Administrative Assistant- The Center for Veterans' Advancement

ABOUT PUBLIC COUNSEL

Public Counsel is the nation’s largest provider of pro bono legal services. Founded in 1970, it is dedicated to advancing equal justice under law and addressing economic, racial, social, and other inequities by delivering free legal and social services to the most vulnerable members of our community. Public Counsel operates eight legal projects: Children’s Rights, Community Development, Consumer Rights & Economic Justice, Homelessness Prevention, Immigrants’ Rights, Veterans’ Rights, the Audrey Irmas Project for Women & Girls’ Rights, and our impact litigation project, Opportunity Under Law. 

Public Counsel has a full-time staff of over 150. We are committed to building a diverse staff and encourage applications from people of color, people with disabilities, and people of all gender identities, gender expressions, and sexualities.

ABOUT THE CENTER FOR VETERANS’ ADVANCEMENT

Veterans and individuals leaving military service are facing disproportionately higher rates of poverty, employment barriers, housing instability, trauma, mental health issues and challenges with adjusting to civilian life. As a consequence, service members are struggling to meet their basic human needs.

The Center for Veterans’ Advancement (CVA) provides legal advocacy and resources to ensure that every veteran and returning service member and their family have access to basic life necessities and entitlements that will increase stability and self-sufficiency, including the right to government benefits, access to employment, housing, and health and mental healthcare. CVA also provides support to ensure intersectionality among all Public Counsel projects serving veterans.

JOB SUMMARY

CVA is seeking an Administrative Assistant. The Administrative Assistant works under the supervision of the CVA Interim Directing Attorney and has the following responsibilities: 

• Primarily responsible for administrative office support to CVA; 
• Manages referrals and incoming phone calls from intake portals, including direct online intakes from referring agencies, various phone lines, internal referrals from other projects within Public Counsel, and various other external referral sources (e.g. UniteUs);
• Conducts detailed intakes with prospective clients and prepares cases for eligibility and merit assessment at weekly Case Review meeting and, if applicable, facilitates case placement with in-house staff or external Pro Bono volunteers;
• Create and maintain client files (online case management system), including opening, closing, uploading and storing documents, case notes, and updating pro bono and client information;
• Tracking project data, including preparing all reports for grant compliance and program budget; 
• Prepare and send correspondence/filings to clients, court, the VA or other government agencies;
• Manage all incoming and outgoing mail and track certified mail as requested;
• Maintain project calendars, manage CVA Zoom account and draft meeting agendas;
• Coordinate outreach, hiring, onboarding and management of in-house volunteers, interns and Pro Bono attorneys; 
• Assist in outreach to clients and partner organizations;
• Assist with document review and project management in complex administrative law and benefits cases; and
• Other duties as assigned.

ESSENTIAL JOB SKILLS AND ABILITIES

Candidate must be a team player who possesses the following: 

• Strong writing and editing skills; 
• Strong communication skills;
• Strong computer skills (Word, Outlook, Excel, PowerPoint, and Adobe Pro); 
• Ability to prioritize multiple tasks; 
• Ability to work well under pressure and in teams; 
• Ability to complete work accurately and in a timely fashion; 
• Attention to detail, outstanding organizational skills, ability to multitask; 
• Experience in and dedication to working with people of diverse cultural, geographic, and economic backgrounds including individuals with a history of trauma.

The following skills or abilities are encouraged: 

• Bachelor’s degree with at least one year of relevant experience in social services, or relevant life experience; 
• Experience maintaining legal case files (especially in digital case management systems such as LegalServer or ProLaw);
• Interest in veterans’ rights and trauma-informed practice.