The King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office (PAO) is seeking an experienced paralegal to join our team in the Therapeutic Alternatives Unit. The Therapeutic Alternatives Unit (TAU) handles cases in Regional Mental Health Court (RMHC) and Regional Veterans Court (RVC) working with defendants that have behavioral health issues by utilizing a therapeutic collaborative approach to stabilize defendants in the community while at the same time addressing public safety and reducing recidivism. RMHC and RVC receive referrals from Superior Court, District Court, and from the 39 municipalities within King County. TAU also handles diversion referrals to the LINC program (Legal Intervention and Network of Care).

We value diversity in our team and embrace the cultural and demographic qualities of the King County community. We work to attract and retain a team that represents the range of backgrounds and perspectives that arise from differences of culture and circumstances. We value the ideas and brilliance that come from lived experience. Candidates with such experience are strongly encouraged to apply. 

This is a Special Duty/ Term Limited Temporary assignment funded by COVID-8 relief money, subject to funding approval by King County central budget office and Council. We expect that the assignment will last until June of 2023 with the possibility of an extension.

About the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office
The Criminal Division is the largest of four divisions and is organized into several different units.  See the Criminal Division Overview for more information. We are guided by our core values of Justice, Integrity, Compassion, Professionalism, and Leadership.

Our mission is to do justice:

• We exercise the power given to us by the people with fairness and humility.
• We serve our diverse community, support victims and families, and hold individuals accountable.
• We develop innovative and collaborative solutions for King County and the State of Washington.

The paralegal will work as part of a team with another paralegal and a victim advocate providing support for the deputies within the unit.  The position’s responsibilities will also include:

• Assist DPAs with identifying, tracking, and monitoring individuals for prosecutorial diversion into the LINC program.
• Assisting with tracking and processing of cases referred to TAU programs.
• Assisting victims in gathering the necessary paperwork to ask for restitution; ensuring there is sufficient, reliable documentation to ask for restitution; preparing the restitution order for filing with the court and providing a copy to defense; updating the victim and providing them with signed copies of the orders.
• Responsible for assisting with preparation of exhibits for motions in court as well as with presentations to internal and external stakeholders on TAU programs.
• Tracking restitution payments to ensure defendant is meeting his/her obligation and working in coordination with the TAU Victim Advocate on these cases.
• Process new referrals to TAU and serve as a liaison with other legal professionals, court personnel, mental health officials, victim advocate, defense, detention, etc.
• Data entry in PbK including creating new cases, setting electronic reminders, and entering new information.
• Docketing PbK with updated court dates; providing prosecutors calendars for annotation; reviewing team e-mails for last-minute calendar updates.
• Filing new cases with the Clerk as directed.
• Work with deputies to prepare TAU training materials and procedural manuals.
• Converting documents including but not limited to treatment reports to Adobe and scanning them into PbK.
• Gathering and compiling statistical data for the various programs within TAU as well as with King County District Court cases where competency has been raised.
• Attend TAU operational workgroup and staffing meetings.  
• Actively participate in PAO equity work, attending equity trainings and discussions, including but not limited to, Intro to Cultural Competency, Implicit Bias and Microaggressions, White Privilege/Fragility.  Provide support for the Equity and Social Justice policy and principles, work with PAO colleagues and management to identify opportunities for improvement.
• Other responsibilities may be added or changed as business needs evolve.

• Excellent communication skills, both oral and written; ability to communicate professionally and effectively with individuals, groups and in the courtroom.
• Ability to work with diverse populations.
• Ability to exercise independent initiative and judgment and also function as a team player.
• Ability to problem-solve and identify needed procedural and policy changes.
• Demonstrated ability to manage voluminous and sensitive caseloads.
• Skills in using computers and a variety of software such as Prosecutor by Karpel (with training), Word, Adobe Pro, PowerPoint, and Excel; familiarity with other criminal justice programs and databases with an emphasis on the ability to keep statistics.        Experience with Power BI is a plus.
• Skills to gather and interpret data from files, reports and other agencies and compile this information into an understandable format.
• Skills to maintain, within broad guidelines, an overview of complex processes involving many steps, and of each task from beginning to end; to obtain all information needed for completion and to set priorities.
• Skills to work independently and follow through on given assignments as well as be part of a team and interact appropriately with others.
• Skills to maintain a professional attitude and demeanor pertaining to confidential matters.
• Skills to establish and maintain effective working relationships with attorneys, law enforcement officers, co-workers, other agencies and the public.
• Must be able/willing to accept supervision and feedback/coaching.
• Demonstrated predictable and reliable attendance.