Senior Citizens Legal Services Office Administration

Senior Citizens Legal Services 

VOLUNTEER POSITION DESCRIPTION:  Office Administration

Our Organization

Senior Citizens Legal Services (“SCLS”) is a non-profit law office that has been providing free legal services to seniors in Santa Cruz and San Benito Counties since 1972. For nearly 50 years, the SCLS staff has been helping seniors who are often poor, disadvantaged or disabled who would not otherwise have access to the justice system.  SCLS focuses its resources to serve the most needy clients.

One of the most heartbreaking problems in the United States today, is the lack of care and honor for our elders.  Though revered in many other cultures, sadly in the United States at least 10% of adults age 65 and older will experience some form of elder abuse in a given year, with some older adults simultaneously experiencing more than one type of abuse.  The most prevalent from of abuse remains financial fraud & exploitation, but this is closely followed by high numbers of caregiver neglect.  The majority of caregiver neglect is perpetrated by an elder’s own family.

Senior Citizens Legal Services exists to offer seniors the specialized protection they need.  After our founding in 1972, we became a model for senior legal aid offices nationwide. We leverage the help of volunteers who are carefully supervised by skilled attorneys to help over 600 clients each year.

The Volunteer Position: Office Administrator

This volunteer position may have responsibility for various aspects of the organization, supervised by our Front Office Manager, including, but not limited to the following:

• Answering telephone calls and screening potential clients to schedule appointments or make appropriate referrals.
• Maintaining client database and preparing statistical reports for various funding agencies.
• Various office duties including copying, keeping informational packets in stock, opening and closing client files, and opening and distributing mail.
• May include some secretarial support and or word processing assistance for attorney(s) and paralegals(s) such as calendaring, telephoning clients, filing, copying, faxing, mailing, and organizing documents.
• Be professional point of contact for SCLS in the Santa Cruz office.