For 50 years, LAF (formerly Legal Assistance Foundation) has provided free civil legal assistance to people living in poverty in metropolitan Chicago. Each year LAF’s attorneys, volunteers, and staff help resolve legal problems, including domestic violence, consumer fraud, unfair evictions, and juvenile expungements. Our work impacts more than 40,000 people each year.
Position: The Immigrants and Workers’ Rights Practice Group (“IWR”) at LAF is seeking a highly motivated staff attorney to provide direct legal services, primarily in our Migrant Project. Duties include, but are not limited to:
• Providing comprehensive legal services to farmworker clients with employment law related matters, including unemployment, wage theft, discrimination, housing, labor based U-visas, and labor trafficking;
• Co-counseling cases across IWR;
• Leading community outreach throughout Illinois;
• Training staff on identifying the legal needs of farmworker clients;
• Making appropriate referrals to outside agencies;
• Attending trainings and maintaining up-to-date knowledge of current legal issues surrounding farmworker law;
• Assisting with grant reporting requirements;
• Supervising law student interns;
• Other duties as determined by the Supervising Attorney and Director.
The attorney will work with the staff of LAF’s IWR Practice Group, which is the only group at LAF providing legal services statewide. IWR consists of three projects – migrant farmworkers, immigration, and employment -- which work closely together.
Qualifications: Applicants must have a J.D. degree or be graduating with a J.D. degree by June 2017; be licensed to practice law in the State of Illinois or registered for the next Illinois bar exam post-graduation; be committed to a career in public interest legal services, especially in issues affecting migrant and seasonal farmworkers; have strong oral and writing skills; be highly organized; be fluent in Spanish; have a driver’s license and good driving record; be willing to travel up to 50% of the time; and able to work as part of a team.
To Apply: Send a cover letter, resume, writing sample, and the names of three professional references by January 6, 2017 to:
[email protected].
Please type “Migrant Project Staff Attorney - IWR” in the email subject line.
NO PHONE CALLS PLEASE.
LAF IS AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER AND DOES NOT DISCRIMINATE ON THE BASIS OF DISABILITY