Senior Paralegal

About Meltzer Hellrung

We strive to be the “new generation immigration solutions” provider with an innovative spirit to disrupt and constantly improve the immigration process for companies, employees and their families.

Founded in 2014, Meltzer Hellrung leverages technology, a service-oriented mindset, and a compassionate approach to assist high-growth corporations in scaling their immigration programs, increasing their access to talent, and expanding operations into new markets.

Our values describe the essence of our firm:

• We Are Authentic: We express our ideas, concerns, and are accepted for who we are. We share our quirks, strengths, vulnerabilities, and our interests. We value honesty and openness to foster an environment where everyone feels valued and accepted.

• We Take Ownership: We embrace our roles, responsibilities, and work with a sense of accountability and integrity. We take full responsibility for actions and outcomes. Owning our work honors our colleagues and those we seek help.

• We Are Resilient: We bear the weight of our clients’ expectations as their advocates and persevere through setbacks. We pursue all the options to help achieve the best outcomes for our clients.

• We Are Growth-Minded: We approach our service, our organization, and our careers with an innovative spirit. We look for ways to improve and progress as individuals and as a team. We continually look to evolve and add value.

About Voyager

We launched our proprietary immigration platform in 2022 to ensure that we deliver on our promise of service that is transparent, fast, and secure. Voyager appropriately reduces information silos to ensure important case and immigration status details are available to all stakeholders, reducing communication burdens and overall confusion.

About the Paralegal Role

Meltzer Hellrung seeks a Paralegal (Level 3 or Sr. Paralegal depending on experience level). As a Paralegal, you will utilize your existing employment-based immigration experience to partner with internal legal teams and provide account management services to clients and stakeholders. Our paralegals work in close collaboration with each other, our attorneys, and our clients. Paralegals drive processes to completion and take on significant client account management responsibilities.

Duties:

• In collaboration with attorneys, provide account management services to assigned clients, including the following duties:
  • Utilize our Voyager platform to create and maintain client and foreign national profiles and processes, monitor case workflows, ensure proper onboarding and managing a case from initiation to filing.
  • Drafting assigned applications for clients, including all forms and letters, and preparing assembled application for attorney review prior to government submission.
  • Complete PERM processes from initiation to final submission, as assigned. Initiating/preparing I-140 and/or AOS following PERM.
  • Where applicable, assign appropriate cases and tasks to junior paralegals for completion (process initiations, form preparation, final assembly, and relevant communications).
  • As assigned by attorney and/or team lead, assist with application preparation for other clients where specific individual knowledge or expertise can benefit.
  • Manage and/or support others in larger client accounts, as required.

• Manage assigned client accounts with general oversight from attorney(s), pushing processes forward based on own initiative, and completing assignments within firm expectation.
• Review drafted applications as prepared by junior-level paralegals and provide feedback, as needed.
• Monitor emails and chat messages, responding to internal requests from senior legal team and/or responding to external stakeholders as required. Meltzer Hellrung guarantees a one business day response time to client communication.
• Support assigned clients in data reporting as needed, such as expiration reports, initiation projections, status reports, etc.
• Responsible for reviewing updates published by the firm and other legal team members to stay abreast of changes in immigration.

About you:

• At least 3 years of employment-based immigration experience in a paralegal role or similar capacity.
• Experience with visa preparation on H-1B, PERM, dependent-related visa types, TN, E-3, H-1B1, I-140, Adjustment of Status, RFE responses, L-1, and other case types.
• Experience with other business immigration applications, such as E-2, O-1, NIW, and EB-1A is desired, but not required.
• Experience managing personal day-to-day tasks for assigned client accounts, including moving cases forward based on their own initiative, and preparing reports.
• Experience in directing junior-level paralegals to complete assigned processes a plus.

Job Type: Full-time

Salary: $64,000-$80,000 commensurate with location, experience and background.

Location: Hybrid for those in the Chicagoland area or remote outside of Chicago metro area.

Immigration Sponsorship: Immigration sponsorship is not available for this position.

We are an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.