Temporary Staff Attorney - Clean Slate

East Bay Community Law Center (EBCLC) is a non-profit legal services organization, the community-based clinical program for U.C. Berkeley Law School, and one of the Bay Area’s largest and most effective systems disrupters. With a dual service and teaching mission, EBCLC is a racial justice organization committed to building a culturally diverse workplace centered on equity. With about 70 staff, 100 law students a year, and a $10 million annual budget, EBCLC is the largest provider of free legal services in Alameda County, providing multimodal, collaborative, and holistic legal services to over 4,000 clients annually and engaging in legislative and policy advocacy at the state and local level.

The Opportunity

The Clean Slate Program’s Temporary Staff Attorney will provide representation and advocacy on behalf of low-income people who face economic barriers due to criminal convictions. The position requires a strong, self-directed legal advocate with excellent case management and organizational skills, experience in records remedies, a commitment to community lawyering, and a passion for working with low-income people impacted by the criminalization of poverty and contact with the criminal justice system.

Primary Responsibilities

• Manage a high-volume caseload providing advice, counsel, and representation to people facing barriers to economic security following contact with the court system by filing for criminal record remedies in criminal court and seeking public and private criminal record corrections.
• Complete administrative tasks, including regularly updating the case management database and related tracking tools and issuing closing letters.
• Additional tasks as assigned by Supervisor.

Minimum Qualifications

• J.D. degree and member of the California State Bar in good standing
• Minimum of 2 years’ experience representing clients in records remedies cases
• Excellent time management, priority-setting, and organizational skills
• Excellent written and oral advocacy skills
• Demonstrated ability to work well independently with minimal supervision

Desired Qualifications

• Prior experience providing legal services to low-income communities
• Bilingual skills in Spanish, Cantonese, or Mandarin

Salary and Benefits

The starting salary for this exempt position is $85,000-$106,000, based on years of relevant experience as dictated by the EBCLC salary scale. This is a temporary position for a 6-month term.

Benefits include fully paid health insurance (medical, dental, and vision) for employees and their dependents, life and disability insurance, and generous paid leave (vacation, sick, and holidays); EBCLC also offers flexible spending accounts for qualified health, dependent care, and commute expenditures and retirement options.

EBCLC staff are represented by the Engineers and Scientists of California IFPTE Local 20. Temporary attorneys are not eligible for union membership.

Workplace Expectations

EBCLC is a hybrid workplace. The Temporary Staff Attorney will need to attend in-person client appointments, court proceedings and/or engage in in-person fieldwork to support our clients. Your supervisor will review EBCLC’s Office Use Protocol with you, which outlines the safety protocols employees are expected to follow when using the office.

Working at EBCLC

EBCLC is strongly committed to advancing justice through education and advocacy and to the need to transform legal services and legal education. Please take time to review EBCLC’s mission, vision, programs, and website, and ensure that your cover letter reflects how your background, experience, and expertise have prepared you to be successful in performing the responsibilities of the position.

Additionally, EBCLC is committed to building a culturally diverse workplace centered on equity and providing an inclusive, welcoming, and culturally responsive environment for all members of our staff, volunteers, subcontractors, vendors, and clients. To achieve this goal, EBCLC works actively to improve our office climate, systems and structures, communications, and community engagement to create an inclusive and respectful workplace where differences are acknowledged and valued. In your cover letter, please address how your personal background and experiences, professional or otherwise, have prepared you to contribute to our commitment to cultural responsiveness and diversity amongst our staff.

We strongly encourage individuals from traditionally underrepresented communities to apply. EBCLC does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religious creed, sex, gender, gender expression, gender identity, age, national origin, ancestry, disability, marital status, sexual orientation, military status, prior contact with the criminal legal system, or any other basis prohibited by law.

Application Process

Interested applicants should submit an application by visiting https://recruiting.paylocity.com/recruiting/jobs/Details/3195112/East-Bay-Community-Law-Center/Temporary-Staff-Attorney.

The position will remain open until filled. EBCLC will review applications and interview applicants on a rolling basis and will only review complete applications. A complete application must include a cover letter, resume, short writing sample, and names/contact information for three professional references. Please submit your complete application as one single PDF file by uploading it under “Upload your Resume.”