Temporary Bilingual Legal Clinic Coordinator, Immigration Law Unit

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 a Temporary Bilingual Legal Clinic Coordinator to join the Immigration Law Unit (ILU).

 

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. The coordinator would be responsible for organizing and scheduling clinic clients and volunteer application preparers, developing best-practices training materials and resources, and ensuring that ILU case matters are timely updated with data required for grants management. 

 

This Coordinator 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.

 

The ideal candidate will be fully bilingual in Spanish and English. They must also be a talented team player with a deep commitment to public interest practice and be able to build strong relationships with stakeholders in the legal, court, and service communities.

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 Coordinator position will be eligible to apply for other internal positions or be transferred into a comparable position.

 

 

ESSENTIAL DUTIES/RESPONSIBILITIES

• Ensure accountability and maintenance of practice standards
• Organize and schedule clients and volunteer application preparers for legal clinics
• Develop opportunities for existing LAS staff to participate in legal clinics
• Help to manage clinic workflows and ensure quality of application submissions
• Recruit and train application preparers, primarily through video education modules
• Help develop best practices to share with other providers
• Work with ILU and other Civil Practice administrative staff to ensure that ILU case matters are timely updated with data required for grants management
• Develop best practices for legal clinic referrals, both internal from within LAS and external
• Foster and encourage teamwork and communication
• Represent the Civil Practice and Legal Aid in the community
• 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:

• Bachelor’s degree or an equivalent combination of 4+ years of post-secondary education and/or work experience
• Must be bilingual in Spanish and English (oral and written fluency)

 

Preferred qualifications:  

• Immigration law experience
• Demonstrated commitment to representing or working with individuals from marginalized communities

 

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, and A