Supervising Immigration Attorney (Part-Time)

Be part of a critical effort to prevent homelessness in San Francisco. The Justice & Diversity Center of The Bar Association of San Francisco (JDC) advances fairness and equality by providing free legal services to low-income people and educational programs that foster diversity in the legal profession. JDC currently has an exciting opportunity for an Immigration Supervising Attorney at its Homeless Advocacy Project (HAP) in San Francisco’s Civic Center/Tenderloin area.

This position is part-time, 28 hours per week. 

About HAP:

HAP is a program of the JDC, a non-profit provider of legal services to low-income and indigent San Francisco residents. HAP is working to prevent and end homelessness in San Francisco, and to reduce the negative effects of homelessness on the individuals and families with whom we work. At HAP, we have found that our work has the most positive impact when we focus on eviction prevention, benefits advocacy and immigration issues. Our clients are individuals and families who are homeless or who are at serious risk of homelessness. While each client comes with their own story of struggle, we give priority to clients who have mental health disabilities, as they often have the most difficulty navigating the legal system without representation. Our office utilizes a holistic approach to the problems our clients face by providing both legal representation and supporting social services.

The position of Immigration Supervising Attorney reports to the Director/Managing Attorney of The Homeless Advocacy Project. The Supervising Attorney manages and runs the Immigration Program, supervising 1.6 paralegals, and working closely with HAP clients, staff, legal advocates, legal interns and volunteers. HAP prioritizes clients with mental health and substance abuse issues who are often in crisis situations. This is normally an exempt position, that is an-exempt position at currently 80% time.

Job Functions: 

The Supervising Attorney trains and manages paralegals, legal advocates, staff and legal interns on full scope immigration issues.

• Provides in-depth legal consultations to clients,
• Represents clients in applying for green cards, work permits, citizenship, DACA, and any other immigration benefit they may be eligible for.
• Works with clients in advance to prepare them and represents those clients at USCIS interviews. -In addition to client work, the Supervising Attorney does outreach to and collaborates with other City organizations including Medical Respite, the Homeless Outreach Team, and Project Homeless Connect.
• Conducts immigration trainings and clinics at shelters and other City organizations.
• Researches and locates available funding opportunities and assists in preparing grant proposals, as well as being responsible for grant reporting.
• Locates and attends legal internship fairs, interviews potential legal interns and other staff, and creates training materials for the legal interns and other staff who work with the program.
• Enters case notes in client database, and tracks and reports time.
• Coordinates and shares expertise with the JDC Immigration Legal Defense Program.
• Provides full-scope representation of clients before USCIS
• Obtains and analyzes criminal records and their impact on the individual’s immigration case
• Provides training to volunteer attorneys, legal advocates, paralegals, interns, HAP staff, and law students in various areas of immigration law
• Maintains contacts in the community for outreach purposes
• Conducts community outreach to a variety of organizations and law schools
• Stays current regarding immigration laws and procedures
• Meets with other HAP management staff to help formulate office policies regarding provision of services and aspects of office management
• Assists advocates at other agencies with legal and referral information
• Interviews for new staff and participates in hiring decisions
• Attends quarterly grant meetings
• Completes narrative and statistical portions of grant reports
• Attends Project Heads Meetings, all JDC and all BASF meetings as needed and/or required, and contributes to the management functions of JDC

Education & Experience Requirements:

• License to practice law in the State of California, with minimum of five years of immigration law experience
• Supervisory experience required
• Demonstrated experience in public interest law and direct legal services to indigent and/or other disadvantaged communities
• Experience working with clients in crisis situations

Prerequisite Skills and Requirements: 

• Solid knowledge of criminal law, social security law, and their relation to immigration law
• Computer-proficient (word processing; other programs to be learned on the job as required)
• Ability to speak Spanish highly desirable
• Ability to work successfully with interpreters for non-English-speaking clients
• Ability to:
  • be professional, mature, flexible, jump in to help in any capacity as needed for the project and HAP overall, demonstrate a good sense of humor, and maintain confidentiality
  • be self-directed and resourceful with high ethical standards
  • communicate in person, on the telephone, and in writing in a clear, calm and courteous manner, including with opposing counsel and individuals who have physical or mental disabilities or who may be agitated or in crisis.
  • multi-task in a high volume, fast-paced environment and independently prioritize with high attention to detail, effectively managing multiple cases, clients or projects simultaneously
  • simultaneously manage multiple components of a case or project from beginning to end, including setting and meeting deadlines
  • enter all data in database in compliance with the requirements of our funders
• Excellent oral and written communication skills
• Strong writing, editing and verbal skills
• Comfort with MS Office ((Word, Excel, Access, Outlook)

Why Work For Us:

We offer a collaborative work environment, a progressive work culture, and a wonderfully diverse staff. Additionally, we are a mission and values based organization.

We also offer a benefits package that includes: a choice of medical insurance plans, dental insurance, vision insurance, pretax commuter, health, and dependent care accounts, employer paid short- and long-term disability insurance, life insurance, and a retirement and profit-sharing benefit, and more.

To find out more about HAP and JDC, please visit our website at www.sfbar.org/jdc/

To Apply:

Please submit your resume and cover letter.

Equal Opportunity Employer

JDC is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We conduct all employment-related activities without regard to race, color, sex, religion, age, national origin, disability, veteran status, sexual orientation or any other classification protected by applicable Local, State or Federal employment discrimination laws. JDC welcomes diversity in the workplace.