Legal Department Administrator

Schedule

Overview

America First Credit Union is building its first dedicated in-house Legal Department, and this role is its second hire after the Chief Legal Officer. The Legal Department Administrator is a generalist, high-trust position that combines paralegal and litigation support, legal department operations and administration, executive-level support to the Chief Legal Officer (CLO), and hands-on ownership of the department’s legal technology stack. This person will be foundational to how the Legal Department functions day to day — building processes, systems, and infrastructure largely from scratch alongside the CLO.

This is not a narrow administrative or clerical role. The successful candidate will operate with significant independent judgment, discretion with privileged and confidential matters, and the ability to move fluidly between substantive legal support, departmental operations, executive support, and technology administration.

Responsibilities

1. Legal Matters including Litigation

• Manage litigation and legal matter files, including escalated subpoena and third-party request intake, tracking, and response coordination.
• Conduct legal research support and prepare drafts, redlines, correspondence, and summaries under attorney direction.
• Coordinate litigation holds, document collection, and discovery logistics.
• Track regulatory filings, corporate resolutions, and governance documentation, including matters tied to recent and future M&A activity.

2. Legal Department Administration & Operations

• Own the day-to-day administrative mechanics of the Legal Department, including budget tracking, expense management, and department reporting.
• Administer the outside counsel relationship lifecycle: onboarding, engagement letters, billing guideline compliance, and invoice review using legal e-billing/legal billing software.
• Build, maintain, and continuously refine the legal matter inventory and formal legal intake process.
• Identify and optimize legal department processes for automation opportunities and AI-supported systems.
• Maintain information governance practices across Box, SharePoint, and OneDrive in coordination with IT.
• Support vendor management processes relevant to the Legal Department.

3. Executive Support to the Chief Legal Officer

• Manage the CLO’s calendar, scheduling, correspondence, and meeting preparation across C-suite, Board, and external engagements.
• Prepare and coordinate materials for committee meetings as needed.
• Manage travel arrangements and expense reporting for the CLO.
• Serve as a primary point of contact for the Legal Department, exercising sound judgment on prioritization and confidentiality.

4. Legal Technology

• Administer and optimize the department’s legal technology tools, including Thomson Reuters CoCounsel and Westlaw.
• Build and maintain playbooks, templates, and workflow automations to scale the department’s capacity.
• Support documentation and tracking related to AI governance practices as the department matures its oversight of AI/algorithmic tools.
• Troubleshoot day-to-day technology issues and serve as the department’s liaison to IT on platform questions, including Convene, Process Unity, Microsoft Copilot licensing and Box-to-Microsoft integration.

#IND21

Qualifications

Required Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree; Paralegal certification with a minimum of two years of professional experience; or a minimum of five years of combined professional experience in paralegal/legal support, legal department operations, and senior executive support gained through one or more prior roles within an in-house legal function.
• Direct, hands-on experience with legal billing or e-billing software (e.g., implementation, invoice review, billing guideline enforcement, outside counsel spend tracking).
• Demonstrated experience managing the administrative and operational functions of a legal department or comparable professional services environment.
• Demonstrated experience providing executive-level support to senior leadership (C-suite, General Counsel, or equivalent).
• Proficiency with Microsoft 365 (SharePoint, OneDrive, Teams, Copilot) and cloud document management platforms such as Box.
• Experience with, or strong aptitude for, AI-enabled legal technology platforms (e.g., CoCounsel, Westlaw, or comparable tools).
• Exceptional discretion and judgment in handling privileged, confidential, and sensitive information.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to interact credibly with all levels of the organization.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience in financial services, banking, or credit union environments.
• Experience building or standing up a legal department or legal operations function.
• Familiarity with NCUA or other federal financial regulatory frameworks.