Staff Attorney, Family Defense Practice (Queens)

About CFR

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. 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) and our goal is to reduce the harm of family separation and prevent or minimize the time any child spends in foster care. CFR provides interdisciplinary family defense to parents charged by ACS 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 losing children to foster care and safely reunifying their families. CFR was the first agency in the country to integrate parents with lived experience into legal teams. In 2015, CFR expanded its practice to provide legal and social work services to parents in immigration, civil legal services and criminal defense matters.

Job Description

The Staff Attorney will be expected to:

• Work as part of CFR’s interdisciplinary legal teams (comprised of attorneys, social work staff, paralegals and parent advocates) to provide our clients with high quality legal defense and meet objectives such as keeping children out of foster care, shortening lengths of stay for children in foster care, promoting quality visiting arrangements, and insuring that families receive services that are well-tailored to expediting safe and lasting reunification
• Represent parents in Family Court who are respondents in Article 10 and all related supplemental proceedings, including Termination of Parental Rights proceedings
• Pursue interim appeals on behalf of CFR’s clients
• Keep case data, client legal notes and files up to date
• Participate in CFR’s policy initiatives
• Actively engage in CFR’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion initiatives
• Work collaboratively with CFR's Home for Good teams
• Where appropriate, supervise law school interns

Attorneys joining CFR can expect intensive, interdisciplinary training on CFR’s Cornerstone Advocacy model, family court, the child welfare/family regulation system, client interviewing, and other critical skills. CFR is dedicated to providing ongoing professional development in best practices in all these areas in a variety of training forums for all staff.

Salary Information

The salary for a Staff Attorney with two years of work experience is: $86,200.

The salary for a Staff Attorney with seven years of work experience is: $96,700.

The salary for a Staff Attorney with twelve years of work experience is: $109,400.

Anticipated Start Date

March 10, 2025

Qualifications

• Admitted to practice law in the State of New York.
• At least 2 years of prior experience with family law, public benefits, housing, criminal defense or immigration is preferred.
• Fluency in Spanish or other languages is desirable.
• Individuals who apply should be able to demonstrate strong interpersonal and communication skills, a commitment to interdisciplinary representation of parents and a desire to share in both the exhilaration and challenges of a growing endeavor.