Legal Clerk for government entity in Sarasota - temp-to-hire! Great opportunity, stable, room for growth, phenomenal benefits upon hire!
Hours: Full-time Monday - Friday from 8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Payrate: $15.00/hr. (government budget, but benefits offset payrate - once hired)
The Legal Clerk is responsible for performing a variety of administrative duties related to case preparation. Duties involve the performance of administrative and clerical tasks related to criminal court proceedings; setting up and maintaining the attorney's calendars; screening calls and mail; scanning documentation; providing information to the general public; data input; and preparing appropriate legal documents and correspondence.
Essential Job Duties:
+ Dependable and routine in-office attendance during regularly scheduled business hours
+ Ability to focus and pay attention to detail
+ Ability to read and comprehend
+ Efficient keyboarding skills
+ Effective and efficient communication skills and ability to interact professionally with other employees, members of the public and stakeholders
+ Ability to operate the telephone system and respond to calls promptly and professionally
+ Review and promptly respond to all electronic messaging
+ Perform quality work and meet deadlines
+ Ability to operate a computer and other office machinery
+ Ability to follow rules, regulations, policies and procedures
+ Work effectively as a team contributor as well as independently
+ Comply with all Public Records statutes and policies
+ Travel may be required
EXAMPLES OF WORK PERFORMED:
+ Update case management system and notes
+ Prepare legal documents
+ General administrative duties required
+ Accompany ASA to court and assist as required
+ Coordinate meetings, depositions and/or court appearances including space, time, place and notify all participants
+ Assists victims and witnesses as needed
+ Maintain calendars
+ Arrange travel itinerary and hotel accommodations and reimbursement forms
+ Research and prepare reports as necessary
+ Receive, scan and distribute incoming mail
+ Receive and process Law Enforcement electronic media
+ Assist in the processing and maintenance of all electronic media including e-filings and evidence media
+ Update c ase management system and assist with data collection and reports
+ Provide other services as needed such as transportation, a separate Pre-Trial waiting area and appropriate translator services as needed or requested
+ Generate subpoenas and update case management system from returns
+ Establish and maintain effective communication with attorneys, court personnel, victims, witnesses, law enforcement personnel, and other parties relevant to assigned cases in both verbal and written form
+ Maintain and file all records and reports on case activity and prepare any necessary statistical reports
+ Secure supplemental case information
+ Bilingual employees will assist in translations as needed
+ Transcribes dictation as needed
+ Notarize documents as needed
+ Perform any and all duties required
EDUCATION:
High School Diploma required
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**About Kelly** ** **
At Kelly, we're always thinking about what's next and advising job seekers on new ways of working to reach their full potential. In fact, we're a leading advocate for temporary/nontraditional workstyles, because we believe they allow flexibility and tremendous growth opportunities that enable a better way to work and live (plus, did we mention we provide a ton of benefits ?). Connecting great people with great companies is what we do best, and our employment opportunities span a wide variety of workstyles, skill levels, and industries around the world.
Kelly Services is proud to be an Equal Employment Opportunity and Affirmative Action employer. We welcome, value, and embrace diversity at all levels and are committed to building a team that is inclusive of a variety of backgrounds, communities, perspectives, and abilities. At Kelly, we believe that the more inclusive we are, the better services we can provide. Requests for accommodation related to our application process can be directed to Kelly's Human Resource Knowledge Center.
Kelly complies with the requirements of California's state and local Fair Chance laws. A conviction does not automatically bar individuals from employment.
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How to hire a legal clerk
Legal clerk hiring summary. Here are some key points about hiring legal clerks in the United States:
- The median cost to hire a legal clerk is $1,633.
- It takes between 36 and 42 days to fill the average role in the US.
- HR departments typically allocate 15% of their budget towards recruitment efforts.
- Small businesses spend $1,105 per legal clerk on training each year, while large companies spend $658.
- It takes approximately 12 weeks for a new employee to reach full productivity levels.
- There are a total of 164,816 legal clerks in the US, and there are currently 74,069 job openings in this field.
- Norfolk, VA, has the highest demand for legal clerks, with 4 job openings.
How to hire a legal clerk, step by step
To hire a legal clerk, you should clearly understand the skills and experience you are looking for in a candidate, and allocate a budget for the position. You will also need to post and promote the job opening to reach potential candidates. Here's a step-by-step guide on how to hire a legal clerk:
Here's a step-by-step legal clerk hiring guide:
- Step 1: Identify your hiring needs
- Step 2: Create an ideal candidate profile
- Step 3: Make a budget
- Step 4: Write a legal clerk job description
- Step 5: Post your job
- Step 6: Interview candidates
- Step 7: Send a job offer and onboard your new legal clerk
- Step 8: Go through the hiring process checklist
What does a legal clerk do?
A legal clerk is responsible for performing administrative and clerical duties to legal offices and organizations to ensure smooth legal business operations. Legal clerks sort and distribute documents to the appropriate personnel, update information on the database, schedule appointments, respond to clients' inquiries and concerns, and document meeting objectives. They may also coordinate with other offices and institutions to acquire files and research data according to the needs of the managing department. A legal clerk must have excellent communication and organizational skills, especially in monitoring business transactions and submitting reports timely and accurately.
Post a legal clerk job for free, promote it for a fee
Identify your hiring needs
Before you start hiring a legal clerk, identify what type of worker you actually need. Certain positions might call for a full-time employee, while others can be done by a part-time worker or contractor.
Determine employee vs contractor statusIs the person you're thinking of hiring a US citizen or green card holder?A legal clerk's background is also an important factor in determining whether they'll be a good fit for the position. For example, legal clerks from different industries or fields will have radically different experiences and will bring different viewpoints to the role. You also need to consider the candidate's previous level of experience to make sure they'll be comfortable with the job's level of seniority.
Here's a comparison of legal clerk salaries for various roles:
Type of Legal Clerk Description Hourly rate Legal Clerk Paralegals and legal assistants do a variety of tasks to support lawyers, including maintaining and organizing files, conducting legal research, and drafting documents. $11-23 Real Estate Paralegal A Real Estate Paralegal helps real estate lawyers with a variety of tasks, such as offering advice to clients, doing research, and preparing documents. They collaborate with landlords, housing managers, or other real estate personnel. $23-45 Contractor-Paralegal A Contractor-Paralegal works for a law firm or corporate legal department for a specified amount of time, or for a specified task. They can be specialized in the entertainment industry or in providing services to healthcare companies and insurance providers. $17-47 Create an ideal candidate profile
Common skills:- Litigation
- Legal Correspondence
- Subpoenas
- Legal Research
- Trial Preparation
- Law Firm
- Court Dates
- Real Estate
- Computer System
- Legal Issues
- Word Processing
- Legal Memos
- Interrogatories
- Legal Process
Responsibilities:- Complete accounting and payroll functions.- gather and process client documents.- manage daily operations of office.
- Maintain and organize litigation materials; litigation management; process correspondence, and various clerical duties, including filing/copying/package assembly.
- Process civil, probate and small claims cases, issue writs, abstracts, summons, defaults and judgments.
- Assist or draft wills, power of attorney, revocable living trusts, probate, adoptions, ERISA and Medicaid eligibility.
- Serve subpoenas and notice and draft related affidavits.
- Conduct conference calls independently with clients to gather information to answer interrogatories.
Make a budget
Including a salary range in the legal clerk job description is a good way to get more applicants. A legal clerk salary can be affected by several factors, such as the location of the job, the level of experience, education, certifications, and the employer's prestige.
For example, the average salary for a legal clerk in Louisiana may be lower than in New York, and an entry-level engineer typically earns less than a senior-level legal clerk. Additionally, a legal clerk with lots of experience in the field may command a higher salary as a result.
Average legal clerk salary
$35,152yearly
$16.90 hourly rateEntry-level legal clerk salary$24,000 yearly salaryUpdated January 19, 2026Average legal clerk salary by state
Rank State Avg. salary Hourly rate 1 New York $45,254 $22 2 Washington $43,499 $21 3 Minnesota $41,046 $20 4 California $40,333 $19 5 Pennsylvania $39,937 $19 6 Illinois $37,922 $18 7 Massachusetts $37,129 $18 8 Hawaii $36,725 $18 9 North Carolina $34,249 $16 10 Texas $31,775 $15 11 Georgia $30,742 $15 12 Alabama $30,510 $15 13 Arizona $30,405 $15 14 Oklahoma $29,117 $14 15 Florida $28,667 $14 16 Virginia $27,780 $13 17 Indiana $26,151 $13 Average legal clerk salary by company
Rank Company Average salary Hourly rate Job openings 1 Diodes Incorporated $49,986 $24.03 2 Levorse Debra E Atty $45,705 $21.97 12 3 Harris Health System $42,977 $20.66 4 Zwicker & Associates $41,680 $20.04 14 5 PRA Group Careers $38,868 $18.69 3 6 Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner $38,372 $18.45 7 Kforce $38,281 $18.40 18 8 Kelly Services $38,137 $18.34 18 9 Randstad North America, Inc. $37,874 $18.21 16 10 Law Firm $37,790 $18.17 1 11 County of KauaŹ»i $37,460 $18.01 12 Community Trust Ban $36,854 $17.72 13 Alameda Alliance for Health $36,700 $17.64 14 Robert Half $36,643 $17.62 689 15 Woodforest Financial Group Inc $36,350 $17.48 3 16 AmTrust Financial $36,181 $17.39 11 17 SHASTA COUNTY $35,698 $17.16 4 18 Offit Kurman $35,020 $16.84 9 19 Compass Group USA $34,679 $16.67 68 20 City of Philadelphia $34,623 $16.65 9 Writing a legal clerk job description
A legal clerk job description should include a summary of the role, required skills, and a list of responsibilities. It's also good to include a salary range and the first name of the hiring manager. Below, you can find an example of a legal clerk job description:
Legal clerk job description example
Post your job
There are a few common ways to find legal clerks for your business:
- Promoting internally or recruiting from your existing workforce.
- Ask for referrals from friends, family members, and current employees.
- Attend job fairs at local colleges to meet candidates with the right educational background.
- Use social media platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter to recruit passive job-seekers.
- Post your legal clerk job on Zippia to find and recruit legal clerk candidates who meet your exact specifications.
- Use field-specific websites.
- Post a job on free websites.
Interview candidates
Recruiting legal clerks requires you to bring your A-game to the interview process. The first interview should introduce the company and the role to the candidate as much as they present their background experience and reasons for applying for the job. During later interviews, you can go into more detail about the technical details of the job and ask behavioral questions to gauge how they'd fit into your current company culture.
It's also good to ask about candidates' unique skills and talents. You can move on to the technical interview if a candidate is good enough for the next step.
The right interview questions can help you assess a candidate's hard skills, behavioral intelligence, and soft skills.
Send a job offer and onboard your new legal clerk
Once you've decided on a perfect legal clerk candidate, it's time to write an offer letter. In addition to salary, it should include benefits and perks available to the employee. Qualified candidates may be considered for other positions, so make sure your offer is competitive. Candidates may wish to negotiate. Once you've settled on the details, formalize your agreement with a contract.
It's also important to follow up with applicants who do not get the job with an email letting them know that the position is filled.
To prepare for the new legal clerk first day, you should share an onboarding schedule with them that covers their first period on the job. You should also quickly complete any necessary paperwork, such as employee action forms and onboarding documents like I-9, benefits enrollment, and federal and state tax forms. Finally, Human Resources must ensure a new employee file is created for internal record keeping.
Go through the hiring process checklist
- Determine employee type (full-time, part-time, contractor, etc.)
- Submit a job requisition form to the HR department
- Define job responsibilities and requirements
- Establish budget and timeline
- Determine hiring decision makers for the role
- Write job description
- Post job on job boards, company website, etc.
- Promote the job internally
- Process applications through applicant tracking system
- Review resumes and cover letters
- Shortlist candidates for screening
- Hold phone/virtual interview screening with first round of candidates
- Conduct in-person interviews with top candidates from first round
- Score candidates based on weighted criteria (e.g., experience, education, background, cultural fit, skill set, etc.)
- Conduct background checks on top candidates
- Check references of top candidates
- Consult with HR and hiring decision makers on job offer specifics
- Extend offer to top candidate(s)
- Receive formal job offer acceptance and signed employment contract
- Inform other candidates that the position has been filled
- Set and communicate onboarding schedule to new hire(s)
- Complete new hire paperwork (i9, benefits enrollment, tax forms, etc.)
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How much does it cost to hire a legal clerk?
Before you start to hire legal clerks, it pays to consider both the one-off costs like recruitment, job promotion, and onboarding, as well as the ongoing costs of an employee's salary and benefits. While most companies that hire legal clerks pay close attention to the initial cost of hiring, ongoing costs are much more significant in the long run.
You can expect to pay around $35,152 per year for a legal clerk, as this is the median yearly salary nationally. This can vary depending on what state or city you're hiring in. If you're hiring for contract work or on a per-project basis, hourly rates for legal clerks in the US typically range between $11 and $23 an hour.
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Updated January 19, 2026