Records Specialist

Position Description

Join Michigan’s State Appellate Defender Office (SADO) as a full-time Records Specialist in our Juvenile Lifer Unit. The salary range for this position is $50,926 to $73,622, depending on experience. The position is located in our Detroit or Lansing office.

SADO’s Juvenile Lifer Unit advocates for people who are serving unconstitutionally cruel and unusual life without parole sentences for crimes committed as youth and who are now entitled to resentencing hearings. The JLU Records Specialist works collaboratively with a multidisciplinary legal defense team of attorneys, mitigation specialists, reentry specialists, paralegals, and other staff. The Records Specialist aids in the mitigation investigation and preparation for our clients’ resentencing proceedings by obtaining, organizing, and analyzing documentary evidence.

The Records Specialist must be organized, creative, and persistent. At SADO we are dedicated to building a multidisciplinary team with diverse perspectives and experiences.

Job Responsibilities

Specific Duties Include, But Are Not Limited To

• Obtain, organize, and review mitigation records and documents, such as prison records, school records, medical and mental health records, and newspaper/archival records;
• Review case files and proactively identify places to request records from;
• Meticulously document all record collection efforts by tracking progress in Excel spreadsheets, SADO’s case management system, and saving all record requests and communications to the case file;
• Ensure that paper and electronic records are organized and saved;
• Bates stamp mitigation records and maintain an updated Bates index for all records;
• Analyze mitigation records and synthesize information into summaries, digests, chronologies, timelines, and charts;
• May participate in client visits, team meetings, fieldwork, and witness interviews as needed to gather information relevant to record collection; and,
• May assist attorneys with general hearing preparation such as preparing exhibits and other necessary tasks.
  
  

Benefits

• Medical, dental, vision, and life insurance
• 401k plan with up to a 9% employer contribution (partial vesting begins in 2 years)
• 13 paid holidays
• 3 weeks of paid vacation in year one
• Paid sick time and, for eligible employees, paid parental leave
• Long-term disability insurance
• Flexible work hours
• Hybrid work environment (remote/office)
• Paid training opportunities