The organization also provides reasonable accommodations for qualified applicants and employees with disabilities. This equal employment opportunity policy applies to all aspects of employment, including recruitment, selection, advancement, training, problem resolution, and separation from employment. Through this policy, the ACLU-PA strives to establish and maintain an equitable and accessible work environment that is free from discrimination and supportive of a workforce that reflects the rich diversity of our communities and the people we serve.

About the ACLU of Pennsylvania

The American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, membership organization that serves as an enduring guardian of justice, fairness, and freedom, working to protect civil liberties and advance equity for all.

ACLU-PA defends and promotes the fundamental principles and values protected by the constitutions of the United States and of the commonwealth of Pennsylvania, as well as by national, state and local civil rights laws. For more than 100 years, the ACLU has sought in particular to protect and expand the freedoms of expression, belief and association; voting rights; the separation of church and state; the right to privacy, including reproductive freedom; due process of law, including the rights of the accused and of immigrants; limitations on the power of police; and the right to equal protection for all marginalized individuals and groups. In advancing these rights, ACLU-PA strives always to acknowledge and remedy the pervasive and persistent harms of systemic racism.

Integrating litigation, legislative and policy advocacy, organizing, and communications, ACLU-PA’s staff and volunteers work both independently and in coalition with those most affected by the issues we address to ensure that threats to liberty and the civil rights of all persons in Pennsylvania are met with stark resistance as we progress toward a more genuine multiracial, multicultural democracy.

ACLU-PA’s hiring process will comply with Philadelphia’s Fair Criminal Records Screening Standards (“Ban the Box”) ordinance.

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