Staff Attorney

Root & Rebound is a nonprofit reentry advocacy and legal resource center whose mission is to increase access to justice and opportunity for people in reentry from prison and jail, and to educate and empower those who support them, fundamentally advancing and strengthening the reentry infrastructure across the state of California. We work to build innovative, holistic, and creative solutions to solve the reentry crisis in California and the United States.

Commitment: Full-time, Starting March 1, 2017.
Location: Based in Oakland, CA, with regular travel required.

Staff Attorney:
Root & Rebound seeks a candidate who is excited about working as an ambassador of and leader within an innovative and quickly growing organization. The ideal candidate will be excited about practising law in a dynamic way, being a part of a growing and changing organization, and using public education as the central strategy to reach the millions of Californians with a criminal record, and the 60,000+ Californians who leave prison and jail each year. The ideal candidate is warm, personable, and excited about expanding R&R’s partnerships, work, and impact across the state.

Under the direct supervision of the Executive Director and Deputy Director of Program Innovation & Strategic Partnerships, and in partnership with the Programs Team, the Staff Attorney will be responsible for components of the day-to-day management, execution, and coordination of Root & Rebound’s legal education and trainings across the state of California. The Staff Attorney will also play an integral role in all of R&R programs, including creating new toolkits and resources, updating resources, staffing the weekly reentry legal hotline, working on in-house legal services such as clinics, and helping the organization with its policy advocacy, litigation and systems reform work.

Responsibilities & Duties. Under the supervision of the Executive and Deputy Directors, the Staff Attorney’s responsibilities & duties include, but are not limited to, the following:

STATEWIDE LEGAL EDUCATION & TRAINING:

• Co-coordinate and co-lead the legal education & training program. Help to develop and implement a new reentry curriculum for people incarcerated in state prison, as well as liaise effectively with its correctional staff. Help to carry out trainings in communities across the state of California for people and families most impacted by incarceration.
• Assist with building know-your-rights curriculums, web-based and video content, and legal toolkits to increase access to legal education & training. Ensure that Root & Rebound is using technology and both online and print tools to bring our resources to as broad of an audience as possible.
• Assist with data collection and evaluation of the training program, which includes developing and implementing regular surveys for current, past, and potential trainees.
• Proactively recruit and supervise volunteers, interns, law clerks, and volunteer attorneys to carry out the training program’s needs.
• Help to identify opportunities for expansion and collaborative partnerships, including building relationships with government, nonprofit, and private partners to grow access to trainings and the program’s impact.

“ROADMAP TO REENTRY” LEGAL GUIDE RESEARCH & UPDATES:

• Assist with research, editing, and writing content to update the Roadmap to Reentry guide so it remains current, relevant, and useful for the broad audience served by Root & Rebound.
• Assist with supervising law student and pro bono volunteers who provide legal research and writing support to Root & Rebound’s legal programs team.

REENTRY HOTLINE & PRISON MAIL & DIRECT SERVICE WORK:

• Help to staff, answer calls, and manage volunteers for the Reentry Hotline; conduct legal intakes with incarcerated and reentering callers, as well as those who support them; help
• Hotline Callers identify and navigate solutions; and help maintain a strong referral and resource database for the Hotline.
• Conduct research on discrete legal questions and resource requests for incarcerated people who write to Root & Rebound looking for reentry information and support.
• Help to coordinate clinics and direct services for people with criminal records statewide.

GENERAL PROGRAMMATIC & ADMINISTRATIVE SUPPORT:

• Assist with proactively recruiting and managing a diverse, robust group of Root & Rebound volunteers, including pro bono attorneys, law students, undergraduate, and non-legal volunteers, in support of all of Root & Rebound’s legal programs.
• Assist with Root & Rebound’s development activities, as needed.
• Represent Root & Rebound at community events and public forums, and serve as an ambassador for reentry advocacy issues more broadly.
• Attend local, state, and national conferences related to Root & Rebound’s work, as needed.
• Track data and program outcomes.
• Maintain organized files, systems, and databases for all of Root & Rebound’s legal programs.
• Along with the Executive and Deputy Directors, actively assess and reflect on Root & Rebound’s legal programs to improve our delivery of services and advance our mission.
• Respond professionally and promptly to dynamic and ever-shifting programmatic demands in a startup environment, working collaboratively with our small but mighty team of reentry attorneys.

Compensation & Benefits: This position will begin as a full-time position with a competitive salary commensurate with experience and employment benefits that include medical, vision, and dental care.

Root & Rebound is an equal opportunity employer and strongly encourages applications from all qualified individuals including formerly incarcerated and/or system-involved individuals, people of color, persons with disabilities, ethnic and religious minorities, women, and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and gender variant individuals.