Legal Assistant

AHEAD builds platforms for digital business. By weaving together advances in cloud infrastructure, automation and analytics, and software delivery, we help enterprises deliver on the promise of digital transformation.

At AHEAD, we prioritize creating a culture of belonging, where all perspectives and voices are represented, valued, respected, and heard. We create spaces to empower everyone to speak up, make change, and drive the culture at AHEAD. 

We are an equal opportunity employer, and do not discriminate based on an individual's race, national origin, color, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, religion, age, disability, marital status, or any other protected characteristic under applicable law, whether actual or perceived. 

We embrace all candidates that will contribute to the diversification and enrichment of ideas and perspectives at AHEAD. 

The Legal Assistant – Employment will be managing a caseload of employment cases and assisting AHEAD’s Employment Counsel, which will include all aspects of employment work including, but not limited to, assisting with severance and settlement agreements, preparing demand letters, compiling and filing responses for administrative charges, fielding calls from AHEAD’s People and Culture (Human Resources) team, assisting with policy compliance and drafting, and researching and tracking legal developments. This position will report to AHEAD’s Employment Counsel.

Responsibilities

• Creating and updating litigation folders and related documents in SharePoint; 
• Timely and properly filing emails and relevant documents in appropriate SharePoint folders; 
• Accurate and timely creation of Tables of Contents, Timeline of Events, and other pre-litigation documents, as directed;
• Drafting severance, settlement, and equity buy-back agreements using approved templates; 
• Coordinating and finalizing documents for filing with courts or administrative agencies, and service upon other parties; 
• Calendaring and tracking litigation and other deadlines;
• As directed by and on behalf of Employment Counsel, send demand letters and other documents; 
• E-filing documents with courts and agencies in accordance with applicable rules; 
• Maintaining federal, state, and local law statutory trackers, and apprising Employment Counsel of relevant changes; 
• Updating policies as necessary based on statutory and/or organizational changes, as directed by Employment Counsel; 
• Coordinating the printing, assembling, and mailing of documents as needed; 
• Providing administrative support to Employment Counsel; 
• Timely submission of daily task log identifying projects and assignments; 
• Other duties as determined by Employment Counsel. 

Qualifications

• Minimum Required – Bachelor's degree or 3+ years of relevant previous legal experience. 
• Strongly preferred: Meaningful experience in employment law.
• Paralegal certificate is a plus.
• Proficiency in Word, Excel, Outlook and PowerPoint.
• Experience with WestLaw or similar legal research database.
• Knowledge of legal holds and discovery processes. 
• Analytical skills and strong attention to detail. 
• Excellent writing and editing skills. 
• Excellent time management, communication and organizational skills.
• Requires knowledge of state and federal judicial systems, and agency procedures in labor and employment law.
• Requires a high level of confidentiality and good judgment.

This role reports into AHEAD's Chicago or Oak Brook office approximately 1-2 times per month.

Why AHEAD:

Through our daily work and internal groups like Moving Women AHEAD and RISE AHEAD, we value and benefit from diversity of people, ideas, experience, and everything in between.

We fuel growth by stacking our office with top-notch technologies in a multi-million-dollar lab, by encouraging cross department training and development, sponsoring certifications and credentials for continued learning.

USA Employment Benefits include: 

- Medical, Dental, and Vision Insurance 

- 401(k) 

- Paid company holidays 

- Paid time off 

- Paid parental and caregiver leave 

- Plus more! See benefits https://www.aheadbenefits.com/ for additional details.