Senior Staff Attorney, Family Defense Practice (Queens)

The Center for Family Representation Inc. (CFR) is an award-winning, innovative law and policy organization that serves primarily Black and Brown families and youth in Queens, Manhattan, the Bronx, and Staten Island with an interdisciplinary legal defense model that serves more than 2400 clients every year. CFR was originally founded in 2002 to dramatically change the trajectory of indigent parents being prosecuted by the City’s Administration for Children’s Services (ACS). Our goal is to defend and protect our clients’ rights, reduce the harm of family separation and prevent or minimize the time any child spends in the foster system.

CFR provides interdisciplinary family defense with a model that was unique at our founding and that is now being replicated nationally: we assign every client an attorney and a social work staff member, and teams have the support of parent advocates, who are parents with direct personal experience of being investigated and prosecuted by ACS. CFR was the first agency in the country to integrate parents with lived experience into legal teams and now has 7 parent advocates working in all three of our family defense locations. CFR’s Community Advocacy Project represents parents during a child protective investigation (to avoid court involvement where possible) and assists parents in clearing their names from state maltreatment records.

As an agency committed to securing justice for families, we built the Youth Defense practice (YDP) to defend youth at risk of family separation through incarceration. YDP uses the same interdisciplinary model to represent youth being prosecuted in Queens and Manhattan in Supreme Court Youth Parts, during Probation Adjustment and in Delinquency proceedings in Family Court. CFR’s Home for Good program provides legal and social work services to CFR clients in immigration, civil legal services and criminal defense matters, to afford clients an efficient and well-coordinated one-stop solution to a range of issues that threaten family stability.

Recognized as experts in our fields, we annually train over 500 practitioners in the city, state and around the country on strategies to promote family preservation and interdisciplinary representation, and we provide community based “Know Your Rights” presentations to parents, youth and service providers. We advocate at the city, state and national level for policies that reduce the harm of family separation, and promote parent engagement and justice for youth and families.

Current opening:

CFR designed the Senior Staff Attorney position to create additional professional development opportunities for experienced staff attorneys that go beyond direct client representation and case management and to provide CFR with additional supervisory, administrative, and program support. Candidates for Senior Staff Attorney should be able to demonstrate strong litigation and client counseling skills, the ability to model best practices, and a willingness and aptitude for taking on an additional leadership and managerial role at CFR. Professional development opportunities will include supervision of staff and interns and could also include increased training opportunities and responsibilities, recruitment and management of CFR’s legal internships, assisting in grant management, and working with supervisors and executive staff on strategic planning and overall management and improvement of the practice. All senior staff are expected to demonstrate an aptitude for productive problem-solving, a commitment to CFR’s current DEI work, and a desire to contribute to the stewardship of CFR; this includes the ability to positively and productively contribute to the work culture at CFR in communications and work with staff at all levels, including progressive discipline where necessary. Candidates for senior staff also need to be well organized in order to work efficiently and effectively beyond their own caseload.

Responsibilities may include:

• Direct supervision of one to two staff attorneys and holding/writing professional development reviews for any directly supervised staff;
• Meaningful participation in routine and special supervision meetings;
• Recruitment and programming for law interns and/or fellows and coordinating assignments of interns and/or fellows;
• Assistance with training and technical assistance for new and existing staff and for outside participants and professionals;
• Representing CFR in external policy efforts, including serving on committees, task forces, etc. and helping to inform CFR’s policy priorities;
• Input and assistance with development efforts;
• Coordination of special projects/initiatives;
• Providing second seat opportunities for new and less experienced attorneys, acting as lead attorney with newer attorneys, and second seating on particular cases;
• Intake/sup-of-the-day supervision in court;
• Periodically leading Case Practice and Attorney Workgroup meetings;
• Additional writing, i.e. appeals, practice memos, and development materials;
• Back-up to supervisors on writing assignments and case appearances with non-admitted attorneys and/or less experienced attorneys;
• Input and assistance with internal administrative routines and protocols as well as participation in CFR-wide committees and initiatives, including those related to diversity and hiring/recruitment of staff.

Salary Information:

The salary for a Senior Staff Attorney with three years of work experience is: $95,600

The salary for a Staff Attorney with eight years of work experience is: $106,100

The salary for a Staff Attorney with thirteen years of work experience is: $120,000

Qualifications:

• Candidates for the Senior Staff Attorney position must have at least three years of experience representing indigent parents in Article 10/TPR family court proceedings and/or in related work within the family regulation system, court systems, or other relevant advocacy roles.
• Candidates should be able to demonstrate strong programmatic skills, the ability to model best practices, and a willingness and aptitude for taking on an additional leadership role at CFR.
• Candidates for Senior Staff also need to be well organized in order to work efficiently and effectively beyond their own caseload.

Application Deadline: November 17, 2024

CFR strives to create an inclusive and antiracist environment for all of its staff. Candidates from all backgrounds are encouraged to apply. CFR is an Equal Opportunity Employer.