Job Description

McCarthy Tétrault is a leading Canadian law firm offering a full suite of legal and business solutions to clients in Canada and around the world. With offices in Toronto, Montréal, Québec City, Calgary and Vancouver, we provide challenging and rewarding career opportunities across the country. Recognized as one of Canada’s Top 100 Employers for eleven consecutive years and one of Canada’s Best Diversity Employers for fourteenth consecutive years, our culture is guided by The McCarthy Way—our shared approach to working with clients and with each other.

The McCarthy Way is built on four core elements: Excellence, through attracting and developing top talent committed to delivering on our Client Commitment; Collaboration, through seamless, integrated teamwork; Inclusion, through eliminating barriers to belonging and success; and Innovation, through delivering maximum value by embracing leading-edge technologies and approaches. Together, these principles shape how we work, lead, and grow—every day.

We are recruiting for a Legal Assistant in Municipal Law to join our team in the Toronto office. The successful candidate must have a minimum of 3 years of experience as a legal assistant supporting a share of lawyers. McCarthy Tétrault employees benefit from a hybrid work environment. This is a newly created position. This position is to fill an existing vacancy.

Salary Range (Toronto Only): $60,000 - $80,000 annually The offered salary may vary based on the candidate’s job-specific knowledge, skills, and experience.

As a Legal Assistant, you will be:

Documents

• Preparing, editing, formatting, printing, scanning and revising correspondence, memoranda, litigation documents, reports, forms, labels and other printed material through dictation, copy typing or other instructions, in accordance with the requirements set by the practice group.
• Coordinating and dispersing tasks to be performed by various resource groups such as the Document Specialists, Legal Administrative Assistants, Billing Assistants, etc. where appropriate while ensuring tasks are completed in a timely manner.
• Proofreading documents and checking for appropriate formatting, spelling, grammar and clarity.

Municipal Law

• Assisting lawyers in the preparation and coordination of hearings and trials; recording and monitoring court/board appearance dates, pleadings and filing requirements.
• Preparing basic court/board pleadings or other courtroom visuals.
• Coordinating service and filing of proceedings with agencies, courts and boards.
• Scheduling and coordinating discoveries, expert witnesses or other court/board-designated hearings. Monitoring evidence gathering.
• Maintaining an in-depth knowledge of legal terminology, court/board rules and procedures as well as real estate and muncipal planning terminology where applicable.

File and Time Management

• Managing files including: opening new files, maintaining large and complex files, developing, maintaining and utilizing an orderly filing and retrieval system to ensure ease of reference to historical paper or electronic records, organizing law and precedent files.
• Working with Records Management and Administrative Clerks to create, maintain and store client files as appropriate.
• Managing key dates including physical bring forward system and updating calendars for assigned lawyers, including their meetings, appointments, due dates and client-related activities.

Lawyer / Client Support

• Coordinating lawyer travel arrangements, including preparing itineraries and travel expense reports.
• Updating contact names and addresses in the client database on a regular basis.
• Coordinating client meetings, including scheduling rooms and arranging for needed catering or audio-visual equipment.

Mail, Fax and Phone Reception Functions

• Reviewing and routing incoming mail and fax communications; preparing and processing outgoing mail and faxes; and arranging for specialized mail or messenger services as required.
• Receiving, handling, screening and/or directing incoming calls as directed by lawyers; responding to routine inquiries and requests from clients; and taking messages as required.

Financial and Administrative Functions

• Assisting with the preparation and finalization of time entry on a daily basis according to firm standards in preparation for Billing Assistant to process.
• Working with Finance to coordinate new Client and Matter openings (KYC);
• Coordinating activities with functional a