Legal Clerk I - First Filing & Judgements and Petitions - Municipal Court, Civil Division

Company Description

A best-in-class city that attracts best-in-class talent, Philadelphia is an incredible place to build a career. From our thriving arts scene and rich history to our culture of passion and grit, there are countless reasons to love living and working here. With a workforce of over 30,000 people, and more than 1,000 different job categories, the City of Philadelphia offers boundless opportunities to make an impact.

As an employer, the City of Philadelphia values inclusion, integrity, innovation, empowerment, and hard work above all else. We offer a vibrant work environment, comprehensive health care and benefits, and the experience you need to grow and excel. If you’re interested in working with a passionate team of people who care about the future of Philadelphia, start here.

What we offer

• Impact - The work you do here matters to millions. 
• Growth - Philadelphia is growing, why not grow with it? 
• Diversity & Inclusion - Find a career in a place where everyone belongs.
• Benefits - We care about your well-being.

Agency Description

The First Judicial District of Pennsylvania (“FJD”) is the Philadelphia County Court System and is composed of two courts:  the Court of Common Pleas and the Municipal Court.  The mission of the FJD is to adjudicate cases and provide services to the community within our jurisdiction while ensuring fair, timely, and accessible justice to the people of Philadelphia.  The FJD is part of the Unified Judicial System reporting in to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court of Pennsylvania.

In order to apply and be considered for this position, please visit https://fjdcareers.phila.gov/Cyberweb/ to complete an application and upload a resume.

Job Description

Position Summary

There is a position available in both the First Filing and Judgements & Petitions Unit of the Philadelphia Municipal Court, Civil Division.

This is entry level clerical legal work.  It differs from the nonlegal clerical classes by the constant work with legal documents and the degree of consequence of error and accountability involving the abstraction of pertinent information from legal documents in summary form to a docket which may serve as a basis for possible legal activity by counsel and the judiciary.  Work is performed according to clearly defined rules and procedures, under direct supervision, in a training mode.

In order to apply and be considered for this position, please visit https://fjdcareers.phila.gov/Cyberweb/ to complete an application and upload a resume.

Essential Functions

The following duties are normal for this position.  These are not to be construed as exclusive or all-inclusive.  Other duties may be required and assigned.

• Ability to give information clearly and concisely.
• Ability to extract and summarize pertinent information from applicant interviews.
• Thorough knowledge of applicable rules, regulations and procedures as they apply to the assigned function in Municipal Court, i.e., Municipal Court Civil Rules, PA Rules of Civil Procedure, etc.
• Examines legal instruments to determine information for posting to dockets.
• Abstracts, summarizes and records filing dates, types of legal instruments, and in some cases, substance of legal documents into dockets.
• Returns incorrect documents for appropriate action if necessary.
• Processes documents in accordance with standard procedures.
• Examines legal instruments to determine applicability of posting into indexes of judgments and liens.
• Extracts pertinent information onto work sheets for indexing purposes into a variety of registers.
• Searches dockets and indexes in order to serve the public with information.
• Accepts filings from staff, judges, attorneys and other interested parties and exemplifies and certifies essential documents for legal or personal transactions.
• Processes incoming official and essential legal documents for inclusion into a system of court records according to procedural rules.
• Checks court documents for errors and serves as a quality control check.
• Performs terminal or PC data entry on legal filing turn‑around documents from hand written or coded material.
• Maintains a court record filing system with adequate controls, standards, and access restrictions.
• Processes outgoing records to microfilm.
• Resolves and responds to inquiries concerning court documents or actio