Neighborhood Legal Services Program (NLSP) seeks a staff attorney to join our Housing Cooperative Preservation Initiative beginning October 1, 2020.
NLSP is a private, non-profit law firm that provides high quality civil legal services to low-income residents of the District of Columbia. NLSP has a long tradition of fighting for justice for the poor, combining direct representation with efforts to achieve broad-based change. Its three offices are located in the poorest sections of the District, to maximize its visibility, accessibility, and connections to the communities it serves.
NLSP’s Housing Cooperative Preservation Initiative (“HCPI”) supports low-income, affordable housing cooperatives in the District of Columbia. Housing cooperatives provide a rare opportunity for those who struggle around the poverty line to experience the pride and stability that come with home ownership. Through a housing cooperative, low-income residents can control the building they live in. However, operating a housing cooperative comes with a variety of rules, regulations, and requirements that can be a daunting proposition for most members.
Through the Housing Cooperative Preservation Initiative, NLSP provides a variety of legal services and education to low-income housing cooperatives, while our project partner University Legal Services provides financial analysis and asset management.
DUTIES & RESPONSIBILITIES
The Staff Attorney will be a member of NLSP’s 14-person housing team and will join HCPI’s senior staff attorney and project coordinator in providing direct, general-counsel style legal services to HCPI’s limited-equity cooperative clients
This work may include:
• Assisting limited-equity housing cooperatives to comply with or to come into compliance with various regulatory, tax, insurance, and lender requirements, as well as the requirements of applicable subsidy programs.
• Advising and training board members of limited-equity housing cooperatives on their duties and other matters relating to good governance, such as updating, interpreting,and adhering to governing documents, policies, and procedures.
• Developing tools and training cooperative boards so that they can function without our help in the future.
• Attending cooperative board meetings as an advisor.
• Collaborating and coordinating with NLSP’s subcontractor partner University Legal Services in order to provide asset management services.
• Creating educational materials for cooperative residents and other parties.
• Conducting community outreach to cooperatives who may be eligible for our services.
• Collaborating with other organizations that support cooperatives to provide direct support to cooperatives and to advocate for policy changes that would help limited-equity cooperatives generally.
• Liaising between third-party management agents and cooperatives’ boards of directors, and advocating for cooperatives if their relationship with management becomes adversarial.
• Supporting pro bono attorneys and other outside counsel handling matters for our clients, including answering general questions regarding housing cooperative association clients and the law governing them, generally facilitating client communication and information sharing, and regularly monitoring case progress.
• Participating in NLSP’s recruitment, training, and retention efforts to build our base of pro bono attorneys serving our clients.
This is a grant-funded position that currently is funded through September 30, 2021.
SALARY AND BENEFITS
• Salary commensurate with experience, starting at $50,000
• Generous benefits package
• Paid vacation, sick, and personal leave; 8 weeks of paid parental leave
QUALIFICATIONS
The ideal candidate will have the following:
• A JD from an accredited law school and membership in the DC Bar in good standing or eligibility to become a member of the DC Bar
• Willingness and ability to provide legal services to organized client communities in a way that is empowering, where client (not attorney) leadership is at the forefront
• Experience working with diverse groups of people , ability to facilitate group decision-making; commitment to and experience empowering low-income communities
• Comfort taking on new areas of law
• Creative problem-solving skills, patience, flexibility and team-oriented approach.Ability to work independently with minimal supervision and willingness to ask for help when needed
• Experience with at least one of the following (internships and clinics count): civil legal services, housing law, community development or affordable housing development, nonprofit or business law; transactional or real estate law, work with organizational clients in any area of law, or compliance work.
• Willingness to work a flexible schedule and to be available outside of regular work hours when cooperative members are available.
APPLICATION PROCESS
Submit, as a single pdf file, your letter of interest, resume, and contact information for three references to Samantha Stringer at [email protected] with “HCPI Staff Attorney Application – [your last name]” in the subject line. We are looking for thoughtful, tailored cover letters that show commitment to our mission and the applicant’s experience that specifically meets the qualifications, duties, and responsibilities outlined above. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis with a preference for applications received by July 20, 2020. No phone calls, please.
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