Bilingual Receptionist (Part Time or Full Time)

Job Type: Regular Full-time
The Harris County Public Defender's Office is committed to providing high-quality, client-centered representation to individuals accused of criminal offenses who cannot afford counsel. Our office works collaboratively across legal and support teams to advocate for our clients, protect constitutional rights, and promote fairness within the legal system. We value professionalism, integrity, teamwork, and compassionate public service.
The Bilingual Receptionist serves as the first point of contact for clients, visitors, attorneys, court personnel, and community partners. This position is responsible for providing exceptional customer service, managing front desk operations, and ensuring efficient communication within the office. The ideal candidate is professional, organized, customer-focused, and able to communicate effectively in both English and Spanish while interacting with individuals from diverse backgrounds, including justice-involved populations and their families.
Answer and manage a multi-line telephone system and direct calls promptly and accurately.
Maintain confidentiality of privileged legal information, sensitive client records, and office operations.
Ensure reception and common office areas remain organized, professional, and presentable.
Monitor office equipment and coordinate maintenance or repair requests when needed.
Order, organize, and maintain office supplies and coordinate inventory needs.
Perform a daily inter-office pickup and deliveries to various county departments in Downtown complex.
Communicate effectively with clients, attorneys, court personnel, incarcerated clients, family members, and members of the public in both English and Spanish.
If you need special services or accommodations, please call View phone number on click.appcast.io or email View email address on click.appcast.io.

High School Diploma or G.Bilingual English and Spanish (reading, writing, speaking) required.
Proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite (Outlook, Word, Excel, Teams).
Ability to handle confidential information with discretion.
Must be customer service oriented and possess excellent interpersonal, verbal, and written communication skills.
Presents a positive demeanor, works well with the public and other staff.
NOTE : Qualifying education, experience, knowledge, and skills must be documented on your job application. You may attach a resume to the application as supporting documentation but ONLY information stated on the application will be used for consideration. "Two (2) years of receptionist, administrative, or office support experience preferred.
Familiarity with legal terminology or criminal justice environment.
Experience working in a law office, government agency, court setting, or professional services environment.
Experience supporting attorneys or legal support teams.
Regular Full-time
Monday - Friday | 8:00 A.M. - This position operates in a professional legal office environment supporting attorneys and staff dedicated to criminal defense representation.
The role requires frequent interaction with clients, legal professionals, court personnel, incarcerated clients, and internal administrative teams.
This position may involve managing high call volumes, interacting with individuals experiencing stress or crisis, and handling sensitive and confidential information.
Due to a high volume of applications positions may close prior to the advertised closing date or at the discretion of the Hiring Department.
Harris County offers a highly competitive benefits program, featuring a comprehensive group health plan and defined benefit retirement plan.
The following benefits are offered only to Harris County employees in regular (full-time) positions:
Medical Coverage
Dental Coverage
Life Insurance
Long-Term Disability (LTD) Insurance
Employee Assistance Program (EAP)
Healthcare Flexible Spending Account
Dependent Care Flexible Spending Account
Eleven (11) County-observed holidays
One (1) floating holiday per year
Retirement Savings Benefit
~The following benefits are available to Harris County employees in full-time and select part-time positions:
Retirement pension (TCDRS defined benefit plan)
Flexible work schedule*
The employee benefits plans of Harris County are extended to all eligible participants across various departments with the exception of the Harris County Community Supervision and Corrections Department, for which the cited Health & Wellness Benefits are administered through the State of Texas.
For plan details, visit the Harris County Benefits & Wellness website:
High School or GED diploma
Bachelor's Degree
Are you bilingual in English and Spanish (reading, writing, speaking)?
Do you have two (2) years of receptionist, administrative, or office support experience?
Do you have familiarity with legal terminology or criminal justice environment?
Do you have experience working in a law office, government agency, court setting, or professional services environment?
Do you have experience supporting attorneys or legal support teams?
Which of the following describes your level of proficiency using a personal computer and common office software such as MS Office Suite (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook). Please select your level of proficiency based on the following descriptions:Advanced:A person with this level of skills is able to produce very large, complex formal documents that require a table of contents, footnotes, endnotes, bookmarks, and other special elements; a wide range of graphic effects, and use advanced techniques for analyzing and manipulating data. Has full mastery of Macro commands and skills to tie the objects together into a cohesive system by using Macros and Visual Basic for Applications code. Intermediate:A person with this level of skills is able to customize toolbars, import and insert graphs, embed Excel data, and elaborate reports. Understands the concepts of databases and is able to work with charts and to use the list management capabilities of Excel. Basic:A person with this level of skills is able to use basic formatting, editing, printing functions, and understands the document page setup. Has the ability to enter and correct data, modify a workbook, format a worksheet, and use printing functions. Understands the different database concepts and structures and is familiar with data validation and is able to create a simple presentation in PowerPoint, run it, and print it.Entry Level:A person with this level of skills has the ability to open, create, save and modify documents in Word, send and receive email in Outlook and create spreadsheets in Excel. Format documents for printing, comfortable using the printer menu to preview documents. Entry Level