Senior Staff Attorney

About the Organization Founded in 1979, the National Immigration Law Center (NILC) is a leading non-profit organization (501(c)3) in the U.S. exclusively dedicated to defending and advancing the rights and opportunities of low-income immigrants and their loved ones.

NILC's mission is grounded in the belief that everyone living in the U.S. regardless of race, gender/gender identity, immigration status, or economic status — should have equal access to justice, resources, and educational and economic opportunities that enable them to achieve their full human potential.

Together, NILC and the affiliated NILC Immigrant Justice Fund (IJF), a 501(c)4 organization, work to advocate more directly for federal immigration reform policies. NILC is committed to advancing its mission — which intersects race, immigration status, and class — through racial, economic, and gender justice and equity orientation.

About the Role

The Senior Staff Attorney at NILC is an experienced litigator who will play a lead role in the identification, development, and litigation of precedent-setting cases to advance the rights of low-income immigrants and their families, primarily in the federal court system.

The Senior Staff Attorney will serve as a mentor and a teacher for less experienced attorneys, law interns, and fellows and will work with them to develop their skills in all aspects of case investigation, preparation, and litigation.

The Senior Staff Attorney will endeavor to empower immigrant communities through supporting a multi-pronged approach of impact litigation, policy analysis, advocacy, strategic communications, and movement power building, using a client and community-centered lawyering approach.

In addition to leading litigation, the Senior Staff Attorney may also participate in and/or lead legal advocacy, including administrative and legislative advocacy.

This role is a member of the bargaining unit.

The Senior Staff Attorney will be responsible for providing leadership and driving success in the following key areas:

Specific

Position Responsibilities

• Conduct impact litigation on a range of issues in collaboration with litigation teams of other Staff Attorneys, Senior Attorneys, Deputy Directors, Legal, Paralegals, and other Advocacy staff.
• Identify and develop litigation in federal and state courts with supervision and support from the Legal Director and Deputy Directors, including preparing pleadings, motions, and briefs; conducting discovery; presenting oral arguments; and handling appeals.
• Develop and maintain a significant litigation case load in state and/or federal court, typically in partnership with an internal case team and external co-counsel.
• Strategically, creatively, and boldly use plaintiff-driven, community-grounded impact litigation in combination and partnership with NILC's other core strategies of policy research and analysis, strategic partnerships and advocacy, communications, and movement power building to advance NILC's vision and mission.
• Advance NILC's administrative and legislative advocacy by providing legal analysis and technical assistance to colleagues in NILC's other departments; government officials and staff; the media; organizers; and advocates and attorneys nationwide.
• Develop community education materials, co-create webinars, and provide Know Your Rights (KYR) presentations.
• Collaborate with staff across the organization via Programs workgroups to support ongoing programmatic work.
• Represent NILC with coalition partners and in media about relevant legal work in coordination with Strategic Communications department.
• Serve as a legal/policy expert in coalitions with external partners.
• Teach and mentor Staff Attorneys, interns, legal fellows as needed.
• Proactively and consistently report to relevant staff and leadership about programmatic developments, administrative needs and broader institutional concerns, opportunities, and needs.
• Work with legal team staff on responding to requests for assistance, case development, and provision of legal representation.
• Successfully engage in/support policy advocacy, campaigns, and community outreach to advance NILC's mission.
• Support and strengthen internal protocols and communication; foster a collaborative work environment and contribute positively to team dynamics; and reflect NILC's and the Legal Department's values inside and outside the organization.
• May be a part of a larger cross functional project using the MOCHA framework/methodology
• Supervisory

Responsibilities

• May oversee temporary legal interns or law fellows as needed.
• Shared Organization

Responsibilities

• Champions NILC & IJF's mission of advancing the rights of immigrants with low income by demonstrating a commitment to human rights, and racial, economic, and social justice
• Attends and actively participates in NILC meetings at the organization, department, project, and individual level
• Develops relationships and supports NILC and IJF colleagues across all teams, recognizing that each individual brings a unique background and perspective to the work and assuming good intent from each other.
• Follows through on commitments acting with a clear sense of ownership individually and collectively by taking personal responsibility for decisions, actions, and failures, establishing clear responsibilities and processes for monitoring work and measuring results, and designing feedback loops into work.
• Learns quickly when facing new situations by experimenting to find fresh solutions, taking on the challenge of unfamiliar tasks, and extracting lessons learned from failures and mistakes.
• Acts with integrity by following through on commitments, being direct and truthful, keeping confidence, and showing consistency between words and actions.
• Commits to centering NILC's values of racial justice & equity, valuing diversity, fostering partnerships & collaboration, encouraging respect & personal well-being, and striving for transparency, integrity, and honesty in all decisions and actions
• This role may include other duties as assigned depending on organizational need.
• What We're Looking for in This Role Commitment to NILC & IJF's mission of advancing the rights of immigrants with low income and a demonstrated commitment to human rights, racial, economic and social justice, and equity, diversity, inclusion, and justice for all.
• Collaborative, proactive, and action oriented working style with a strong service mentality promoting mutual accountability and inspiriting trust and confidence from colleagues, other NILC team members, and NILC leaders alike.
• Demonstrates sound judgement in decision-making, high integrity, and utmost respect for confidentiality.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills: ability to read, analyze, and interpret as well as draft documents such as reports, correspondence, and presentations for various audiences.
• Self-starter with a strong ability to move daily tasks forward in alignment with NILC's broader organizational needs and goals.

Qualifications

• Required JD degree and active member in good standing of a State Bar Association required7-10+ years of federal civil litigation experience
• Demonstrated experience in the investigation and development of impact litigation.
• Proficiency with in-office and virtual environments and software such as MS Office, internet research, and virtual collaboration tools.

Preferred Qualifications

• Civil litigation experience in federal court preferred.
• Expertise in immigrants' rights or other public interest impact litigation strongly preferred.
• Proficiency in non-English languages spoken by Latinx, Asian, Pacific Islander, African, Caribbean, and Arab communities preferred.
• Fluency in more than one language desirable.
• At NILC, we know that talented people may have different backgrounds or experiences, and if your education and experience doesn't exactly align with the above that's okay!
• NILC believes that diversity in all dimensions of the organization supports and bolsters the innovative thinking essential to its success and is committed to providing equal employment opportunity to all qualified applicants.
• NILC's goal is for our people to reflect the communities in which we live and serve and to ensure representation of people of color, women, veterans, and individuals with disabilities in our organization.
• We encourage you to apply and let us know in your cover letter why you are qualified and the right fit for this role and NILC.

Work Environment

Location & Travel:NILC's offices are located in Washington, D.C. and Los Angeles, California. Travel for litigation will be required on a case-by-case basis dependent on the needs of the litigation. For this role, up to 30% of overnight interstate travel may be required; generally, travel is quarterly to the NILC Washington, D.C. office or another location within the US for 3-5 nights at a time.

Remote work locations are as follows: (Arkansas, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Georgia, Maryland, Montana, North Carolina, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, Virginia and Wisconsin). To be considered, applicants must live in one of the work locations.

Compensation & Benefits NILC's compensation and benefits philosophy is to provide a competitive offering in the nonprofit sector and ensure equity across the organization.

The salary range for this role is $115,154 - $143,994.NILC provides an incredible benefit package that includes employer-paid healthcare coverage (100% for employees and 75% for dependents), employer-supported dental and vision coverage, a 403(b)-retirement plan including an automatic contribution from NILC, paid parental leave, monthly cell phone and wellness stipends, pre-tax accounts for transit, health, and childcare benefits (FSA), and employer-paid short- and long-term disability and life insurance.

NILC also provides a generous paid-time-off policy, 15 holidays and 22 days of paid time off annually (increased to 32 after 2 years of employment).NILC is also a qualifying public service employer, which means all full-time NILC employees qualify for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) Program.

To learn more about the program, please visit Demands Remaining in a stationary position, often standing, or sitting for prolonged periodsCommunicating with others to exchange information.

Repeating motions, like typing or answering a phone, that may include the wrists, hands and/or fingers.

Salary Description$115,154 - $143,994#J-18808-Ljbffr

Skills

• Alliance/Partner Management, Analysis Skills, Attorney, Campaigns, Communication Skills, Communications Protocols, Community Development, Community Support, Cross-Functional, Diversity, English Language,

Equal Employment Opportunity

(EEO), Government, Immigration Law, Internet Research, Leadership, Legal, Litigation, Mentoring, Microsoft Office, Nonprofit, Organizational Skills, Policy Analysis, Presentation/Verbal Skills, Problem Solving Skills, Project Tracking, Team Player, Technical Support, Telephone Skills, Training/Teaching, Typing, Virtualization Software, Webinar, Writing Skills

About the Company

National Immigration Law Center