Temporary Paralegal

About NYLAG:

Founded in 1990, NYLAG is a leading civil legal services organization combatting economic, racial, and social injustice by advocating for people experiencing poverty or in crisis. Our services include comprehensive, free civil legal services, financial empowerment, impact litigation, policy advocacy, and community partnerships. NYLAG exists because wealth should not determine who has access to justice. We aim to disrupt systemic racism by serving individuals and families whose legal and financial crises are often rooted in racial inequality. NYLAG goes to where the need is, providing services in more than 150 community sites (e.g. courts, hospitals, libraries) and on our Mobile Legal Help Center. During COVID-19, most of our services were virtual to keep our community safe. NYLAG’s staff of 380 impacted the lives of nearly 129,000 people last year.

Job description

NYLAG seeks a highly motivated temporary paralegal within our Domestic Violence Law Unit.

The paralegal will focus primarily on conducting comprehensive family, matrimonial, and immigration law intakes with survivors of intimate partner violence, sexual assault, and other clients referred for assistance. The position also requires providing litigation support to attorneys in their representation of survivors of intimate partner violence and sexual assault in family and matrimonial litigation cases (including orders of protection, contested and uncontested divorces, custody, visitation, child and spousal support, matters related to special immigrant juvenile status and some abuse/neglect proceedings), and domestic and gender-based violence based immigration matters (including VAWA self-petitions, battered spouse waivers, U-visas, T Visas, SIJS petitions, and applications to adjust status).

The person in this role will collaborate internally across projects and externally with community-based partners, and will work to expand access to services for communities who face disparate obstacles in accessing assistance.

This role reports to a Supervising Attorney in the Domestic Violence Law Unit and will be temporary in nature commensurate with the leave of a current staff member.

Duties and Responsibilities

• Conduct comprehensive family, matrimonial, and domestic violence based immigration law intakes with survivors of intimate partner violence, sexual assault, and other clients referred for assistance;
• Conduct safety planning;
• Assist clients and callers in identifying and obtaining appropriate referrals for legal and non-legal needs;
• Provide litigation support to attorneys in their client representation, including but not limited to, client interviewing, performing research, drafting documents and forms, obtaining documents and evidence, and compiling applications;
• Investigate, prepare, and file compensation claims for crime victims;
• Assist unit attorneys and case handlers with document translation and verbal interpretation;
• Engage with internal and external colleagues to ensure access to services for clients within the communities that we serve;
• Assist in program administration including file and case maintenance, assisting with grant reporting, and other administrative tasks as assigned by Unit Director and supervising staff;
• Manage data entry in internal and external data management systems and assist with generating reports;
• Fluency in a second language, particularly Spanish, Russian, or Arabic, is strongly preferred;
• Ability to work collaboratively, communicate effectively, manage multiple tasks, and creatively problem solve; and
• Other duties as needed.

Qualifications

• College degree, paralegal certificate, or 2-3 years in a client/customer facing role preferred;
• Strong organizational and administrative skills are required;
• Experience working with survivors of trauma, immigrant communities and/or underserved communities is preferred;
• Demonstrated commitment to public interest work;
• Excellent computer skills (Word, Excel, internet research); and
• Demonstrated ability to take initiative and work independently.

NYLAG’s Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion

NYLAG is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. People of color, women, people with disabilities, immigrants, veterans, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people, and those with lived experiences in the communities we serve are strongly encouraged to apply.

Employment type:

☒ Full-time

☒ Temporary

Professional Level:

☒ Entry Level

Salary Range: NYLAG is a unionized workplace, and salaries are set pursuant to a collective bargaining agreement. This role is temporary, covering a staff member’s leave. The current salary range for this position is between $52,571 and $54,630 pursuant to NYLAG’s Collective Bargaining Agreement, pro-rated for the period of employment.

Benefits: Medical, dental, vision, 401k, life insurance, long term disability, commuter benefits, flexible spending accounts (FSA) for Medical and Dependent care.

Application Instructions: Please save resume and cover letter on one pdf. Applications submitted without a cover letter will not be considered.

Covid Vaccination Policy: Please note, to safeguard the health and well-being of our employees and clients, NYLAG requires all employees to be fully vaccinated for COVID-19, unless a medical or religious exemption is approved.

NYLAG is committed to a hybrid work policy for staff whose work does not require their full-time presence in the office. NYLAG’s current policy is that most staff are required to work in NYLAG’s offices or do other in-person work at least two days each week. This policy is subject to change.