Senior Supervising Immigration/Workers Rights Attorney

About the Legal Aid Justice Center:

The Legal Aid Justice Center is a nationally recognized, non-profit organization that partners with low-income clients and communities of color in Virginia to fight for racial, social, and economic justice. We understand that the harms our clients endure are inextricably linked to overarching systems of injustice. Together we are dismantling those systems through a combination of community organizing, litigation, policy advocacy, public relations, and individual legal services.

Founded in 1967, LAJC has offices in Charlottesville, Richmond, Petersburg, and Falls Church and provides services under six key program areas: Civil Rights & Racial Justice (focuses on the criminal legal system), Housing & Consumer Justice, Youth Justice, Health Justice & Public Benefits, Immigrant Justice, and Worker Justice. As examples of LAJC’s recent work, our lawsuit and organizing against the state forced reform of Virginia’s unemployment insurance system, including advocacy that resulted in the distribution of over $1 billion in illegally withheld payments to over 160,000 Virginians. During the pandemic, we demanded and secured a statewide eviction moratorium and emergency pandemic protections that helped hundreds of families avoid eviction. We reduced incarceration across the state, including reducing the population of a local immigration detention center down to historically low levels through a coordinated effort of organizing paired with impact and individual litigation. Our staff are on the front lines of some of the most important anti-poverty fights happening today.

With a staff of over 90, the past few years have been a time of exciting growth and opportunity for the organization. In addition to the growth of programmatic efforts including increased organizing capacity, LAJC has expanded its operations and administrative capacity, created new opportunities for professional growth and leadership among staff, engaged in ongoing race equity work, and explored changes to organizational structure to deepen its efforts to create long-term, sustainable, community-driven change.

LAJC’s latest strategic plan is available at https://www.justice4all.org/lajc-strategic-plan-2022-2026/#area%20d.

For more information about LAJC’s work and programs, visit www.justice4all.org.

About the Position:

The Legal Aid Justice Center seeks to hire a senior supervising attorney for our new expansion into Hampton Roads. The attorney will be a part of both the Immigrant Justice and Worker Justice Programs and work hand-in-hand with those teams on advocacy in the Hampton Roads region. The attorney will initially work in a shared office space in Norfolk and later play a key role in helping with the establishment of our permanent office.

Importantly, this position involves the unique and ambitious opportunity to build out LAJC’s footprint in the Hampton Roads region. LAJC currently has physical offices in Falls Church, Richmond, Charlottesville, and Petersburg, as well as staff who live and work on Virginia’s Eastern Shore, and in Southwest Virginia. Across six different programs, LAJC’s long-standing advocacy has had profound, positive impacts on low-income communities throughout the Commonwealth, including but not limited to Hampton Roads. In the past and currently, LAJC litigates cases in the area, works alongside communities on campaigns, and otherwise does statewide advocacy that benefits Hampton Roads residents. This will be the first time, however, that LAJC is opening up a permanent physical office in Hampton Roads. As part of our strategic plan LAJC is excited to work alongside community members to achieve deeply felt needs across the region.

Initially, this attorney will play a key initial role in establishing LAJC’s presence in the region and building out the infrastructure of the office itself in collaboration with the office manager and other team members. The attorney will also take an active role in collaborating with pre-existing community groups, coalitions, and organizations to build trust and assess community needs.

Over time, and working under the direction of our Immigrant and Worker Justice programs, the attorney will build a portfolio of legal advocacy to advance, defend, and protect the rights of immigrant workers and families in the region. For example, the attorney may work with IJP to help develop and implement strategies to end mass detention and deportation of immigrants in Virginia, break the ties between immigration enforcement and local and state government and law enforcement, ensure that immigrant communities remain intact and protected in Virginia, fight the separation of immigrant families and the exclusion of immigrants from state benefits like in-state tuition, and protect immigrants across the Commonwealth whether they are in federal custody or in their communities. The attorney may also work with WJP to litigate workers’ rights cases on behalf of both individuals and class actions, assist organizers in developing grassroots organizing strategies to close the justice gap in low-income worker communities, and assist with policy and administrative advocacy on team priorities and objectives.

Job Duties:

• Through supervision and coordination with the directors, help monitor and advance a docket of individual cases to ensure community needs are met. This includes handling direct representation cases and community consultations.
• Take a leadership role in various impact campaigns (including federal litigation, policy advocacy state and local advocacy, or grassroots community lawyering) affecting immigrant and worker communities in and around Hampton Roads and statewide.
• Participate in various work groups, coalition, etc., and attend community events.
• Work closely with LAJC’s strategy directors for Communications, Organization, Policy, and Litigation to ensure all tools are integrated into advocacy efforts as appropriate.
• Actively participate in program decision making in coordination with IJP and WJP Program Directors by attending regular team retreats and contributing to the creation and implementation of team-wide systems.
• Play a key initial role in establishing LAJC’s presence in the region and building out the infrastructure of the office itself in collaboration with the office manager and other team members. The attorney will also take an active role in collaborating with pre-existing community groups, coalitions, and organizations to build trust and assess community needs.
  • Racial Equity: Promote racial equity across all dimensions, including within LAJC, by doing the following: Helping to recruit, retain, and support both staff and leadership that reflect the racial composition of our community
  • Cultivating respect for the work of and expanding resources for non-attorney staff that are disproportionately people of color
  • Creating spaces for staff to discuss issues of racial, gender, and all other issues of marginalization
  • Pushing for institutional and cultural changes by management, the board, and staff to further promote racial equity.

Senior Attorney Responsibilities:

• Supervise up to 3-4 attorneys within their respective programs. Senior supervisors may start with a smaller number of direct reports, and that number may increase over time up to 3-4 direct reports.
• Provide day-to-day supervision and mentorship for attorneys under your supervision, including conducting regular check-ins and onboarding.
• Prepare draft performance reviews of supervisees for review and approval by Legal Director.
• When necessary, give informal warnings regarding supervisee performance and consult with supervisor to recommend more formal reprimands or changes to a supervisee’s employment status.
• Participate, with the Legal Director, in hiring program staff.
• Manage administrative matters for supervisees, including approving expense reports and leave requests.
• Contribute to organizational health through working groups, hiring committees, and other collaborative spaces building internal infrastructure of the organization. Provide support to administrative team relevant to immigration and worker matters as needed.
  • Identify or provide learning opportunities, relevant literature, and training opportunities relevant to immigration and workplace matters: Individual representation on immigration and workplace law issues
  • Community lawyering and/or other impact expertise.
  • Circulate to staff and facilitate discussion and collective learning as feasible.
  • Provide necessary support and consultation across the organization, or in some cases, externally, on subject matter area.

Required Qualifications:

• A strong commitment to social, economic, and racial justice.
• Strong commitment to social, economic, and racial justice.
• At least 3 years of practice as an attorney.
• Strong commitment to immigrants’ and workers’ rights.
• Experience (formal or lived experience) working directly with immigrant community members.
• Membership in the Virginia State Bar, or eligibility and willingness to become a member of the VSB promptly – either by passing the bar exam, or meeting requirements to “waive” into bar membership without taking the bar exam. (Note: this position may be eligible for the newly enacted Virginia Supreme Court rule allowing for any attorney working exclusively for a legal aid organization to practice without examination as long as they are in good standing in another state).
• An ability to balance and manage a variety of responsibilities while effectively navigating ambiguity and leading in evolving environments.

Preferred Qualifications:

• At least 1 year of practice in immigration, ideally in removal defense, and/or workers rights.
• A sufficient level of Spanish fluency to interview and counsel clients in Spanish without assistance of an interpreter.
• Experience with impact advocacy (e.g., impact litigation, organizing, policy advocacy, etc.)
• 6 years of practice as an attorney
• Experience opening up a new office or starting a new organization.
• Supervision/management experience, whether in formal or informal capacity.
• Experience working for a public interest law firm, legal services organization, or other nonprofit as an attorney or in a pro bono capacity.

A Note to Potential Candidates: Studies have shown that women, trans, non-binary folks, and BIPOC are less likely to apply for jobs unless they believe they meet every single one of the qualifications as described in a job description. We are committed to building a diverse and inclusive organization, and strongly encourage you to apply, even if you don't believe you meet every one of the qualifications described.

Vaccination Requirement: The Legal Aid Justice Center requires all employees to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 or have an approved medical or religious exemption as a qualification of employment. Proof of vaccination or accommodation request must be provided within one day of employment.

The Legal Aid Justice Center is an equal opportunity employer, committed to inclusive hiring and dedicated to diversity in our work and staff. We strongly encourage candidates of all identities, experiences, and communities to apply. The Legal Aid Justice Center is committed to strengthening the voices of our low-income clients, working in collaboration with community partners, and rooting out the inequities that keep people in poverty. We strive to take on the issues that have broad impact on our client communities and to be responsive to client input. Recognizing the particular impact of racism on our clients and staff, we devote special attention to dismantling racial injustice. All applicants must be dedicated to working in and sustaining an environment that enables staff and clients to feel empowered, valued, respected, and safe. In reviewing applications, we look for evidence that applicants have experience and/or thoughtfulness in working with traditionally marginalized populations.

Salary: The salary scale for this position is $84,173.87 - $109,426.03 based on the LAJC salary scale. To allow for salary growth within the position over time, the anticipated hiring range for this position is between $84,173.87 - $96,799.95. Placement on the range will be based on factors such as years of relevant experience, budget, and internal equity.

Benefits: Our mission is compelling, and our team members are passionate about their work, and so we recognize the need to provide generous benefits and encourage rest and a healthy work environment. For example, we provide:

• Generous paid time off every year, including 3 to 6 weeks of vacation, 12 days of health leave, 6 weeks parental leave, and 14 holidays (not including bonus holidays/rest days allocated as needed)
• 100% employer paid health, dental, and vision insurance, plus excellent family insurance with annual max of $2,400 premium contribution to LAJC-sponsored health plan
• 403(b) retirement plan with 4% employer contribution (no required match)
• Strong commitment to professional development
• Relocation package (where applicable)