Part-time contract position (in office on Fridays, from 8:45am-5:15pm), beginning ASAP. Must be located in Bay Area and able to come into the downtown Oakland office on Fridays. Pay starts at $20/hour (depending on experience).
In serving people impacted by the criminal justice system across the state of California, there is a great need among Spanish-speaking, Latino, and largely immigrant communities, who are disproportionately policed, prosecuted and convicted-- targeted by both law enforcement and immigration enforcement. As Root & Rebound has grown, so has the need among Spanish speakers calling our weekly Friday Reentry Legal Hotline and writing to R&R via our prison letter-writing service.
We are looking for a hardworking, self-motivated attorney, recent law school graduate, or 3L law student who is fluent in Spanish, with excellent communication, legal research and writing skills, to support Root & Rebound in providing reentry and “crim-imm” legal education, resources, and services to Spanish-speakers who call Root & Rebound’s weekly reentry legal hotline (Fridays), and write to us via our prison legal mail program. Areas of greatest need are the overlapping impacts of immigration law/ criminal law/ and reentry law issues on system impacted individuals.
Duties & Responsibilities:
Duties and responsibilities of the contract attorney will include, but are not limited to, the following:
Staffing the Friday reentry legal hotline and being first point of contact for Spanish speaking callers.
Provide legal and social services information to people calling R&R hotline and writing R&R via prison legal mail.
Building up and developing R&R’s expertise and resources on the overlap between criminal law, immigration law, and reentry law over time.
Developing written and video-based legal resources for lay-people, in Spanish and English.
Direct services support for people we serve who are Spanish speaking.
Direct services support for immigrants who we serve.
The successful candidate should possess the following qualifications:
Current law student or law school graduate;
Fluency (bilingual and biliterate) in Spanish required;
Previous experience in reentry, criminal and/or immigration law preferred;
Excellent research and writing skills;
Ability to synthesize complex legal information and distill into lay terms;
Strong attention to detail;
Outstanding organizational skills;
Ability to take initiative, work independently, and as part of a team;
Excellent interpersonal, verbal, and written communication skills, and comfortable asking questions;
Respectful of clients of all backgrounds and experiences;
Impeccable with meeting deadlines;
Competency in Microsoft Office and Google products (i.e., Gmail, Google Drive, Google Calendar)
Commitment to immigrants, currently and formerly incarcerated people; and
Strong work ethic, reliable, positive attitude, and good sense of humor.
To apply for this position, please send a resume, cover letter, short sample of legal writing in Spanish (4 pages max.), and at least two references with contact information in an email to Katherine Katcher (Executive Director) at [email protected]. If you have developed community-facing resources, you may also send those along with your application materials. Resumes without a cover letter, writing sample, and/or references will not be reviewed. No fax or mail applications, and no phone calls, please. Applications will be accepted until the position is filled.