Champaign County
Job Description

Job Title: Legal Secretary/Receptionist
Department: State's Attorney
Reports To: Senior Administrative Assistant
FLSA Status: Non-exempt
Employment Status: Bargaining Unit - AFSCME State's Attorney
Prepared Date: April, 2004

SUMMARY Answers and screens all incoming calls to the State's Attorney's Office and performs responsible secretarial duties.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES include the following. Other duties may be assigned.

Handles confidential matters daily relating to all divisions of the the State's Attorney's Office.

Screens incoming calls and determines whether the callers need to speak to an attorney and which specific attorney they should be referred to for assistance.

Refers callers to other County offices or agencies when necessary.

Takes telephone messages for the staff and forwards calls to staff members or to voice mail system if requested by staff and/or caller.

Greets and screens visitors who walk into the office.

Provides general information to the public.

Answers questions from victims and defendants in cases which require knowledge of the office functions and the level of patience for emotional matters relating to cases.

Prepares reports such as the Illinois State Police Disposition Reports which note sex, race, date of birth, criminal charges, etc.

At Support Enforcement, updates Public Aid records on the on-line computer system by entering case file information in IDPA's KIDS System.

Distributes mail and other official documents to staff in the office.

Maintains office files and records.

SUPERVISORY RESPONSIBILITIES This job has no supervisory responsibilities.

QUALIFICATIONS To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required.

EDUCATION and/or EXPERIENCE High school diploma or general education degree (GED) with some further secretarial education training in word processing and personal computer preferred and one year of secretarial experience with public contact; or equivalent combination of education and experience. Requires knowledge of modern office practices, operation of the criminal justice system and of the procedures, policies and regulations of the State's Attorney's Office. Requires good skill in operating a personal computer, word processing equipment and in oral communications.

LANGUAGE SKILLS Ability to read and comprehend simple instructions, correspondence, and memos. Ability to write correspondence. Ability to effectively present information in one-on-one and small group situations to the general public, co-workers and other employees of the organization. Requires good knowledge of the English language and a pleasant speaking voice.

MATHEMATICAL SKILLS Ability to add, subtract, multiply, and divide in all units of measure, using whole numbers, common fractions, and decimals. Ability to compute rate, ratio, and percent and to draw and interpret bar graphs.

REASONING ABILITY Ability to apply common sense understanding to carry out instructions furnished in written, oral, or diagram form. Ability to deal with problems involving several concrete variables in standardized situations.

CERTIFICATES, LICENSES, REGISTRATIONS As required.

PHYSICAL DEMANDS The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. While performing the duties of this job, the employee is frequently required to sit; use hands to finger, handle, or feel; and talk; or hear. The employee is occasionally required to stand and walk. Employee must occasionally lift and/or move up to 25 pounds. Specific vision abilities required by this job include distance vision, depth perception and ability to adjust focus.

WORK ENVIRONMENT The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job. Usually, normal office working conditions. The noise level in the work environment is usually quiet to moderate.

Note: This document contains wording of a description of a general class of positions within the Champaign County salary administration program. The description contains examples of duties and responsibilities which may or may not be considered to be "essential functions" to a particular job or position with this job class. "Essential functions" are to be determined at the position or job level within each department.