Community Legal Services, Inc. of Philadelphia is a non-profit public interest agency providing free civil legal services to low-income Philadelphia residents. As the largest provider of free civil legal services in the Philadelphia area, CLS is both locally and nationally renowned as a premier legal services provider dedicated to ensuring access to justice for all low-income individuals and communities. CLS has eight legal units covering a wide range of civil legal services.
Community Legal Services (CLS) is seeking a paralegal to work at CLS’s Medical-Legal Partnership (MLP) located at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia’s (CHOP’s) Karabots Pediatric Care Center, located at 4865 Market Street in West Philadelphia.
In April 2018, CLS launched its second MLP at Karabots, building on the success of its first MLP at the Rising Sun Health Center in Olney. Karabots is the largest pediatric primary care center in the nation, serving more than 30,000 patients each year, the vast majority of whom are low income. CLS currently has three attorneys who focus full- or part-time on a broad range of legal issues that arise at Karabots, with special focus on health-harming habitability issues like mold, lead, pests, and on income stability for families with newborns.
The new paralegal will work with the three MLP attorneys to provide legal advice and representation at Karabots. The paralegal will be based at CLS’s 1424 Chestnut Street office location, and will work at Karabots at least two days per week, and possibly up to four days if necessary.
While the paralegal will provide brief advice, referrals, and other representation on a broad range of legal issues, CLS anticipates that the paralegal will be formally co-located in its Housing Unit, focusing on housing habitability issues. The paralegal may also work closely with CLS’s Energy Unit on utility shut-offs and other utility issues that may arise.
This is a full-time position covered by the collective bargaining agreement between Community Legal Services, Inc. (CLS) and the National Union of Hospital and Health Care Employees, AFL-CIO and its affiliate District 1199C. CLS asks for a minimum two-year commitment from individuals who accept an offer of employment for a paralegal position. The current minimum starting salary is $37, 800 for entry-level applicants but that salary is subject to change or adjustment if an applicant has relevant years of experience and according to the provisions of the current collective bargaining agreement. Raises and benefits are also governed by that agreement.
The ideal candidate will have exceptional organizational skills, demonstrated ability to work independently, demonstrated reliability, and willingness and flexibility to travel within the City of Philadelphia.
The duties of the MLP paralegal include, but are not limited to:
• Working closely with clinical and social work staff at Karabots to build trusting, collaborative, and respectful relationships;
• Partnering with the MLP attorneys to adjust and maintain systems for screening and identifying patients with legal issues;
• Conducting in-person intake interviews at Karabots at least two days per week, and up to four days per week as needed, for patient families who are identified as having legal issues;
• Responding to a high volume of legal referrals via telephone, and tracking referral outcomes consistently in CLS’s case management system;
• Providing legal advice, referrals, and representation to patients in the areas of housing habitability and energy law, as well as other legal areas as needed, under the close supervision of one or more MLP attorneys;
• Assisting the MLP attorneys in identifying the training needs of clinical and social work staff at Karabots and throughout the CHOP primary care network, and providing the training when appropriate;
• Assisting the MLP attorneys in identifying and executing new ways to address unmet legal need at Karabots, including through pop-up legal clinics, pro bono partnerships, and self-help materials; and
• Collecting case outcome data and other data that demonstrates the success of the MLP and synthesizing or analyzing the data when needed.
To Apply: CLS will accept applications on a rolling basis until the position has been filled. You can submit your application on CLS’s website online at: https://clsphila.org/careers/ OR https://clsphiladelphia.applytojob.com/apply/O6aX3xZaMI/Karabots-Medical...
What to Include in your application: Please include a cover letter, resume, three professional references and one brief writing sample (10 pages or less). Community Legal Services values a diverse and inclusive work environment where employees feel a sense of belonging and strongly encourages women, people of color, people who identify as LGBTQ, people with disabilities, people who have experienced poverty or homelessness and people who have had prior contact with the juvenile, criminal, or child welfare systems to apply. CLS invites all applicants to include in their cover letter a statement about how your unique background and/or experiences might contribute to the diversity, cultural vitality, and perspective of our staff and legal services practice.