Staff Attorney- Public Benefits (MLP)

For 50 years LAF has provided people living in poverty in metropolitan Chicago with comprehensive free legal services to resolve non-criminal issues. Each year LAF’s more than 80 full-time attorneys and staff help resolve civil legal problems, including domestic violence, consumer fraud, and unfair evictions. Their work impacts about 40,000 people each year.
LAF has developed a ground-breaking medical-legal partnership (MLP) with the Chicago Department of Public Health (CDPH) and the Cook County Health and Hospitals System (CCHHS) to integrate legal, medical, and public health services in Chicago’s most health challenged neighborhoods. This project will enable LAF, CCHHS, and CDPH to develop a vision and a plan for addressing the social determinants having the greatest negative consequences for patients’ well-being.
LAF is seeking a staff attorney for this MLP. The staff attorney will work with our CCHHP/CDPH partners to design the systems needed to implement this new MLP and will assist in ongoing evaluation and improvement. The staff attorney will represent clients primarily in the area of public benefits, including Medicaid, SNAP, SSI, and crime victims’ benefits, assisting clients in benefits terminations, reductions and applications. Cases involving other issues (such as poor housing conditions that contribute to poor health) will be referred to advocates in LAF’s other Practice Groups. The staff attorney will also engage in health insurance literacy work through community engagement, including community legal education presentations to help people actually use their insurance.
The successful applicant will be collegial, well-organized, and demonstrate a commitment to working with low-income families.