Temporary Bilingual Legal Clinic Coordinator, Immigration Law Unit - New York, NY

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The Immigration Law Unit of The Legal Aid Society is a recognized leader in the delivery of legal services to immigrants in all five boroughs of New York City. The Unit provides low-income New Yorkers with free comprehensive immigration services ranging from deportation defense to adjustment of status to legal permanent residence and citizenship applications. The Unit specializes in the intersection between immigration and criminal law and works collaboratively with all practice areas to serve the society's diverse immigrant clients through a comprehensive service model. Unit staff represent immigrants before USCIS, immigration judges in removal proceedings, and the Board of Immigration Appeals, as well as in federal court on habeas corpus petitions, petitions for review, administrative and judicial appeals, and other matters.

The Legal Aid Society's Civil Practice is seeking a Temporary Bilingual Legal Clinic Coordinator to join the Immigration Law Unit (ILU).

ILU provides full legal representation to non-citizens every day and we believe that full legal representation is the best practice. However, in these times when demand for immigration legal services is tremendous, ILU has developed a successful limited scope legal clinic model. The coordinator would be responsible for organizing and scheduling clinic clients and volunteer application preparers, developing best-practices training materials and resources, and ensuring that ILU case matters are timely updated with data required for grants management.

This Coordinator would focus on ILU's legal clinic work with non-citizen youth and families and would also collaborate closely with ILU's Youth Project which provides full-scope representation for this non-citizen population. The range of case matters handled in these legal clinics may include work permit assistance, family court guardianship petitions, filings for Special Immigrant Juvenile Status, and assistance with motions before the Immigration Court. It may also involve other legal matters.

The ideal candidate will be fully bilingual in Spanish and English. They must also be a talented team player with a deep commitment to public interest practice and be able to build strong relationships with stakeholders in the legal, court, and service communities.

This position is funded through a temporary grant and the continuation of the position is dependent on funding availability. If funding for the position is not continued, the Temporary Clinic Coordinator position will be eligible to apply for other internal positions or be transferred into a comparable position.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES/RESPONSIBILITIES

• Ensure accountability and maintenance of practice standards
• Organize and schedule clients and volunteer application preparers for legal clinics
• Develop opportunities for existing LAS staff to participate in legal clinics
• Help to manage clinic workflows and ensure quality of application submissions
• Recruit and train application preparers, primarily through video education modules
• Help develop best practices to share with other providers
• Work with ILU and other Civil Practice administrative staff to ensure that ILU case matters are timely updated with data required for grants management
• Develop best practices for legal clinic referrals, both internal from within LAS and external
• Foster and encourage teamwork and communication
• Represent the Civil Practice and Legal Aid in the community
• Participate in continuous professional development
• Continuously learn about forms of bias in the workplace and demonstrate affirmative behaviors that support an inclusive work environment
• Other duties as assigned

QUALIFICATIONS

Required qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree or an equivalent combination of 4+ years of post-secondary education and/or work experience
• Must be bilingual in Spanish and English (oral and written fluency)

Preferred qualifications:

• Immigration law experience
• Demonstrated commitment to representing or working with individuals from marginalized communities

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, and ABILITIES

Position Based Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:

• Experience in and/or commitment to advocacy on behalf of low-income immigrants is strongly desired
• Ability to work in a team setting including strong communication and follow-up skills
• Experience working in a fast-paced environment
• Ability to manage relationships and effectively communicate with ILU management team and other Civil Practice administrative staff
• Highly self-motivated and able to work independently
• Demonstrated ability to accurately and quickly gather data, compile information, and keep accurate records
• Excellent organizational skills
• Excellent computer skills including Office 365 and all Microsoft Office programs, especially Microsoft Excel (pivot tables, etc.), and demonstrated ability to work databases
• Excellent judgement, including ability to handle sensitive or confidential information
• Ability to multitask

Organizational Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:

• Commitment to Legal Aid Society's mission to secure equal justice before the law for all New Yorkers
• Interpersonal and communication skills that enable healthy and productive working relationships
• Ability to perform duties with the highest regard for confidentiality, integrity, and respect
• Commitment to Legal Aid society's mission and values

Physical, environmental, travel, and other duties required:

• Mostly sedentary, significant time using a computer and monitor; communicating and meeting using video
• May or will require travel within NYC, across the five-borough region

SALARY AND BENEFITS

The salary range represents a good faith estimate of the range we expect to pay for this role. The actual salary offered may vary depending on many factors, including but not limited to job-related knowledge, skills, and experience, as well as collectively bargained salary steps for unionized roles.

Salary Range: $72,000 - $77,000

The Legal Aid Society offers a generous benefits package including health insurance, paid vacation, disability, and life insurance, and more. Click here to read more about benefits.

Higher Education and Loan Forgiveness

The Legal Aid Society is a qualified employer for the purposes of the Public Service Loan Forgiveness. This position allows an employee to take advantage of PSLF and other State and Federal loan forgiveness programs. Additionally, employees who are New York residents may be eligible for assistance from New York state to assist with loan repayments, depending on years of practice. To learn more, click the links below.

studentaid.gov

hesc.ny.gov/loan-forgiveness-programs

WORK AUTHORIZATION

All applicants must be legally authorized to work in the United States for any employer without sponsorship for a work visa or permit. We are currently unable to sponsor employment visas or permits. (However, for citizens of Canada and Mexico, LAS will provide a letter documenting employment status that is needed to obtain a TN visa.)

HOW TO APPLY

All applications must be completed online via the career portal. We do not accept emailed applications. Submit the following documents as a combined PDF:

• Cover Letter
• Resume

For technical difficulties or questions regarding this posting, please email jobpostquestions@legal-aid.org.

EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY

As an Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) Employer, The Legal Aid Society prohibits discriminatory employment actions against and treatment of its employees and applicants for employment based on actual or perceived race or color, size (including bone structure, body size, height, shape, and weight), religion or creed, alienage or citizenship status, sex (including pregnancy), national origin, age, sexual orientation, gender identity (one's internal deeply-held sense of one's gender which may be the same or different from one's sex assigned at birth); gender expression (the representation of gender as expressed through, for example, one's name, choice of pronouns, clothing, haircut, behavior, voice, or body characteristics; gender expression may not conform to traditional gender-based stereotypes assigned to specific gender identities), disability, marital status, relationship and family structure (including domestic partnerships, polyamorous families and individuals, chosen family, platonic co-parents, and multigenerational families), genetic information or predisposing genetic characteristics, military status, domestic violence victim status, arrest or pre-employment conviction record, credit history, unemployment status, caregiver status, salary history, or any other characteristic protected by law.

OUR COMMITMENT TO DIVERSITY, EQUITY, AND INCLUSION

The Legal Aid Society is committed to a work culture of zealous advocacy, respect, diversity and inclusion, client-oriented defense, access to justice and excellent representation. We are dedicated to building a strong professional relationship with each of our clients (people), to understanding their diverse circumstances, and to meeting their needs. Our ability to achieve these goals depends on the efforts of all of us and our ability to build strong relationships with our colleagues. Every member of our community is expected to continuously learn about the dynamic, evolving, and emerging field of knowledge of identity, bias, and systemic forms of oppression and participate in productive efforts to dismantling bias in all forms.

Manhattan - Civil Practice Lower Manhattan Neighborhood Office