Temporary Paralegal Casehandler, Immigration Legal Clinic, Immigration Law Unit - New York, NY

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The Immigration Law Unit of The Legal Aid Society is a recognized leader in the delivery of legal services to immigrants in all five boroughs of New York City. The Unit provides low-income New Yorkers with free comprehensive immigration services ranging from deportation defense to adjustment of status to legal permanent residence and citizenship applications. The Unit specializes in the intersection between immigration and criminal law and works collaboratively with all practice areas to serve the society's diverse immigrant clients through a comprehensive service model. Unit staff represent immigrants before USCIS, immigration judges in removal proceedings, and the Board of Immigration Appeals, as well as in federal court on habeas corpus petitions, petitions for review, administrative and judicial appeals, and other matters.

The Legal Aid Society's Civil Practice is seeking to hire 2 Temporary Legal Clinic Paralegal Casehandlers to join the citywide Immigration Law Unit (ILU). The ideal candidate would have a strong work ethic and a deep commitment to public interest.

ILU provides full legal representation to non-citizens every day and we believe that full legal representation is the best practice. However, in these times when demand for immigration legal services is tremendous, ILU has developed a successful limited scope legal clinic model. Under the supervision of the ILU Legal Clinic Supervising Attorney, the Legal Clinic Paralegal Casehandler would work with clinic clients to draft and file applications, motions, petitions, and affidavits, as well as assist in gathering needed evidence. They would also work closely with the ILU Legal Clinic Supervising Attorney and Legal Clinic Coordinators with other legal clinic needs, including coordination and scheduling of our legal clinics and grant reporting projects.

This Legal Clinic Paralegal Casehandler would focus on ILU's legal clinic work with non-citizen youth and families and would also collaborate closely with ILU's Youth Project, which provides full-scope representation for this non-citizen population. The range of case matters handled in these legal clinics may include work permit assistance, family court guardianship petitions, filings for Special Immigrant Juvenile Status and assistance with motions before the Immigration Court. It may also involve other legal matters.

This position is funded through a temporary grant and the continuation of the position is dependent on funding availability. If funding for the position is not continued, the Temporary Clinic Paralegal Casehandler will be eligible to apply for other internal positions or be transferred into a comparable position.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES/RESPONSIBILITIES

• Conduct telephone and in person screenings and intakes for potential clinic clients
• Provide support in compiling application packets, conducting factual and legal research
• Assist with fact development by meeting with clients, contacting family members abroad, and gathering information and documentation from clients and appropriate agencies
• Interview, assess, and provide direct assistance to clients under attorney supervision
• Respond to client inquiries and address emergent immigration policies that affect clients
• Identify, assess, and escalate time sensitive and emergency legal issues to supervisory staff
• Provide oral and written advocacy to or on behalf of clients
• Liaise with court officials and other stakeholders to ensure clients' immigration needs are met
• Develop community education materials and conduct trainings for clients and other advocates
• Maintain, organize, and update case files and case management database (LawManager)
• Enter and search data on various databases, including OCA CRIMS
• This position may require off-site work and evening hours
• Participate in continuous professional development
• Continuously learn about forms of bias in the workplace and demonstrate affirmative behaviors that support an inclusive work environment
• Other duties as assigned

QUALIFICATIONS

Required qualifications:

• Eligible candidates must have at least one of the following:
  
  
  
  • A bachelor's degree (strongly preferred)
  • A paralegal certificate from an ABA accredited paralegal program
  • At minimum a high school diploma / GED and 4+ years of legal work experience
  • 4+ years of combined higher education and legal work experience
  
  
  
  
• Commitment to advocacy on behalf of low-income people and immigrants

Preferred qualifications:

• Knowledge of immigration law
• Experience assisting people in crisis
• Proficiency in Spanish and/or French
• Ability to manage relationships and effectively communicate with ILU management team and other Civil Practice administrative staff
• Experience preparing immigration applications
• Excellent computer skills including Office 365 and all Microsoft Office programs, especially Microsoft Excel (pivot tables, etc.), and demonstrated ability to work databases
• Excellent judgement, including ability to handle sensitive or confidential information

SALARY AND BENEFITS

The salary range represents a good faith estimate of the range we expect to pay for this role. The actual salary offered may vary depending on many factors, including but not limited to job-related knowledge, skills, and experience, as well as collectively bargained salary steps for unionized roles.

Salary Range: $62,400 - $95,555

The Legal Aid Society offers a generous benefits package including health insurance, paid vacation, disability, and life insurance, and more. Click here to read more about benefits.

Higher Education and Loan Forgiveness

The Legal Aid Society is a qualified employer for the purposes of the Public Service Loan Forgiveness. This position allows an employee to take advantage of PSLF and other State and Federal loan forgiveness programs. Additionally, employees who are New York residents may be eligible for assistance from New York state to assist with loan repayments, depending on years of practice. To learn more, click the links below.

studentaid.gov

hesc.ny.gov/loan-forgiveness-programs

WORK AUTHORIZATION

All applicants must be legally authorized to work in the United States for any employer without sponsorship for a work visa or permit. We are currently unable to sponsor employment visas or permits. (However, for citizens of Canada and Mexico, LAS will provide a letter documenting employment status that is needed to obtain a TN visa.)

HOW TO APPLY

All applications must be completed online via the career portal. We do not accept emailed applications. Submit the following documents as a combined PDF:

• Cover Letter
• Resume

For technical difficulties or questions regarding this posting, please email jobpostquestions@legal-aid.org.

EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY

As an Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) Employer, The Legal Aid Society prohibits discriminatory employment actions against and treatment of its employees and applicants for employment based on actual or perceived race or color, size (including bone structure, body size, height, shape, and weight), religion or creed, alienage or citizenship status, sex (including pregnancy), national origin, age, sexual orientation, gender identity (one's internal deeply-held sense of one's gender which may be the same or different from one's sex assigned at birth); gender expression (the representation of gender as expressed through, for example, one's name, choice of pronouns, clothing, haircut, behavior, voice, or body characteristics; gender expression may not conform to traditional gender-based stereotypes assigned to specific gender identities), disability, marital status, relationship and family structure (including domestic partnerships, polyamorous families and individuals, chosen family, platonic co-parents, and multigenerational families), genetic information or predisposing genetic characteristics, military status, domestic violence victim status, arrest or pre-employment conviction record, credit history, unemployment status, caregiver status, salary history, or any other characteristic protected by law.

OUR COMMITMENT TO DIVERSITY, EQUITY, AND INCLUSION

The Legal Aid Society is committed to a work culture of zealous advocacy, respect, diversity and inclusion, client-oriented defense, access to justice and excellent representation. We are dedicated to building a strong professional relationship with each of our clients (people), to understanding their diverse circumstances, and to meeting their needs. Our ability to achieve these goals depends on the efforts of all of us and our ability to build strong relationships with our colleagues. Every member of our community is expected to continuously learn about the dynamic, evolving, and emerging field of knowledge of identity, bias, and systemic forms of oppression and participate in productive efforts to dismantling bias in all forms.

Manhattan - Civil Practice Lower Manhattan Neighborhood Office