Litigation Docket & Court Services Specialist
Summary:
Under the umbrella of the Firm's Managing Clerk's Office (MCO) and according to established Firm policies and procedures, the Litigation Docket & Court Services Specialist provides high-level, expert day-to-day support in case docketing, court rules, case research, and legal procedures. This specialist position requires advanced, hands-on expertise in executing compliant electronic filings across various state and federal court systems, with a particular specialization in the state and federal courts of Philadelphia (including the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas and the U.S. District Courts of Pennsylvania).
As a senior-level individual contributor, the Specialist serves as a primary procedural authority, applying rigorous risk-management quality control measures to all incoming/outgoing court filings and docket entries, while observing strict confidentiality in all client and Firm matters.
Responsibilities:
1. Expert E-Filing & Court Procedural Authority
Comprehensive E-Filing Execution: Oversee and personally execute the electronic filing of pleadings, motions, and highly complex legal documents in federal, state, and appellate courts nationwide.
Philadelphia Jurisdictional Expertise: Serve as the resident expert on filing logistics, local procedures, and protocols specific to the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas, Pennsylvania state courts, and the U.S. District Court of Pennsylvania.
Procedural Advisement: Serve as a primary technical resource for attorneys and paralegals regarding complex local court rules, judges' individual practices, and filing requirements.
Issue Resolution: Actively manage and resolve complex electronic filing rejections, docketing discrepancies, or technical court platform issues.
Bar Admissions Support: Maintain high-level knowledge of State, Federal, and Pro Hac Vice bar admissions processes to assist case teams with administrative compliance.
2. Quality Control (QC) & Risk Management
Pre-Filing Document Audits: Perform final QC on pleadings and documents prior to electronic filing to guarantee strict compliance with court-specific formatting, redaction rules, signature guidelines, and exhibit requirements.
Docket Entry Verification: Audit and verify data entered into the Firm's docketing system (Milana) to ensure all dates, deadlines, and events are calculated accurately and in accordance with the relevant rules of civil procedure.
3. Advanced Docketing & Rule Calculations
Rules-Based Calendaring: Interpret and apply the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (FRCP), Pennsylvania Rules of Civil Procedure, local Philadelphia rules, and other state and local court guidelines to calculate and input litigation deadlines.
Document Review & Entry: Review complex incoming litigation documents for critical dates, entering deadlines, discovery schedules, and other relevant event reminders into the firm's rules-based docketing software.
Proactive Deadline Alerting: Alert attorneys and paralegals of urgent upcoming deadlines, maintaining end-to-end communication regarding document receipts and filing confirmations.
Data Integrity Auditing: Conduct routine docket sweeps and audits of active case files to identify obsolete deadlines, manually capture non-deadline triggered events (such as Judge's Individual Rules), and perform case status reconciliations for closed matters.
4. High-Level Court Research & Reporting
Advanced Research Tools: Retrieve pertinent information on litigants, court cases, dockets, and judicial profiles from online databases (including PACER, Westlaw, Bloomberg Law, DocketBird, and CourtLink).
Custom Reporting: Create, prepare, and distribute complex, highly customized docket reports detailing upcoming deadlines to legal teams across multiple offices.
Qualifications:
Core Competencies
Procedural Expertise: Deep, specialized understanding of court structures, litigation lifecycles, and civil procedure, with unmatched mastery of Philadelphia state and federal court rules.
Uncompromising Accuracy: Absolute, meticulous attention to detail when reviewing complex legal documents and calculating critical statutory deadlines.
Composure Under Pressure: Proven ability to prioritize and execute multiple urgent filings and tasks under tight, competing time constraints in a high-volume litigation environment.
Professional Communication: Excellent verbal and written communication skills necessary to clearly explain complex procedural rules to attorneys, staff, and external court personnel with courtesy and tact.
Technical Skills & Experience
Experience & Jurisdictional Scope: 5+ years of recent litigation docketing and court filing experience within a mid-to-large law firm. Must have well-rounded national experience with a heavy, specialized emphasis on Pennsylvania county, state and federal courts.
Software & Platform Mastery: Expert proficiency in rules-based docketing systems (Milana and/or CompuLaw preferred) and extensive hands-on experience utilizing court e-filing databases (such as PACER/ECF, PA-eFile, and Odyssey).
Document & Data Management: Highly proficient in iManage (or similar DMS) and Adobe Acrobat Professional for document manipulation, splitting, and redaction, alongside standard MS Office applications (Word, Excel, Outlook).
Administrative Credentials: Familiarity with State, Federal, and Pro Hac Vice bar admissions processes, with a willingness to assist in training and mentoring junior docketing or filing personnel.
WORKING CONDITIONS
Normal law office environment with little exposure to excessive noise, dust, temperature, and the like.
This position is non-exempt.
This job description describes the general requirements of the position. Subject to firm needs, duties and responsibilities may change at any time, on a temporary or permanent basis, with or without notice.
Equal Employment and Opportunity Statement:
Barnes & Thornburg is committed to equal employment opportunity in both principle and as a matter of policy. We will recruit, hire, train, promote, compensate and provide benefits to all applicants and employees without regard to ancestry, sex, race, color, ethnicity, national origin, gender, age, religion, religious creed, mental and/or physical disability, medical condition, military and/or veteran’s status, genetic information, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity and/or expression, or any other basis protected by applicable federal, state and local laws. This policy applies to all recruiting, hiring, promotions, upgrades, layoffs, compensation, benefits, terminations and all other privileges, terms and conditions of employment. The firm complies fully with all federal, state and local equal employment opportunity laws.