Associate Attorney - Estate Planning & Estate Administration

Job Description

Zihmer Law Firm | Southpointe – Canonsburg, PA | In Office

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We run a business that practices law. \n

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If you’ve worked in a law firm and thought, “There has to be a better way to do this,” you may be our kind of person.

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Zihmer Law Firm is a fast-paced, growing estate planning and estate administration firm. We run on systems, technology, accountability, training, and an obsession with giving our clients an amazing experience.

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We don’t do things a certain way because “that’s how law firms have always done it.”

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We’re looking for a Pennsylvania-licensed attorney who wants to become an exceptional lawyer—and wants the training, responsibility, and opportunity to get there.

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No estate planning or estate administration experience is required. What matters more to us is that you’re smart, highly detail-oriented, efficient, great with people, and genuinely interested in this area of law.

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What You’ll Actually Do \n

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You’ll learn both estate planning and probate/estate administration , with real client interaction early in your career.

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Depending on your experience and progression, you’ll:

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• Meet directly with clients and learn to lead estate planning design meetings
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• Draft and review estate planning documents using our established systems and templates
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• Work directly on probate and estate administration matters
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• Communicate with clients throughout their matters
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• Spot problems and take action to keep matters moving
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• Gradually take ownership of matters from beginning to end
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• Build toward independently managing your own caseload
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Our goal isn’t to keep you doing junior-level work for years. Our goal is to develop you so that, within your first year, you’re capable of running your own caseload of clients.

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And we’re not going to throw you into the fire and tell you to figure it out.

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You’ll have a defined 30-60-90-day onboarding plan , hands-on legal training, mentoring, coaching, and leadership and business training. You’ll learn how to practice law, but you’ll also learn how a successful law firm operates.

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You Might Love It Here If…\n

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You like to get things done. You enjoy being busy, moving quickly, and looking back at the end of the day knowing you accomplished a lot.

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You’re efficient. You understand that taking longer doesn’t automatically make the work better. You care about producing excellent work—and figuring out the smartest way to get there.

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You’re extremely detail-oriented. You catch things other people miss.

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You like people. Our attorneys are client-facing. You need to be able to make clients feel comfortable, explain complicated concepts simply, and earn their trust.

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You want feedback. And, more importantly, you actually do something with it.

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You want responsibility. Once you’re trained, you want someone to trust you to take the ball and run with it.

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And when something goes wrong, your first thought is:

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“How do I fix this?”

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Not:

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“How do I explain why this wasn’t my fault?”

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You Probably Won’t Love It Here If…\n

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You want a slow-moving environment. We’re busy.

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You need someone to constantly tell you what to do next.

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You’re sloppy with details or rely on other people to catch your mistakes.

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You mistake perfectionism for excellence and spend three hours on something that should take one.

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You finish the task you were assigned without thinking about whether the actual outcome was accomplished.

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You’d rather hide behind a computer than interact with clients.

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Or you really like the traditional law firm model.

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We’re not going to become more traditional.

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We run a business that practices law, and we’re very intentional about that.

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How We Work \n

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We’re highly systemized and very technology-forward. Our systems exist so our team can move quickly without sacrificing quality.

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We care much more about what you accomplish than how good you are at looking busy.

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An extremely efficient attorney may accomplish in six hours what another person needs nine hours to complete. We value the attorney who learns how to produce excellent work efficiently.

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This is a fully in-office position in Southpointe (Canonsburg), Pennsylvania. We believe technology makes us better, but we also believe attorneys—particularly early in their careers—develop faster when they’re learning and collaborating with their team in person.

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We work hard while we’re here. There are no regular evening or weekend expectations.

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What We’re Looking For \n

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• Active Pennsylvania law license
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• Genuine interest in estate planning and estate administration
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• Exceptional attention to detail
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• Strong work ethic
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• Ability to work efficiently in a fast-paced environment
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• Personal accountability and ownership
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• Comfortable working directly with clients
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• Coachable and open to feedback
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• Comfortable with technology and learning new systems
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• Someone who genuinely likes working with people
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Prior estate planning or estate administration experience is not required.

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We’re happy to teach you the law and our systems.

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What is much harder to teach is work ethic, ownership, attention to detail, efficiency, and the desire to become excellent at what you do.

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Compensation & Benefits \n

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Salary: $90,000–$130,000 , depending on experience and demonstrated ability, plus eligibility for discretionary bonuses.

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Benefits include:

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• Healthcare stipend
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• Short-term disability insurance
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• Long-term disability insurance
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• Life insurance
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• Retirement plan with employer match
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• Paid time off
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• Paid CLE expenses
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• Hands-on training and mentoring
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• Leadership and business training
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• Coaching and professional development
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How We Show Up \n

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Our values aren’t words we put on a wall. They’re how we hire, coach, evaluate, and work:

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Complete Ownership

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Take It Further

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Amazing Client Experience

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The Golden Rule

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Bring Your “A” Game

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We’ve learned that people who genuinely share all five of these values thrive here.

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Missing even one matters.

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If you’re a Pennsylvania attorney who wants to learn quickly, work hard, interact with clients, take on meaningful responsibility, and build your career somewhere that’s rethinking what a law firm can look like, we’d love to meet you.