LEGAL SERVICES ASSISTANT 2
Career Family: LEGAL SERVICES ASSISTANT
Legal Services Assistant 2 is a state title in New Jersey's competitive civil service, which means the way in is an open exam rather than a direct appointment.
On pay it sits at the foot of the Legal Services Assistant ladder. One promotion up is Legal Services Assistant 1, whose band tops out about $10,494 higher. The main requirement is an associate's degree. Pay on the FY2026 schedule runs $49,266 to $71,403.
How to get hired
- Watch for an open-competitive announcement for Legal Services Assistant 2 on the NJ Civil Service Commission jobs portal. Announcements run for a fixed filing window.
- Apply during that window and sit the examination. Depending on the title, that can be a written test, a rating of your training and experience, or a mix of the two.
- Passing scores go onto a ranked eligible list. Veterans get preference points added on top of their score.
- When an agency has a vacancy it must appoint from the top of that list under the "Rule of Three." Many competitive jobs are first filled provisionally while the list is being built.
Read the official specification at NJ Civil Service Commission.
Pay ladder: Legal Services Assistant series
- Legal Services Assistant 2 — $49,266 – $71,403 (this title)
- Legal Services Assistant 1 — $56,253 – $81,897
Promoting to Legal Services Assistant 1 raises the top of the band by about $10,494. Its top salary lands around the 13th percentile of all NJ civil service titles that publish a range.
Rungs are ordered by FY2026 pay. NJ level numbers are not always sequential, so ordering follows salary rather than the title number.
Official job specification
The text below is the official specification published by the New Jersey Civil Service Commission. The plain-language summary and analysis above are derived from it by NJ Civil Service Navigator.
Definition
Under direction of an institutional Supervisor of Educational Programs, Department of Corrections, assists in the monitoring and training of institutional paralegals, maintenance of institutional law library collections, and cataloging legal materials, and documents; does other related duties.
Examples of work
- Assists with training seminars for paralegals at the institutional level.
- Assists institutional personnel in developing rules and regulations designed to provide inmates with legal materials and access to the courts.
- Gathers information and materials for the institutional Supervisor of Education where required to adequately provide inmate population with access to the courts.
- Assists in reviews, updates of materials and replaces volumes in institutional law library collections on a periodic basis, and, as required by changes in law and legal procedures, assists inmates at the institutional level to gain access to the courts.
- Provides technical assistance, as required, to institutional staff in matters related to paralegal programs, inmate access to the courts, conduct paralegal programs, and institution law libraries.
- Organizes assigned work and develops effective work methods.
- Keeps current of major changes in the law and assists in provision of current information available to inmates and staff.
- Prepares correspondence and reports.
- Maintains records and files.
- Will be required to learn to utilize various types of electronic and/or manual recording and information systems used by the agency, office, or related units.
Education
Thirty (30) semester credit hours from an accredited college or university in a legal or paralegal training course or completion of thirty (30) semester credit hours leading to an Associate degree in Applied Science (AAS) in Legal Research.
Experience
One (1) year experience in legal research, maintenance of legal collections, and cataloging legal materials and documents.
License
Appointee will be required to possess a driver's license valid in New Jersey only if the operation of a vehicle, rather than employee mobility, is necessary to perform the essential duties of the position.
Knowledge, skills and abilities
- Knowledge of Department functions and programs after a period of training.
- Knowledge of law and the legal process.
- Knowledge of the New Jersey court systems and of federal court systems and their processes and procedures after a period of training.
- Knowledge of legal documents and methods of processing them in the state and federal court systems.
- Knowledge of methods and means for conducting legal research, including facility in the use of court decisions, precedent setting opinions, legal citations, and other legal material.
- Knowledge of law library collections, legal bibliography, annotation and other requisite techniques for law library use and maintenance.
- Ability to present training programs.
- Ability to work effectively with inmates and institutional staff in the conduct of paralegal training and programs.
- Ability to prepare correspondence.
- Ability to maintain records, documents, and files that maintain institutional compliance with provisions of the Department of Corrections.
- Ability to prepare reports.
- Ability to learn and utilize various types of electronic and/or manual recording and information systems used by the agency, office, or related units.
- Ability to read, write, speak, understand, or communicate in English sufficiently to perform the duties of this position. American Sign Language or Braille may also be considered as acceptable forms of communication.
- Persons with mental or physical disabilities are eligible as long as they can perform the essential functions of the job after reasonable accommodation is made to their known limitations. If the accommodation cannot be made because it would cause the employer undue hardship, such persons may not be eligible.
- CODES: 16/A15- MCK 09/26/03
Note
The examples of work for this title are for illustrative purposes only. A particular position using this title may not perform all duties listed in this job specification. Conversely, all duties performed on the job may not be listed.