Litigation Supervisor, Family Defense Practice (Bronx)

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, and the Bronx with an interdisciplinary legal defense model that serves more than 2400 clients every year. In 2024, CFR will expand our family defense practice to Richmond County. 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:

Current opening:

CFR is committed to providing robust supervision to program staff, and we have a need for a Litigation Supervisor in The Bronx. Under the supervision of borough Directors, the Litigation Supervisor’s primary responsibility will be to supervise three to five staff attorneys of varying degrees of experience who work in interdisciplinary teams with social work, family advocate, parent advocate, and paralegal staff to represent parents in Article 10 and Termination of Parental Rights Proceedings. Litigation Supervisors are responsible for helping attorneys develop mastery in all aspects of litigation as well as for reinforcing and building upon skills and values introduced in initial and ongoing trainings. Litigation Supervisors write professional development reviews, periodically coordinate case practice and attorney workgroup meetings, and from time to time, develop practice materials useful for staff at CFR. Litigation Supervisors also work with family court staff and staff from other agencies, including ACS, to address substantive and operational issues that affect a large court-based practice.

The Litigation Supervisor will work with other Supervisors and Senior Staff as well as with borough Directors, the Director of Litigation, Director of Social Work, Director of Holistic Practice, Training Supervisor, COO, Development & HR staff, and Executive Director to inform decisions on strategic planning and overall program development and improvement for the entire agency. In those areas, activities may include administration, hiring and recruitment, training, policy work, development, progressive discipline, fellowships, and appeals. All Supervisors 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 if necessary. Candidates for supervisor also need to be well organized in order to work efficiently and effectively beyond their own caseload and to effectively supervise multiple staff with possibly varying levels of experience.

Salary Information:

The salary for a Litigation Supervisor with 4 years of experience is: $103,600/year.

The salary for a Litigation Supervisor with 7 years of experience is: $109,200/year

The salary for a Litigation Supervisor with 12 years experience is: $121,900/year.

Anticipated State Date:

• January 2025

Qualifications:

• Candidates must have at least four to six years of experience in Article 10/TPR family court proceedings.
• Prior supervisory experience is preferred.
• Experience with organizational or program development, training, and ancillary proceedings (i.e. custody) are all desirable.
• Candidates must have strong interpersonal communication skills, demonstrated teamwork skills, and an aptitude for problem solving and management of staff.
• Fluency in Spanish or other languages is preferable.