Litigation Paralegal

Job Description

Job Description

THE FIRM

Hoss Law, APC is a litigation firm in Granite Bay. We practice California domestic relations law, personal injury, and federal civil rights litigation.

We are a small office. The work is real litigation — contested hearings, motion practice, discovery disputes, and trial preparation — and the person in this seat handles substantive work, not filing and phones.

THE POSITION

We are looking for a litigation paralegal who is comfortable in both state and federal court and who can carry a caseload with limited supervision.

This is the requirement that matters most. Most paralegals in this market work exclusively in state court. We need someone who can file in Placer and Sacramento Superior Court on Monday and in the Eastern District on Tuesday, and who understands that the deadline rules, the formatting rules, and the service rules are not the same.

WHAT YOU WILL ACTUALLY DO

Federal litigation - E-filing through CM/ECF; docket research through PACER - Drafting and responding to written discovery under the Federal Rules - Preparing initial disclosures under Rule 26 and tracking disclosure deadlines - Assembling exhibits and appendices in compliance with local rules and judges’ standing orders - Calendaring under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and each district’s local rules - Supporting Ninth Circuit appellate filings

California domestic relations - Judicial Council forms, including FL-150 income and expense declarations - Preliminary and final declarations of disclosure under Family Code sections 2103 through 2107 - DVPA restraining order applications and responses - Discovery under the Civil Discovery Act - Request for Order practice, including ex parte applications

Personal injury - Records collection, subpoenas, and medical chronologies - Damages summaries and settlement demand support - Deposition scheduling and summary preparation

Across all matters - Calendaring every deadline and knowing which rule generated it - Preparing for hearings, arbitrations, and trial - Client contact conducted professionally and without giving legal advice

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

You must qualify as a paralegal under California Business and Professions Code section 6450.

This is a threshold requirement, not a preference. In California “paralegal” is a regulated title, and a person who does not meet one of the statutory pathways may not be held out as a paralegal. You qualify if you hold one of the following:

•           A certificate of completion from an ABA-approved paralegal program; or

•           A certificate or degree from an accredited postsecondary institution requiring at least 24 semester units in law-related courses ; or

•           A baccalaureate or advanced degree in any subject , plus at least one year of law-related experience under attorney supervision, plus a written declaration from that supervising attorney.

Tell us which one applies to you, and be prepared to produce the document. We verify.

We also require:

•           Three or more years of litigation paralegal experience

•           Demonstrated federal court experience — CM/ECF, PACER, and the Federal Rules

•           Demonstrated California state court experience, including e-filing and Judicial Council forms

•           Working knowledge of the Code of Civil Procedure and the California Rules of Court

•           Accurate, independent calendaring of statutory and court-ordered deadlines

•           Strong writing, and the judgment to flag a problem rather than guess at it

•           Comfort with practice management software; we use MyCase

Preferred: family law experience; tortious injury and federal law experience; Essential Forms; Lexis; document review platforms, MyCase Case Management.

LOCATION, SCHEDULE, AND HOURS

Please read this section before applying.

•           The position is full-time , Monday through Friday, on-site at our Granite Bay office.

•           This role is not remote and not hybrid. In a firm this size the work is learned and coordinated in person. We are not able to accommodate a remote or partially remote arrangement for this position.

•           Flexible scheduling may be available for the right candidate.

•           You should be within a reasonable daily commute of Granite Bay, 95746.

If any of the above does not work for you, we would rather you tell us now than after two interviews. There is no hard feeling in it either way.

EMPLOYMENT TERMS

This is a full-time, non-exempt position. The firm offers paid vacation, paid sick leave, paid holidays, group health coverage, and an employer contribution to its retirement plan. Employment is at will. There is a ninety-day introductory period with a review at its conclusion.

Compensation is determined by experience and qualifications and will be discussed with candidates who advance in the process.

HOW TO APPLY

Email your application with the subject line: PARALEGAL

Applications that do not use this subject line may not reach the right folder.

Send all four items in a single email:

1.        Your résumé , with month and year for every position. Account for any gap longer than three months.

2.        A cover letter that answers these four questions directly:

-         Which section 6450 pathway you satisfy, and what document proves it

-          Your federal court experience — which districts, which filing systems, and what you actually did

-          The longest you have stayed in one position, and why you left

- What your compensation request is

3.        A writing sample of three to eight pages that you drafted yourself. A motion, brief, or memorandum is ideal. Redact it properly — confirm the text is actually removed, not merely covered — and tell us in one line what the matter was and what portion is your work.

4.        Three professional references with full names, titles, firms, telephone numbers, and email addresses. At least two should be supervising attorneys. Incomplete applications will not be reviewed. Assembling four items correctly is the first test of the skill this job requires.

WHAT WE ARE ACTUALLY LOOKING FOR

We would rather hire someone who says “I don’t know, let me find out and get back to you” than someone who guesses confidently. A missed deadline or a wrong citation is not a small mistake in this office and they rarely happen.

We want someone who reads the whole document, checks the math, notices when two records disagree, and tells the attorney when something looks wrong — including when the attorney is the one who made the error.

If that describes how you work, we would like to hear from you.

WHY WORK WITH US?

We are a small firm that works like a team, not a hierarchy. Everyone here knows what everyone else is carrying, and the work gets done because people talk to each other rather than around each other.

The lawyering is serious. We try cases. We handle contested hearings, complex motion practice, and federal litigation that most firms our size do not take on. The person in this seat is expected to be good at the job and is given real work to do.

What we are looking for is the right fit, not just the right résumé. We would rather wait for someone who belongs here than fill the chair quickly. If you are skilled, direct, and want to be part of a small group of exceptional professionals that does difficult work well, we would like to meet you.