POSITION DESCRIPTION
The Rural Maine Project Attorney is responsible for managing ILAP’s Rural Maine Project – a program which provides immigration legal services and conducts immigration law outreach to Maine’s rural immigrant communities. This position works in close collaboration with partner organizations to build a stronger safety net for all underserved immigrant communities across rural Maine. This position requires traveling across Maine and occasional evening and weekend hours to meet the needs of farmworker clients. This position is based in Maine with flexibility on location.
RESPONSIBILITIES
The Rural Maine Project Attorney is responsible for the overall design and provision of legal information and services across rural Maine.
Legal Education Outreach:
Designs and implements a legal education outreach program to get high-quality legal information to farmworkers, laborers, and other rural immigrant communities across Maine. Locations include areas where immigrants are working as seasonal farmworkers, on dairy farms, and in seafood processing, and other areas where there are immigrant populations including Milbridge, Augusta, and Bangor.
Creates and keeps updated outreach and training materials in various formats.
Consults with directly impacted communities and community partners to ensure programming is accessible, effective, and reaching new areas.
Incorporates labor trafficking information into presentations, trainings, and materials under ILAP’s trafficking grant.
Trains rural immigrant community-serving organizations and entities on immigration law concepts and how to access ILAP’s resources.
Direct Legal Services:
Conducts legal consultations and takes appropriate measures to connect clients with legal help including placing them on ILAP internal waitlists, providing brief assistance, issuing referrals, and more.
Maintains a small caseload related to work in rural Maine representing clients in their immigration matters, in collaboration with the rest of ILAP’s legal services team.
Assists with consults for immigrants being held in detention in collaboration with rest of ILAP’s direct legal services team.
Maintains client data in accordance with ILAP protocols, grant requirements, and ethical obligations.
Coordinates with the rest of ILAP’s direct legal services team to stay up to date on case priorities, scheduling, case handling practices, and more.
Partnerships, Coalition, and Expanding Safety Net:
Maintains relationships and builds new partnerships across rural Maine.
Represents ILAP in coalitions related to immigrants living in rural Maine, including issues related to trafficking work and farmworkers.
Tracks enforcement, trafficking, and bad work sites across Maine.
Management & Supervision:
Provides general management, oversight, and reporting of trafficking grant.
Supervises ILAP’s Rural Community Liaison.
Performs other tasks and assumes other responsibilities deemed appropriate by the Co-Legal Director.
J.D. in good standing of any state bar.
Preferably two to four years of experience with immigration legal representation.
Preferably two to four years of experience with legal outreach work.
Have a reliable vehicle and ability to travel widely throughout rural Maine and to attend occasional weekend and evening events.
Spanish, Haitian Creole, or French language fluency strongly preferred.
Ability to multi-task effectively, including having strong detail-orientation, planning, and organizing skills; and the ability to work well under pressure.
Excellent communication skills. Ability to listen, build trust and connect meaningfully with people having a broad range of language, education, living, and mental health circumstances.
Experience designing and/or implementing projects or programs preferred.
Experience working with immigrant farmworkers preferred.
Demonstrated passion for advancing immigrants’ rights and an ability to work well with individuals from different cultures and with varying levels of English proficiency.
Ability to communicate using a variety of platforms including Outlook, Zoom, RingCentral, WhatsApp. Computer skills including experience with Office 365.
Personal and professional commitment to racial justice and equity.
Send a cover letter and resume by e-mail to [email protected] with the subject line “Rural Maine Project Attorney.” You may address your cover letter to Alice Kopij, Co-Legal Director.
Review of applications will begin on January 17, 2024, and will continue until the position is filled.
HIRING PROCESS
The hiring process will begin with an initial interview with the Co-Legal Director, Policy Director, Rural Community Liaison, and Director of Human Resources and Operations. Finalists will be invited to a second-round interview with the initial team and 2-3 additional staff members.
We will then check references before extending a written offer of employment to the selected candidate, which will detail salary, benefits, and other important information.
We are committed to notifying applicants who are not selected in a timely manner throughout the process.