Staff Attorney

Neighborhood Defender Service of Texas (NDS) has a legal services office providing free communitybased clientcentered holistic housing defense representation to lowincome residents of Harris County. NDS clients are represented by multidisciplinary teams including attorneys advocates and team administrators. NDS adheres to a clientcentered approach to representation that emphasizes a heightened responsiveness to clients needs.

The Harris County Eviction Defense Team plays an integral role in NDSs fulfillment of its holistic mission and in realizing the right to counsel in housing proceedings. The practice is part of the monumental movement toward a civilGideon providing assigned counsel representation to low and noincome tenants facing a wide range of eviction proceedings in order to safeguard the right to secure stable housing and combat the destabilization and disintegration of Harris Countys diverse communities. The Staff Attorney is responsible for providing clientcentered representation to the clients of the Housing Defense Practice.

• Provide excellent clientcentered representation to individual tenants in Housing Court; proceedings including nonpayments holdovers and HP actions from intake through case resolution.
• Conduct client intake and screen for representation.
• Regular appearance in Housing Court to conduct routine appearances argue motions and engage in trial practice and other litigation.
• Advocate for clients to access and obtain benefits subsidies and other services to resolve Housing Court proceedings.
• Work as part of an interdisciplinary team to secure the best outcomes for clients.
• Demonstrate energy enthusiasm and ingenuity in working on challenging cases as assigned by supervisors.
• RepresentNDS at Coalition meetings and communitybased initiatives on housing issues on an asneeded basis.

• J.D. Degree and admission to practice law in Texas.
• Experience providing housing defense representation to lowincome clients is preferred; preference given to applicants who have at least two years of experience in legal services.
• A demonstrated commitment to social justice issues and experience working with individuals of diverse backgrounds.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills.
• Excellent organizational skills including the ability to manage a diverse caseload.
• Must be able to travel throughout Harris County to the various courts administrative agencies and to client appointments.
• Must be able to work cooperatively with attorneys and other NDS advocates and problemsolve independently.
• Fluency in Spanish is preferred but not required.

Compensation:

Compensation is commensurate with experience and is in adherence to the NDS compensation scale. Exceptional benefits package includes full medical and dental for employee and family retirement life and AD&D insurance paid vacation holiday and sick time.

The salary range for this position is $77593 $133899

SALARY RANGE BASED ON TRANSFERABLE EXPERIENCE

1 10 Years

$

11 20 Years

$

21 30 Years

$

How to Apply:

Interviews are held on a rolling basis and applications will be accepted until the position is filled. Interested applicants should apply through the career portal at Neighborhood Defender Jobs.

Interested applicants should submit a cover letter and resume for their complete application materials as one document preferably a pdf.

For more information about NDS please visit our website at Neighborhood Defender Service.

The Neighborhood Defender Service is committed to creating a diverse environment that reflects the communities we serve. NDS is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants are encouraged to apply and will receive consideration for employment without regard to race religion gender gender identity or expression sexual orientation national origin genetics disability age or veteran status. NDS encourages people with incarcerated loved ones formerly incarcerated people people of color women queer transgender gender nonconforming and gender fluid people to apply. At NDS we are dedicated to building a diverse inclusive and authentic workplace so if youre excited about this role but your experience doesnt align perfectly with every qualification in the job description we encourage you to apply anyways. You may be just the right candidate for this or other roles.