About DS Lawyers
DS Lawyers is an international law firm with over 400 lawyers working in 24 offices. The six Canadian offices of DS Lawyers Canada LLP in Québec City, Montréal, Ottawa, Gatineau, Vancouver and Calgary are specialized in business law, taxation, litigation and labour law.
Its team has extensive expertise and works with a wide range of local, national and international clients from a variety of sectors, such as private companies (including start-ups and high-growth companies), public corporations, financial institutions, crown corporations and government entities. The team is a real business partner for the firm’s clients and acts as a team player supporting them at various stages of their development, as situations and challenges arise, providing sound and specific advice and persuasive representation before the courts and tribunals.
Description
Working as part of the Gatineau legal team, mainly specialized in litigation, the legal assistant will provide valuable support to local team members. The successful candidate will collaborate more extensively with members of the firm in their litigation files, including civil, real estate, commercial, labour and construction law litigation, and to handle certain ad hoc requests from managers based on current needs or special ongoing projects.
Duties and responsibilities
- Proofread French and English documents;
- Handle layout, letters, civil proceedings, backings;
- Finalize letterheads, backings, notices of presentation and slips in accordance with the rules of practice;
- Handle notifying, filing with the registry and filing in the JurisEvolution or JuriCourrier management system;
- Prepare draft in the course of a proceeding or other documents (protocol, originating application, declaration of inscription on the role, etc.);
- Draft the notice of disclosure of exhibits, expert reports and other documents, name and sort exhibits;
- Enter deadlines in JurisEvolution or JuriCourrier (protocol, extension of time limit, receipt of declaration of inscription on the role);
- Schedule out-of-court examinations – exchanges between parties – book court reporter;
- Oversee contract or transaction signing rounds;
- Send letters, documents by e-mail to external parties, include attachments;
- Swear in witnesses in person or remotely;
- Handle the layout of the outline of oral arguments, prepare the list of authorities and the book of authorities with bookmarks (hyperlinks) in accordance with the rules of practice;
- Manage the agenda, calendar and reminders;
- Save incoming and outgoing e-mails in the JurisEvolution management system and file documents electronically.
Skills, knowledge and abilities
- Three (3) or more years of experience as a legal assistant;
- Legal secretary or paralegal training (or equivalent);
- Proficiency in Microsoft Office suite (preferably Office 365);
- Mastery of basic concepts related to managing a legal practice in a firm;
- Proficiency with Maître or JurisEvolution software;
- Fluently bilingual spoken and written in French and English;
- Due regard to confidentiality and discretion;
- Ability to work under pressure and resilent;
- Knowledge of corporate updates – an asset;
- Sense of responsibility and organization;
- Thoroughness and attention to detail;
- Comfortable with managing priorities and deadlines;
- Solution driven and self-motivated..
