Trusts & Estates Associate Attorney

Description

At Legal Norcal P.C., we're seeking a dedicated Trusts & Estates Associate Attorney to join our team and make a meaningful impact in the lives of clients. In this dynamic role, you'll manage probate, trust, and estate administration cases from start to finish, ensuring families navigate these complex processes with confidence and clarity. You'll also handle estate planning cases, allowing you to support clients in taking control of their legacies. Our firm values professional growth and a supportive work environment, providing a sustainable workload with a 1,500-hour billable target and a competitive salary ranging from $130,000 to $160,000, plus bonuses and a comprehensive benefits package.

We're proud to foster a culture of collaboration and innovation, using modern legal technology to empower our team. You'll thrive in our remote-first setting, with flexible time off and opportunities for professional development. As part of our community, you'll uphold our core values of providing value, teamwork, respect, and empowerment. Your work will be integral to helping families, including multigenerational and diverse communities, navigate their legal needs. If you're ready to join a firm that prioritizes both client success and your professional journey, let's explore this opportunity together.

Responsibilities

• Run probate matters from petition through final distribution, including intake, fee planning, petition drafting, court appearances throughout Northern California (Glenn, Butte, Tehama, Yuba, Sutter, Shasta, Plumas, Lassen, Modoc, and statewide as needed), notices, inventory and appraisal coordination with the probate referee, creditor claims, accountings, and final distribution
• Administer routine and complex trusts, including initial trustee guidance, beneficiary notices, asset inventory and valuation, sub-trust funding for A/B and A/B/C structures, ongoing accountings, distributions, and final closure
• Handle estate administration matters that fall between probate and trust administration, including small-estate affidavits, spousal property petitions, summary procedures, and matters that require attorney judgment to characterize the first time
• Manage estate planning matters (approximately 25 to 35 percent of time), including design meetings, attorney review, and signing meetings, supported by the legal team behind you
• Coordinate with the firm's CPA and finance partners on complex matters involving tax allocation, basis decisions, and sub-trust splits
• Communicate with clients during emotionally significant moments with clarity, empathy, and steady professionalism, leaving clients calmer and more in control after every conversation
• Track time contemporaneously and write task-based, value-conveying time entries that reflect the substance of the work for each client

Qualifications

• Active California State Bar license in good standing
• Juris Doctor (J.D.) from a California-accredited or ABA-accredited law school
• Three or more years of substantive trusts and estates experience, with depth in at least two of estate planning, trust administration, and probate, and meaningful exposure to the third
• Working knowledge of the California Probate Code, the California Revenue and Taxation Code, the California Rules of Court, and the California Code of Civil Procedure as they apply to probate and trust administration, including Proposition 19 and Medi-Cal recovery
• Excellent bedside manner with clients during emotionally significant moments, with the ability to explain complex legal concepts in plain language
• Technologically fluent and comfortable in modern legal software (MyCase, WealthCounsel, Clio Draft, DecisionVault, Lawmatics, Microsoft 365, CEB, LexisNexis)
• Bilingual English and Spanish, strongly preferred but not required