Description:

Are You an Attorney Who Finds Fulfillment in Helping Others?

An Invitation to Be Part of Our Team

Imagine working in a law firm where you begin each day knowing that your work genuinely matters—helping families protect the people they love, prepare for the future, and experience peace of mind.

Imagine being part of a team where people care about one another, your ideas are valued, your contributions are appreciated, and your personal and professional growth matter.

What if your career could provide not only financial success, but also a profound sense of purpose, contribution, and fulfillment?

That is the firm we have built over 45 years, and we keep improving it. Serving clients better takes agility, flexibility, and an appetite for innovation, and we are committed to sustaining this for decades to come.

Who We Are:
For more than 45 years, the Law Office of James F. Roberts & Associates, APC, has helped thousands of Southern California families with their estate planning and trust administration needs. Today, we serve more than 8,500 clients.

Our vision is to be the most trusted and transformational estate planning law firm in Southern California, where:

Clients experience extraordinary care, compassion, and service that exceeds their expectations.
Team members feel respected, appreciated, empowered, and fulfilled.
Our work makes a lasting difference in the lives of families for generations.
We are seeking an attorney who shares that vision and wants to help bring it to life through both exceptional service and professional excellence.

Who we are looking for:
We believe exceptional legal representation begins with exceptional character. We can help develop professional knowledge and skills through education, mentoring, and experience. Integrity, compassion, humility, and a genuine desire to serve others are much more difficult to teach.

We are looking for someone who brings these qualities to our team:

A commitment to our purpose. You genuinely care about people and find fulfillment in helping families protect those they love.
Integrity and dependable follow-through. You honor your commitments and take responsibility for your work and results.
The ability to thrive in a busy practice. You welcome the opportunity to help multiple families each day, using proven systems and collaborating with colleagues to maintain excellent service and keep matters moving forward.
A commitment to growth. You welcome mentoring and candid feedback, ask questions, and put what you learn into practice.
Pride in excellent work. You prepare thoughtfully, pay attention to details, and seek to exceed expectations through accurate work and exceptional service.
Consistent professionalism. Clients and colleagues can count on your preparation, effort, respectful attitude, and follow-through each day.
A spirit of teamwork. You collaborate well, appreciate the contributions of our legal assistants and other team members, and take satisfaction in helping others succeed.
Initiative that makes us better. You notice what needs attention, raise concerns constructively, and help develop solutions that improve client service and the way we work together.

We are willing to train the right person. Prior estate planning experience can be valuable, but character, values, attitude, and a demonstrated commitment to professional excellence matter even more to us. Of course, candidates must be licensed to practice law in California.

Meaningful Work in a Busy, Efficient Firm
Our clients depend on us for careful advice, personal attention, and timely action. We seek an attorney who enjoys purposeful work, manages time effectively, and takes ownership of moving matters through completion.

You should be comfortable managing a full schedule of client appointments while maintaining thoughtful preparation, accurate work, timely follow-through, and personal attention. Appointments vary by week, but it's not unusual to see six clients a day, and we keep building systems so we can serve more families.

Depending on your experience and training, your responsibilities will include:

Meeting with clients, listening carefully, and explaining legal concepts in clear, understandable terms.
Developing estate plans and drafting and reviewing trusts and ancillary documents using WealthCounsel's Wealth Docx software.
Guiding trust administration following death or incapacity.
Handling unopposed court matters such as Heggstad and trust modifications.
Working closely with our attorneys, legal assistants, and other team members to keep clients informed and matters progressing.

To us, caring is demonstrated through action: being prepared, listening closely, doing accurate work, responding promptly, and doing what we say we will do.

We expect you to bring commitment, initiative, a willingness to learn, and a dependable contribution to our team. In return, we are committed to providing the training, systems, mentoring, and team support that help you grow, succeed, and build a fulfilling professional life with our firm.

What you can expect from us:
A Team That Cares About You

We believe everyone deserves to be treated with dignity and respect, to have their contributions appreciated, and to know that their colleagues will support them through challenges.

We want you to feel comfortable asking questions, sharing ideas, and celebrating accomplishments—your own and those of the people around you.

Mentoring and Professional Growth
With a team of attorneys that have more than a combined total of 70 years of estate planning and trust administration experience, we have considerable knowledge to share.

We are committed to mentoring, continuing education, and collaborative problem-solving that help our attorneys develop their skills, confidence, and professional judgment. As you grow, there will be opportunities to take on greater responsibility and make a broader contribution.

The Support to Do Your Best Work
We continually improve our systems, technology, and team support so attorneys can devote more of their time to thoughtful legal counsel and meaningful client relationships.

We value your professional judgment and want you to have the tools, trust, and support to use it effectively.

A Voice in Our Future
We welcome ideas that improve our clients' experience, strengthen our teamwork, and make our work more effective.

Your initiative and contributions can help shape how we serve families and what our firm becomes in the years ahead.

Compensation That Recognizes Performance
We offer a starting salary based on experience and qualifications, with opportunities to increase compensation through performance-based bonuses.

Our approach is to reward strong performance and meaningful contributions to the firm's success. Those rewards come with a commitment to working efficiently: thriving in a busy firm, meeting with multiple clients each day, and following established systems while collaborating with team members to give each family thoughtful counsel and personal attention.

A Career You Can Take Pride In
We believe a successful professional life includes financial rewards, meaningful relationships, continued growth, and the satisfaction of making a difference.

Our aspiration is for you to look back years from now and say that becoming part of our firm was one of the best professional decisions you ever made.

Our Invitation to You
If you recognize yourself in this invitation and find the work and responsibilities energizing, we would welcome the opportunity to hear your story.

We are interested in more than your résumé, education, or legal experience. We want to understand who you are, what matters to you, and what gives your professional life meaning.

Please submit your résumé and a personal letter of approximately one to two pages addressing:

Why you enjoy being an estate planning attorney—or, if you are new to estate planning, why you want to become one.
Which aspects of this invitation spoke to you personally, and why.

Write openly and personally. A specific experience that illustrates your values or your approach to helping others is especially welcome.