Staff Attorney, Families Together

Washington, AR - USA

Yearly Salary: $ 66000 - 76512

Posted on: 11 hours ago

Vacancies: 1 Vacancy

Job Summary

Who We Are

Childrens Law Center is a mission-driven organization focused on providing high-quality legal services to children and families in DC. As an organization we envision a world in which all children have a strong foundation of family health and education and are free from poverty trauma racism and other forms of oppression. Our mission is to do this work together with DC children and families Childrens Law Center uses the law to solve childrens urgent problems today improve the systems that will affect their lives tomorrow and strengthen our community so that change endures. A key part of our mission is to challenge and reduce ways in which racism and other biases structural and interpersonal prevent each of us our organization and the systems in which we work from providing children a strong foundation from which to thrive.

Our greatest assets are our people. We recognize that people with diverse backgrounds experiences and perspectives fuel our ability to provide the best outcomes for our clients and our community. Staff members at Childrens Law Center advance the organizations mission through their leadership result-oriented mindset and commitment to cultural humility. We are looking for individuals who like to be challenged to grow both personally and professionally and value the opportunity to make a difference in their community. Childrens Law Centers continued success depends on recruiting and retaining individuals who possess and exemplify these attributes.

Program Description

Childrens Law Center (CLC) has a long history of working with parents and caregivers to help them solve problems that threaten a childs health safety and well-being. By providing legal services at the right time attorneys can lift burdens of poverty that often drain a clients capacity to care for their child. Through our Families Together program Childrens Law Center is expanding the range of legal assistance provided to parents and caregivers.

Families Together supports pregnant persons parents and caregivers in achieving their goals for their families with the long-term outcome of mitigating the risk of child welfare involvement and ensuring children can remain safely at home. To reach families Childrens Law Center partners with community-based organizations the Court and governmental agencies that share our commitment to strengthening DC families impacted by poverty.

Job Summary

The primary responsibility of the Families Together Staff Attorney is to provide high-quality culturally humble and trauma-informed representation for parents and caregivers. The Staff Attorney position will be co-located at Community of Hope a leading provider of health care to children. Community of Hopes Family Health and Birth Center provides comprehensive health and social services to families with a special focus on serving pregnant parents and their babies. Community of Hope has sites in Wards 57 and 8 the communities with the largest number of low-income children in the District of Columbia.

The Staff Attorney will join the Community of Hope teaming model which provides each pregnant person with coordinated care from family advocates social workers community birth workers and community health workers. The Staff Attorney will manage a case load of approximately 20-25 cases and advocate - both in and out of court - to provide interventions that support and stabilize families.

In addition to carrying a case load the Staff Attorney will conduct legal education trainings for parents caregivers community members and Community of Hope staff. They will also conduct intakes and provide brief advice or services as assigned train and mentor volunteer attorneys assist with the onboarding and supervision of law clerks and interns and complete specific projects as assigned by the Families Together Director or Chief Legal Officer.

This position has an established career path with the potential for promotion to a Senior Attorney.

Role Responsibilities

Case Handling: Advocacy

Provide high-quality culturally humble trauma-informed direct legal representation.
Zealously advocate for clients in all cases through reflective case planning thorough investigation and high-quality litigation to achieve positive client outcomes.
Attend all court dates and file all appropriate pleadings on time.
Engage in creative strategies to avoid family separation and entry into foster care.

Case Handling: Policy and Protocol Adherence

Adhere to program policies and protocols including case planning notes litigation protocol case notes and timekeeping policy and client visitation and contact protocol to achieve positive outcomes for clients outlined in program logic models.
Ensure timely and accurate input of case and intake information into case management system and adhere to applicable policies and protocols to support learning and positive outcomes for clients. Childrens Law Center policy requires a minimum of 30 hours to be entered weekly.
Maintain accurate timely data entry for non-case-related activities including but not limited to trainings and volunteer attorney mentoring.

Case Handling: Supervision

Attend and actively participate in regular supervision with their supervisor to review and brainstorm case strategies keep the supervisor informed and ensure quality of representation.
Provide written materials to their supervisor for feedback on all written material including trial preparation.
Immediately report any impending or actual difficulty in fulfilling obligations to clients or Childrens Law Center to minimize adverse consequences for clients or the organization.
Identify and elevate Targeted Appellate Strategy Issue List cases to supervisor and Appellate Team.

Community Partnership & Engagement

Organize and conduct legal education trainings.
Effectively and compassionately communicate with Community of Hope staff community partners and service providers to ensure optimal outcomes for clients.

Volunteer Support

Participate in hiring onboarding and supervision of law clerk and intern staff as assigned.
Develop and conduct volunteer attorney trainings as assigned.
Develop or update volunteer attorney training materials as assigned.
With experience develop skills and capacity to mentor volunteer attorneys.

Learning and Systemic Advocacy

Attend and participate in all Families Together team meetings attorney and staff meetings and other internal committees and working groups as requested by the Families Together Director.
Provide support to Childrens Law Center Policy Team in areas of expertise to address the systemic needs of its client community.
Participate or attend external committees as needed and requested by the Families Together Director.

Required Skills and Experience

JD degree.
DC Bar membership or eligibility for DC Bar membership based the transfer of a Uniform Bar Examination score attained in another jurisdiction or membership in good standing in the Bar of another jurisdiction for at least 3 years immediately prior to the application for admission.
Experience in legal services or other community lawyering. Experience that will be considered includes job experience law school clinics clerkships and internships.
Experience with housing conditions or special education matters.
Commitment to equity inclusion and humility when working with clients and colleagues at the intersection of multiple identities including race ethnicity gender identity sexual orientation socio-economic statusimmigration status religionphysicalandmentaldisabilityand/or limited English proficiency.

Preferred Qualifications

A demonstrated commitment to social economic and racial justice.
Strong legal analysis research writing and oral advocacy skills.
- Demonstrated by: law school clinic experience judicial clerkships research positions and/or law school awards for moot court or oral advocacy.
Excellent organizational and time management skills.
Exceptional interpersonal communication and relationship-building skills.
Demonstrated capacity to work independently and collaboratively.
Demonstrated capacity to proactively address obstacles and identify creative solutions.
Strong independent judgment and decision-making skills.
Experience working with children and families with limited financial resources preferred.
Experience mentoring or teaching is a plus.
Bilingual (English/Spanish) communication skills are a plus.

Organizational Competencies

Cultural Humility an openness to self-reflection and to understanding and respecting other cultural experiences and points of view and viewing individuals as experts in their own culture and experiences.
Giving and Receiving Feedback the ability to be self-reflective give and receive appreciative coaching constructive interpersonal and evaluative feedback.
Conflict Management a process which is designed to guide individuals and groups from the moment of conflict to the implementation of an identified solution. This process incorporates skills and techniques including recognizing points of conflict identifying the facts and feelings involved to get to the root of the issue investigating equitable solutions implementing and evaluating solutions and supporting and guiding others throughout the process.

Salary and Benefits

The salary for this position ranges from $66000 to $76512 annually based on relevant experience. Childrens Law Center offers a generous benefits package that includes medical dental vision and short- and long-term disability insurance; employer-provided retirement contributions; flexible spending plans; and vacation sick holiday family and medical leave. You can find more details about Childrens Law Centers comprehensive benefits package at Law Center is a 501(c)(3) organization. Employees with federal student loan debt can apply for Public Service Loan Forgiveness. For more information go to Additionally the DC Bar Foundations Loan Repayment Assistance Program provides renewable one-year interest-free forgivable loans up to $12000 per year for qualified Childrens Law Center attorneys. For more information see https:/ Instructions

To apply please submit a resume via CLCs careers page ( Law Center is committed to fostering a diverse and inclusive environment. If you believe that you need accommodation to search for or apply for one of our positions please send an email to . In your email please include the accommodation you are requesting and the job title you are applying for. It may take up to three business days to receive a response to your request.

Hybrid Working Conditions

Childrens Law Center is currently operating on a hybrid work schedule. Employees are required to work in-person from Childrens Law Centers office a minimum of two days per week. At least one of these days must be either Tuesday or Wednesday. The hybrid work schedule is subject to change based on organizational needs and/or best practices for health and safety. Hybrid work expectations may vary depending upon role responsibilities.

Work Authorization

Applicants must be authorized to work for any employer in the U.S. Childrens Law Center is unable to sponsor or take over sponsorship of an employment visa at this time.

Background Checks

Candidates who receive a conditional offer of employment will be subject to a background check.

EEO

Childrens Law Center is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We are committed to equal employment opportunities for all applicants and existing employees. We evaluate qualified applicants without regard to ancestry age color disability genetic information gender identity gender expression marital status military or veteran status national origin race religion sex sexual orientation and any other basis protected by federal state or local law ordinance or compliance with federal law all persons hired will be required to verify identity and eligibility to work in the United States and to complete the required employment eligibility verification form upon hire. We invite you to visit our website to learn more about our company and our career opportunities ( Commitment

Childrens Law Center is dedicated to building a world that is inclusive in approach and has equal opportunities and equitable outcomes for all. Our organization is committed to developing and supporting a robustly diverse equitable inclusive and anti-racist community where all members can create and feel a sense of belonging. Through our collective deliberate efforts we work toward racial and social justice for children and families in DC.

Required Experience:

Staff IC

Who We AreChildrens Law Center is a mission-driven organization focused on providing high-quality legal services to children and families in DC. As an organization we envision a world in which all children have a strong foundation of family health and education and are free from poverty trauma racis...