Paralegal Client Advocate, Prisoners' Rights Project (PRP) - New York, NY

The Legal Aid Society's Criminal Practice has two openings for Paralegal Client Advocate positions in the Prisoners' Rights Project (PRP) to assist incarcerated people with health and safety needs in the City jails and provide litigation support for them. The Paralegal Client Advocate will be supervised by a Supervising Attorney in PRP.

PRP works to protect the legal rights of persons incarcerated in New York State prisons and/or New York City jails through class action and impact litigation, legislative and oversight advocacy, policy change, and advocacy directly with correctional, medical, and other agencies. The Paralegal Client Advocate will interview incarcerated clients by telephone, videoconference, and in person, and will advocate for them with other administrators with respect to protection from violence, access to medical/mental health care, living conditions, and other priority subjects. The Paralegal Client Advocate will also work with other teams within Legal Aid's Criminal Defense Practice to advocate with DOC on issues of health and safety and protection from harm.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES/RESPONSIBILITIES

• Provide advice and assistance to clients
• Interview and assess client requests for services and complaints by videoconference, telephone and in person in the jails and prisons
• Conduct factual and legal research
• Advocate with agency officials on behalf of incarcerated people
• Obtain and analyze clients' medical records and documentation
• Organize and manage electronic and paper litigation files
• Draft affidavits on behalf of clients
• Assist with telephone hotlines
• Assist with litigation tasks
• Participate in client outreach efforts
• Develop community education materials and conduct trainings for clients and other advocates
• Carry out other tasks of general assistance to the work of the Unit
• Conduct off-site intake as needed
• Work with interns and volunteers in the Unit
• 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
  
  
  
  
• Excellent written, oral advocacy, and computer skills are required; the job requires a great deal of writing, and use of case management and time keeping software
• Ability to work independently as well as collaboratively in a team and manage a large workload and communicate with team members
• Ability to coordinate and collaborate successfully with other groups and organizations
• Experience in and/or commitment to advocacy on behalf of low-income people, immigrants and persons involved in the criminal justice and prison systems, many of whom have mental illness, is strongly desired
• Excellent organizational skills
• Experience assisting people in crisis is desirable, but not required
• Proficiency in Spanish is highly preferred but not required

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: $60,033 - $91,932

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.

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