Daniel S. Pickens Law is hiring one person this year. We start this position at $30,000 to $36,000 — and we have written down exactly what it takes to reach $50,000, most of it inside your first year. The path is below, with the numbers and the dates. We put it in your offer letter.
If you are the kind of person who would rather be paid for what you can prove than for what your resume says, keep reading.
ABOUT US
We are a real estate, estate planning, and probate law firm at 300 W Green Street in Athens, serving Limestone, Madison, Morgan, Lauderdale, Colbert, Franklin, and Lawrence Counties. Our standard is "A Step Above." The owner is an attorney who moves fast and generates more good ideas than any one person can execute. This job exists to catch every one of them and drive it to done.
THE PATH — IN YOUR OFFER LETTER, WITH DATES
Starting salary $30,000 - $36,000
Clear your 90-day review $36,000
Six months: running the desk and the follow-up alone $40,000
Trained and cleared to prepare legal documents $46,000
Twelve-month review, all measures at goal $50,000
These are not vague promises about growth. Each step has a written standard you will receive on your first day, and each one is a number we commit to in writing when you accept. Most people who do this job well will be at $46,000 within a year.
We are honest about why it works this way. We are a growing firm, this is our only hire this year, and we would rather put real money behind proven performance than guess at it up front. If you would rather start higher and grow slower, this is not the right role and we understand that completely.
FOUR PARTS, AND YOU SHOULD WANT ALL FOUR
A quarter of this job is the front desk: answering the phone, welcoming clients at the door, booking consultations, and collecting payments from 9:30 to noon every day.
A quarter is personal assistance for the owner, with two protected hours on the calendar every afternoon.
Once you have earned it, you will be trained to prepare estate-planning documents under the attorney's supervision. No legal experience required — this is a real skill we will teach you, and it is the step that takes your pay to $46,000.
The rest is executive support reporting directly to him: his calendar, keeping track of everything he has promised and everything he is owed, and the follow-up that turns inquiries into clients.
If you want only the quiet desk work, or only the strategic work, this is not the right role. The person who thrives here genuinely likes all four.
WHAT YOU WILL DO
The front desk, 9:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m., daily
- Answer the phone during the firm's busiest hours. A third of our calls arrive between ten and noon, and right now most of them go to an answering service.
- Welcome and seat clients arriving for closings and consultations. You are the first person they meet and the reason they trust us before the attorney walks in.
- Book consultations, confirm them, and reduce no-shows
- Collect payments by script, without apologizing for the fee
- Ask every happy client for a Google review, same day, every time
- First thing each morning, work the overnight and weekend call log so nobody who called us waits past 10 a.m. for a call back
Client follow-through - this is where the job makes its money
- Track every inquiry from first contact through consultation to signed agreement
- Follow up with people who are still deciding, on a set schedule, until they decide
- Get engagement agreements out and chased to signature
- Keep the owner's referral relationships - realtors, lenders, bankers - warm and followed up
The owner's calendar and daily rundown
- Manage the calendar across the law firm, the title company, court dates, community commitments, and personal appointments, with no double-bookings
- Sort the inbox each morning and give him a short written rundown: what matters today, what he needs to decide, what the risks are
- Keep the master task list and a "waiting on" list, so nothing important lives only in someone's head
- Follow up with staff, vendors, and outside professionals before things are late
- Close the day with a short summary of what got done, what is waiting, and what rolls to tomorrow
Legal document preparation (once you have earned it, and it raises your pay)
- You will be trained to prepare estate-planning document packages - wills, trusts, powers of attorney, advance directives, and deeds - from the attorney's completed intake sheet, using our document-assembly software
- You will not design plans or advise clients. The attorney makes every legal decision at the consultation; you build the package from it, and he reviews and signs off before anything reaches a client.
- This is precision work and it is the most valuable skill you will learn here. It is also portable: this is how paralegals start.
- You begin this in your third month at the earliest, and only after you have shown you are ready. Clearing it takes your salary to $46,000.
Personal assistance (about 25% of the role, in a protected block every afternoon)
- This is a real quarter of the job, with two protected hours on the calendar every afternoon. It is not something squeezed in around the edges.
- Appointments, travel, reservations, important dates, gifts, and reminders
- Vehicle service, household and service-provider coordination, purchases and returns, subscriptions, and personal paperwork
- Running the errands that would otherwise eat an owner's evening: returns, pickups, dropoffs, waiting on a repair
- Handled with complete discretion
THE SHOALS RUN - TWICE A MONTH
On the 2nd and 4th Wednesday of each month you will drive the owner from our Athens office to the Shoals and back, about an hour each way, a full day door to door. The drive down is working time: you will take notes, capture follow-ups, and run through the week with him. The drive back is quiet. Every other Wednesday is a normal office day.
You will use your own vehicle and be reimbursed for mileage at the standard IRS rate, on top of your salary. This means we need a valid driver's license, a clean driving record, current auto insurance, and a reliable, well-maintained car. We will check all four.
WHAT WE ARE LOOKING FOR
- Relentless follow-through. You close loops. Nobody has to ask you twice.
- Warmth at the door and on the phone. People often call us on the worst day of their year. How you answer matters.
- Accuracy. Names, dates, times, addresses, and attachments get checked before anything goes out. If proofreading feels satisfying rather than tedious, you will do well here.
- Comfort asking. For a signature, for a payment, for a review, for a status update from someone who owes you one. Warmly, and without flinching.
- Clear, short writing. You can turn a messy pile of information into six clear lines.
- Discretion. You will see confidential legal, financial, and personal information every day.
- Genuine comfort with routine. The same rituals every day, done well, are most of this job.
- Ambition of the practical kind. This role is built to grow and the pay is built to follow it. We want someone who wants that.
REQUIRED
- Valid driver's license, clean driving record, and a reliable, well-maintained vehicle with current insurance
- At least 2 years in an administrative, front office, receptionist, executive assistant, or similar support role
- Reliable in-person availability in Athens, Monday through Friday
Helpful, but not required: experience in a medical or dental front office, a bank, a title or escrow office, an insurance agency, or any professional office where checklists and daily rhythm were the job. Legal experience is welcome but not necessary. Organization and warmth matter far more. Knowledge of the North Alabama area is a plus.
THIS IS PROBABLY NOT THE RIGHT FIT IF
- You need a fresh task list handed to you every morning
- You forward problems instead of proposing solutions
- You are uncomfortable following up persistently with busy people
- You get bored doing the same routine every day. Here, the routine is the job, and doing it excellently is the whole point.
- You need to start at your target salary rather than climb to it. That is a completely reasonable thing to need, and this is not that job.
WHAT THIS ROLE WILL NEVER INCLUDE
This is a law office, so a few lines are permanent. You will be trained on them in your first week.
- You will not give legal advice, reach legal conclusions, quote fees, or calculate court deadlines
- You will not have any role in trust accounts, escrow, closing funds, or wire transfers. Those stay with the attorney, always.
- You will not sign the owner's name or commit the firm to anything without written authority
- Anything uncertain gets escalated rather than guessed at
COMPENSATION AND SCHEDULE
- $30,000 to $36,000 per year to start, with the written path to $50,000 described above
- Discretionary quarterly performance bonus on top of salary
- Mileage reimbursed at the current IRS standard business rate for all firm travel
- Full-time, W-2 employee
- Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., in office at 300 W Green Street, Athens, AL 35611
- Front desk coverage 9:30 to 12:00 daily
- The 2nd and 4th Wednesday of each month are Shoals days and run a full day door to door, with that Friday ending at 4:30
- Occasional time-sensitive matters come up outside normal hours, but this is not an always-on role and we will not expect you to live on your phone
- Paid time off and paid holidays
- Expected start date: October 2026
OUR HIRING PROCESS
1. Application, including the questions on this posting
2. A 15-minute phone call
3. A paid 60-minute work sample, on site. We pay $40 for your time whether or not you are hired.
4. In-person interview
5. Driving record check, reference check, and offer
We read every application. Please answer the questions thoughtfully. They matter more to us than your resume does.
Daniel S. Pickens Law is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, genetic information, or any other characteristic protected by law.
Pay: $30,000.00 - $36,000.00 per year
Benefits:
- Employee discount
- Paid time off
Application Question(s):
- This role includes driving the firm owner to our Shoals office twice a month. Do you have a valid driver's license, a clean driving record, and a reliable, well-maintained vehicle with current insurance?
- Do you have at least 2 years of experience in an administrative, executive assistant, front office, or similar support role?
- This role has four parts: covering our front desk from 9:30 to noon (phones, greeting clients, collecting payments), executive support for the firm owner, personal assistance for him, and — once you have earned it — preparing legal documents under attorney supervision. Which best describes you?
A) I want all four, and the chance to learn document preparation is part of the appeal
B) I want all four, though I have mostly done one or two of them
C) I would prefer mostly front desk and people-facing work
D) I would prefer mostly executive or office-management work
- About 25% of this role is personal assistance for the firm owner: scheduling a vehicle service, returning a purchase, booking a reservation, running an errand, remembering an important date. Tell us honestly how you feel about that part of the job.
- Describe a system you built in a past job — a checklist, a tracker, a routine — that was still being used after you moved on. Give us enough detail that we could rebuild it.
- What annual salary are you looking for?
Work Location: In person
