Legal Operations Assistant - Immigration

About Ellis Porter:

At Ellis Porter, our goal is to improve the immigration experience for employers and individuals so they can thrive in a smaller world. We are a team of dedicated immigration professionals (we call ourselves Porters) who believe passionately in the economic, cultural, and human value of immigration. We help clients navigate complex, high-stakes decisions with refreshingly clear guidance, creative strategies, responsive service, and genuine empathy.

Immigration law is challenging, fast-paced, and deeply personal; it calls for care, sound judgment, and a shared commitment to doing excellent work. At Ellis Porter, we love what we do, and who we do it with, and we find great satisfaction in knowing that our work positively impacts the careers, families, and lives of all those we serve.

Our Culture:

We are immensely proud of our culture at Ellis Porter. It’s grounded in the belief that people do their best work when they feel trusted, supported, and encouraged to bring their whole selves to work. We take our work seriously, but not ourselves. We do not tolerate drama, and jerks are not allowed. It’s not what you would expect from a typical law firm, because we are not a typical law firm.

In the demanding, ever-changing world of immigration, our processes and tools continue to evolve, and we look for Porters who approach change with adaptability, curiosity, and a desire to keep improving how we serve one another and our clients. If you believe great work can be both high-performing and human, come join us and help make a difference.

The Position:

The Legal Operations Assistant (known internally as a Core Services Specialist) supports daily legal operations by receiving, sorting, scanning, routing, and accurately recording incoming government and general correspondence. This role also supports outbound immigration filing workflows through document handling, assembly, quality checks, and shipment preparation. The position does not require preparing legal responses or independently handling immigration cases

This full-time position (40 hours/week) works on-site from our Troy office.

What You'll Do:

- Receive, sort, scan, log, and route incoming government correspondence including receipt notices, RFEs, approval notices, and other case-related mail to the appropriate attorney, case manager, or workflow.

- Enter and update information from government correspondence, including receipt numbers, case statuses, and expiration dates, and verify data accuracy.

- Support filing workflows by printing, assembling, scanning, and preparing immigration application packages for shipment.

- Maintain organized electronic and physical records in accordance with department procedures and firm confidentiality requirements.

- Participate in cross-training, special projects, and continuous-improvement initiatives, and perform other related duties as assigned.

- Collaborate with team members to identify areas of process improvement and offer alternative options to create more efficiency.

What Skills and Experience You'll Bring:

- Associate’s or bachelor’s degree preferred; relevant administrative, legal-support, or operations experience will be considered.

- Experience in an administrative, legal-support, data-entry, mail-processing, or similar operations role preferred; law-firm or immigration experience is a plus.

- Strong organizational skills, attention to detail, and commitment to accurate, timely work.

- Ability to manage routine, detail-oriented work efficiently in a fast-paced, high-volume environment.

- Strong written and verbal communication skills and the ability to work effectively with team members across the firm.

- Proficiency with Microsoft 365, including Outlook, Teams, and SharePoint, and comfort learning case-management and document-management systems.

- Ability to handle confidential client information with discretion and in accordance with firm policies.

What We'll Provide:

- An opportunity to do challenging, dynamic, highly rewarding work with an inspiring mission.

- A team of intelligent, creative, and dedicated immigration professionals who value respectful, collaborative working relationships.

- Inclusive firm culture celebrating diverse perspectives, backgrounds, identities, and experiences.

- People-centered workplace policies and flexible work schedules, including remote work opportunities.

- Competitive compensation, health/dental/vision/life insurance benefits, a 401(k)-retirement savings plan with employer-matching, and generous paid time off.

- Employees working in person at our Troy or Ann Arbor offices enjoy a casual dress code, and company sponsored lunch just about every week.

Does this position, and our culture, seem like a good fit for you? If so, we would love to speak with you about joining the Ellis Porter team!

Ellis Porter provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws.

NON-SOLICITATION STATEMENT:  No agencies please. Ellis Porter (EP) recruits candidates exclusively utilizing our internal Talent Acquisition team. EP does not accept any liability for fees for resumes from recruiters or employment agencies (“Agency”), without a binding, written recruitment agreement between EP and Agency describing the services and specific job openings (“Agreement”). EP may consider any candidate for whom an Agency has submitted an unsolicited resume and explicitly reserves the right to hire those candidate(s) without any financial obligation to the Agency, unless an Agreement is in place. Any email or verbal contacts with any person within EP is inadequate to create a binding agreement. Agencies without an Agreement are requested not to contact any employees of EP with recruiting inquiries or resumes.