Immigration Practice – NYIFUP Staff Attorney Position
BDS is a public defense office that represents about 40,000 clients per year in a variety of legal proceedings in New York City, primarily indigent criminal, family, and immigration defense. BDS’s clients have diverse, complex, and multi-faceted needs that must be addressed in a high-volume, fast-paced setting.
Brief Description of Job:
We seek an attorney with relevant experience to join our Immigration Practice. BDS’s Immigration Practice currently has a staff of around twenty-five attorneys, three BIA accredited representatives, three social workers, five paralegals, three administrative assistants, and three legal fellows. The practice area is organized into three teams: Youth and Communities, Padilla, and NYIFUP. The Youth and Communities team screens clients for relief and represents them in applications for citizenship, lawful permanent residence, in non-detained removal proceedings, order of supervision appointments, and post-order motions. The “Padilla” team advises criminal defense colleagues and clients, helping to devise strategies to minimize the immigration impact of our clients’ criminal and family court cases. The New York Immigrant Family Unity Project (NYIFUP) team has been serving as assigned counsel under the first-in-the-nation program providing legal representation for indigent New Yorkers in detained removal proceedings at the Varick Street Immigration Court and in New Jersey.
We seek to fill an attorney position on the NYIFUP team. We seek lawyers with at least one year of experience representing immigrants in removal proceedings or at least one year of experience working at the intersection of immigration and criminal law. Candidates must have a demonstrated commitment to immigrant rights, criminal justice, and/or social justice issues. The job requires a proactive ability to solve problems under time pressure, the strongest commitment to clients, and a desire to join a team working at the forefront of the effort to protect due process and immigrants’ rights during an extremely challenging time. Applicants must perform legal research and writing at the highest standard, communicate clearly and effectively orally and through writing, be team players, and have the organizational skills required to manage a high volume of cases. Clinical or professional background in immigration and/or criminal law is preferred.
Fluency or high proficiency is strongly preferred in Spanish, as a large percentage of NYIFUP clients are Spanish speakers. Please note all language skills and levels of proficiency in your application (i.e., whether you can work by yourself with clients who speak that language).
Applicants should email a cover letter, resume, at least two references, and a writing sample to [email protected]. Include "BDS Immigration Attorney" in the subject line. If you have previously applied to BDS, please resubmit your materials. No phone calls, please. Only applicants invited for interviews will be contacted.