Staff Attorney
HR Email Address:
Details
POSITION SUMMARY
A Staff Attorney performs substantive legal support functions on client matters. Working with the Partner-in-Charge (or designee) and other attorneys and paraprofessionals, the Staff Attorney conducts legal research and drafts legal memoranda and other documents, including discovery, routine commercial contracts, summaries of law in specific practice areas and jurisdictions, and analyses of factual and legal issues.
The Staff Attorney also manages and supports litigation discovery, reviews and analyzes physical documents and electronically stored information (ESI) for objective coding and to identify privilege and relevancy issues, and performs due diligence for transactional and financing matters.
A Staff Attorney also performs certain substantive non-chargeable tasks as necessary, including competitive business intelligence research regarding clients and markets; drafting responses to requests for proposal; and other non-billable matters related to the Firm’s business.
The Staff Attorney is generally not expected to participate in formal legal proceedings such as regulatory proceedings, depositions, court hearings, mediations, arbitrations, or trials, or to sign pleadings or other legally operative documents on behalf of the Firm or its clients. The overall annual hours expectation for Staff Attorneys is 1750 quality hours, of which a minimum of 1650 are client chargeable hours.
ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS
- Provide thorough factual and legal research and analysis in memoranda and other written documents.
- Prepare written discovery, including document requests, interrogatories, and third-party discovery.
- Perform due diligence for transactional and financing matters.
- Prepare contracts for routine commercial matters.
- Manage and support litigation discovery, including record, document, and file management, including databases of electronically stored information.
- Analyze documents and ESI for potential production / responsiveness to discovery requests.
- Review and evaluate documents and ESI for relevancy, privilege, and confidentiality determinations.
- Assist Partners and Associates with trial preparation, including preparation of witness binders and demonstrative exhibits.
- Review, analyze, and summarize depositions of fact and expert witnesses.
- Assist Partners and Associates in various aspects of bankruptcy, foreclosure, and workout cases.
- Assist Partners and Associates with preparation for closings of transactional and financing matters, including preparation of documents for execution and regulatory filings.
- Provide management with periodic productivity reports and updates on project completion timeframe.
- Perform non-chargeable administrative work and other related work as assigned.
Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities Required
- Understanding of the basic facets of the discovery process (document production and review, interrogatories, depositions) and the ability to draft written discovery, with supervision.
- Understanding of the basic facets of commercial and financing transactions (due diligence, regulatory filings, closings).
- Ability to conduct and apply thorough legal research and analysis in memoranda and other written work product.
- Familiarity with and ability to prepare basic litigation and transactional documents.
- Familiarity with electronic discovery rules and their application.
- Familiarity with the basic facets of bankruptcy proceedings and foreclosure actions.
- Ability to collect, review, organize, and produce client physical documents and ESI.
- Ability to draft contracts for routine commercial matters.
- Ability to collect, review, organize and summarize corporate, tax, environmental, real and personal property, employment, intellectual property, and regulatory documents maintained in the ordinary course of client business operations.
- Familiarity with procedural rules in states, districts, and courts in which the Staff Attorney practices.
- Familiarity with the substantive law and with concepts applying across litigation and transactional practices.
- Ability to learn new substantive legal topics and factual subject matters as needed based on the nature of the litigation or transaction.
- Understanding of and ability to apply attorney ethics rules.
- Ability to communicate effectively orally and in writing.
- Ability to work effectively with others as part of a team.
- Ability to work effectively under pressure and to meet deadlines.
REQUIREMENTS
Education & Licensure:
Juris Doctor. Qualified candidates must be and remain licensed to practice law and in good standing in the state of employment and at least one United States District Court. During employment, must to meet requirements for continuing licensure for law practice; some opportunities for obtaining in-house CLE via Reed Smith University will be available.
Experience:
Attorneys with substantive (i.e., other than document and due diligence review) work experience at a law firm or company are strongly preferred. Strong academic credentials, large law firm associate experience and previous major document and due diligence review projects and electronic document review experience are also preferred.
Technical Skills:
Experience using and proficiency with MS Office, Summation, Concordance or other e-discovery review tools and related software is required.
OTHER
Supervisory Responsibilities:
None.
Equipment used:
Desktop computer and other office equipment such as remote email access device, fax machine, copier, scanner, etc.
Typical Physical Demands:
Sit for extended periods; frequently stand and walk; manual dexterity sufficient to operate standard office equipment; lift and move objects weighing approximately 30 lbs.
Typical Mental Demands:
Factual and legal analysis. Continuous learning of new legal principles and factual subject matters. Must follow up on outstanding issues and keep attorneys informed of status. Regularly handle highly confidential matters with discretion and judgment. Responsible for high volume of work with frequently short deadlines and must be able to deal with stress associated with fast-paced work environment. Works with multiple internal teams as well as external parties and must therefore be able to communicate effectively with various people at all levels.
Working Conditions:
Works in a typical office setting. May be called upon to work hours in excess of 40 hours in a workweek (including potential for evening and weekend work when required to meet deadlines). Job duties may require occasional travel to other Reed Smith offices and off-site locations.
Please submit resume and salary requirement to:
Jennifer J. Ross
Senior Manager of Legal Recruiting
Reed Smith LLP
225 Fifth Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15222
E-Mail: Jobs@reedsmith.com
~ no phone calls please ~
~ no search firm submissions accepted ~
Reed Smith is an Equal Opportunity Employer