Legal Trust/Estate Admin

Job Summary

A professional law firm in Downtown San Diego is seeking a Legal Trust/Estate Admin to support attorneys with trust and estate planning matters, client communication, document preparation, calendaring, and legal administrative workflow. This direct hire opportunity is ideal for a detail-oriented legal assistant or legal secretary who enjoys providing high-quality support in a client-focused law firm environment.

The Legal Trust/Estate Admin will play an important role in keeping matters organized, deadlines on track, and client service standards consistently high. This position offers the opportunity to work with experienced legal professionals, support meaningful estate planning work, and contribute to a collaborative team that values accuracy, professionalism, discretion, and follow-through.

Key Responsibilities

- Communicate professionally with clients by phone and email, provide matter status updates, and coordinate signatures, notarizations, and appointments.
- Prepare, assemble, proofread, format, and organize estate planning documents, execution copies, closing binders, and electronic client files.
- Open, maintain, organize, and close physical and electronic files while ensuring proper naming conventions, version control, scanning, indexing, and document retrieval.
- Manage attorney calendars, ticklers, task lists, meetings, agendas, exhibits, follow-up notes, and action items.
- Coordinate workflow with clients, fiduciaries, courts, financial advisors, banks, and other third parties.
- Provide administrative support including mail, copying, supplies, vendor coordination, billing support, and office logistics as needed.

Compensation and Benefits

- Salary range: $60,000.00 to $60,300.00 per year.
- Location: Downtown San Diego, CA.

Equal Opportunity Employer / Disabled / Protected Veterans

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For temporary assignments lasting 13 weeks or longer, AppleOne is pleased to offer major medical, dental, vision, 401k and any statutory sick pay where required.

We are committed to working with and providing reasonable accommodations to individuals with disabilities. If you need a reasonable accommodation for any part of the employment process, please contact your staffing representative who will reach out to our HR team.

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We also consider for employment qualified applicants regardless of criminal histories, consistent with legal requirements, including, if applicable, the City of Los Angeles’ Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring Ordinance. Pursuant to applicable state and municipal Fair Chance Laws and Ordinances, we will consider for employment-qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records, including, if applicable, the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance. For Los Angeles, CA applicants: Qualified applications with arrest or conviction records will be considered for employment in accordance with the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance for Employers and the California Fair Chance Act.

Additional Skills

Required Qualifications and Skills

- Support trust and estate planning matters through document preparation, client coordination, calendaring, and file management.
- Coordinate signing ceremonies, notarizations, witnessing, closing binders, and electronic document packages.
- Maintain attorney calendars, deadlines, ticklers, task lists, and matter workflow to ensure timely completion.
- Manage legal files, document management systems, scanning, indexing, templates, and version control.

- 1 to 3+ years of experience in a law firm or legal department.
- Strong drafting, proofreading, formatting, grammar, numbering, table of contents, and quality control skills.
- Proficiency with Microsoft 365, including Word, Excel, and Outlook.
- Experience working with PDFs, e-signature tools, document management systems, and court e-filing platforms.
- Excellent organization, attention to detail, deadline management, and ability to manage multiple active matters.
- Clear, professional communication skills with clients, attorneys, fiduciaries, banks, courts, and financial advisors.
- Ability to maintain strict confidentiality and handle sensitive personal and financial information with discretion.
- Strong client service mindset, empathy, tact, initiative, accountability, reliability, and teamwork.

Preferred Qualifications

- Trusts and estates or probate experience.
- Active Notary commission.
- Prior experience supporting estate planning document execution, closing binders, and client-facing legal workflows.