LEGAL ASSISTANT – CRIMINAL PROSECUTION UNIT
City of Santa Monica City of Santa Monica, California, United States
- Location: City of Santa Monica, California, United States
- Categories: Accounting and Finance, Legal Services
- Job Type: Full Time
- Posted: Dec 04, 2025
Job Description:
LEGAL ASSISTANT – CRIMINAL PROSECUTION UNIT
Description
Job SummarySanta Monica City Attorney’s Office seeks a legal secretary with 5-10 years of experience to join its Criminal Unit. The ideal candidate will assist the Deputy City Attorneys in the Criminal Unit. The position requires criminal and or legal experience.
Duties include scanning/editing case files, and requesting, uploading, and tracking discovery, updating daily Court calendar, tracking Court cases including Mental Health and Criminal courts, and processing restitution. Duties also require processing custody police reports, custody rejections from the District Attorney’s office, and citations. Duties could also include formatting, editing, proofreading, and finalizing documents, including, but not limited to, filing criminal complaints, probation violations, and appeals. Candidate should be familiar with all Microsoft software, SharePoint, and either TCIS or The Justice Portal as well as can adapt to changing data management systems in house and with the Courts. General administrative duties are also done on a regular basis, such as answering and screening phone calls, creating letters, filing documents at the Courthouse as well as interacting with City personnel, other government agencies, police departments and the public.
Qualifications:
*Must have at least 5+ years of criminal and or legal experience, ideally in a prosecuting agency or mid-sized or large law firm. Experience as a legal secretary in the areas of criminal law preferred.
*Must have knowledge of criminal court filing requirements and deadlines, including experience with e-filing in state and federal courts.
*Strong software skills and knowledge with use of legal software and macros, preferably including MS Office Suite, Outlook, SharePoint, and Westlaw.
*Exceptional communication skills to communicate with attorneys, staff, the public, police agencies, and Court staff. Position reports to the Chief of the Criminal Prosecution Unit.
* Must possess strong organizational skills.
*Represents basic qualifications for this Legal Assistant position. To be considered for this position you must at least meet the basic qualifications.
The hours of the position are 6:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday, and 6:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. on alternate Fridays. The office is closed to the public every other Friday. Hybrid work schedule is currently available. Salary dependent on experience; excellent benefits. The salary range is steps 1-5, $92,208-$113,832 annually. A background check will be required prior to beginning employment. Santa Monica is an equal opportunity employer. Interested applicants should submit a cover letter, resume, and the names of three references. These materials should be submitted in a single pdf document by email to CAO.Opportunities@santamonica.gov with the subject line: “Application - Legal Assistant - Criminal Unit”; closing date Friday, December 12, 2025, by COB.
The City's liberal fringe benefits for full-time employment include sick leave, holiday and vacation pay, the Public Employees Retirement System, medical, dental and vision insurance, credit union, deferred compensation, tuition reimbursement, Dependent Care Assistance Plan and priority enrollment consideration at Hill & Dale Family Learning Center, Marine Park Child Development Center, and Santa Monica Early Childhood Lab School.
Closing Date/Time: 12/12/2025 5:00 PM Pacific