Legal Assistant

Job title under review

The University of Ottawa—A crossroads of cultures and ideas

The University of Ottawa is home to a dynamic community of over 50,000 students, faculty and staff, who live, work and study in both French and English. Our campus is a crossroad of cultures and ideas, where bold minds come together to inspire game-changing ideas. We believe in the power of representation, and that increasing the diversity of our faculty and staff supports this objective. Our goal is to provide students with the best possible learning experience, in an environment that reflects the diversity of its people, their ideas, and their identities.

We are one of Canada’s top 10 research universities—our professors and researchers explore new approaches to today’s challenges. One of a handful of Canadian universities ranked among the top 200 in the world, we attract exceptional thinkers and welcome diverse perspectives from across the globe. Our employees come together around the shared purpose of constant improvement, personal development, service excellence, teamwork and a passion for learning with a desire to make uOttawa and the world a better place. Everyone's contributions are valued, we all play a part in making uOttawa a world-class institution. Most importantly, we make it possible for you to achieve your full potential. Because at uOttawa, you belong
- This position may be eligible for a telework arrangement. Learn more about our telework guidelines click here

**Position purpose**:
Reporting to the Legal Counsel and Director, wo rks with legal counsels on activities related to sound operations of the Legal Counsel Office, ensuring stable, professional, confidential and discreet service. Independently performs various legal, communication, liaison and reception administrative tasks, freeing counsel from activities that don’t require their personal attention and making decisions alone.

**In this role, your responsibilities will include**:
Assists counsel in drafting legal documents (submissions, motions, briefs, affidavits, contracts, leases, releases, etc.), ensuring that they follow legal formats or the formats required by the courts and government agencies.

Reads and understands files, to prepare and produce summaries for counsel that reflect the legal issues.

Each year, prepares a report on litigation and reviews and culls counsel files (digital and hard copy) to ensure that they are up to date.

**What you will bring**:
College diploma to be a legal assistant

Five years’ experience in a similar position

Knowledge of different courts’ procedural rules, to further best legal practices and handle limitation periods and drafting of legal documents and correspondence

Demonstrated experience and knowledge of best practices in administration, communication, management of confidential files and documents, management of counsel’s calendars and planning of meetings, arbitration sessions and other activities

Demonstrated experience in communication, including legal writing

Ability to work effectively under pressure and to organize workload around strict deadlines and multiple priorities

Ability to communicate with people at all administrative levels

Strong ability to adapt rapidly to a fast-moving environment

Accuracy, attention to detail and good judgment

Demonstrated ability to make thoughtful, timely decisions based on detailed, objective and insightful analysis

Strong sense of initiative

Proactive attitude and ability to work independently

Excellent comprehension of legal terminology in both official languages

Bilingualism — French and English (spoken and written)

**Key Competencies at uOttawa**:
Here are the required competencies for all or our employees at uOttawa:
**Planning**: Organize in time a series of actions or events in order to realise an objective or a project. Plan and organize own work and priorities in regular daily activities.

**Initiative**: Demonstrate creativity and initiative to suggest improvements and encourage positive results. Is proactive and self-starting. Show availability and willingness to go above and beyond whenever it is possible.

**Client Service Orientation**: Help or serve others to meet their needs. This implies anticipating and identifying the needs of internal and external clients and finding solutions on how to meet them.

**Teamwork and Cooperation**: Cooperate and work well with other members of the team to reach common goal(s). Accept and give constructive feedback. Able to adjust own behaviour to reach the goals of the team.

LI-Hybrid