STAFF ATTORNEY Green Bay Office

Legal Action of Wisconsin, Inc. (Legal Action) is seeking to fill a full-time staff attorney position to work at its Green Bay office. This position is available September 1, 2020. The attorney will provide representation to low-income persons with a focus in two of the following areas of law: housing, family, consumer, public benefits, and removing barriers to employment. The areas of law which this attorney will focus will be determined by the needs of the client community, the substantive focus of other Legal Action Green Bay office staff, the experience of the person hired, and other factors. Please see our website for information about our work in all these areas of law: www.legalaction.org

Many of Legal Action’s operations and services continue to be delivered remotely because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Long-term remote work may be established for this position.

Equal justice under law can only be achieved through the collaboration of a diverse staff. When we utilize our differences, we effect positive change for the communities we serve. We are committed to equitable inclusion across gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, ability, sex, religion, economic circumstances, ethnicity, national origin, and culture. We are striving to transcend the construct of race and be an anti-racist law firm. We encourage staff to bring their whole selves to work each day and pledge to celebrate every aspect of who they are.

LEGAL ACTION OF WISCONSIN, INC.
Legal Action of Wisconsin, Inc. (Legal Action) is a non-profit law firm, funded by the federal Legal Services Corporation, the Wisconsin Trust Account Foundation, and other sources. Legal Action provides free civil legal aid to low-income persons in the southern 39 counties of Wisconsin. To serve its eligible client population, Legal Action maintains full-time offices in Milwaukee, Madison, Racine, Oshkosh, Green Bay, and La Crosse. In addition, Legal Action operates statewide farmworker, reentry, and elder abuse civil legal aid and victim rights projects (in conjunction with Wisconsin Judicare.)

Legal Action attorneys have expertise in a range of substantive law areas, including in housing, public benefits, consumer, barriers to employment, and family law. Staff attorneys are expected to maintain a direct service caseload on behalf of individual and group clients and to engage in law reform litigation and other impact work.

GREEN BAY AREA OFFICE
The Green Bay Office is located at 201 W. Walnut St., Suite 203, Green Bay, WI 54303. The Green Bay Office currently consists of a managing attorney, three staff attorneys (including this vacancy), two paralegals, a victim advocate and a legal secretary. The office provides direct services to low income clients in Brown, Door, Kewaunee, Calumet and Manitowoc Counties.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
• Legal Action staff attorneys are responsible for providing high-quality and aggressive representation of clients in individual service cases and to undertake impact work (that which has impact on groups of low-income persons or the systems that have the most effect on the low-income community), and for performing all duties associated with such representation as defined by our attorney performance standards.
• Attorneys must stay current with the areas of law that pertain to the low-income community as they change and develop, particularly in their area of specialization.
• Attorneys are expected to share responsibility for the development and maintenance of good working relationships with community groups and with state and local bar associations and others.
• Attorneys will be called upon to provide training and other assistance to volunteers who participate in Legal Action's Volunteer Lawyer Project and to other Legal Action staff attorneys.
• All attorneys perform intake duties and, where necessary, make appropriate referrals to other community agencies.
• All staff attorneys are responsible for serving on at least one of our Priority Committees: Housing; Barriers to Employment; Consumer; Public Benefits; and Family law. These priority committees are comprised of Legal Action attorneys practicing in those areas of law. They meet quarterly to discuss trends in the law and practicing in that area of law and to strategize the firm’s work. This Green Bay area office staff attorney priority committee assignment is to be determined.
• Participate in regular case review meetings with the managing attorney.
• The Green Bay office serves a five-county service area. The staff attorney is responsible for traveling to each of these counties for case work and outreach activities.
• The staff attorney may be assigned additional duties from time to time.

SALARY AND BENEFITS
The salary for this position and all attorney positions are determined by Legal Action’s attorney salary scale. Under our attorney salary scale, an attorney with 0 – 1 years of experience would receive an annual salary of $45,727 for a 100% full-time position. An attorney with 5 years of experience practicing law would earn a salary of $52,347. An attorney with 10 years of experience would earn a salary of $58,967. In addition, the position may receive an annual increase if the Board of Directors approves it.

Legal Action attorneys receive a full fringe benefit package which currently includes employer-paid health and dental insurance for employee, spouse, and family, and life and long-term disability insurance; a retirement plan contribution; generous sick leave accrual; and four weeks of vacation leave and four days of personal leave per year. (Legal Action employees with a spouse may be required to contribute to the health insurance premium if the spouse has other health insurance available.)

GOVERNANCE AND SUPERVISION
The position is governed by the Legal Action of Wisconsin, Inc. Personnel Policies which are subject to unilateral change by the Legal Action Board of Directors. As with any Legal Action position, there is no guaranteed period of employment and employment is “at will,” subject to termination at any time. The position is supervised by the Managing Attorney in the Green Bay office.

PROBATIONARY PERIOD
The position is subject to a probationary period of up to twelve months/one year.

PHYSICAL DEMANDS AND WORK ENVIRONMENT
This position involves sedentary work, including sitting and/or standing at a desk while working a computer for an extended period. This position also exerts up to 10 pounds of force on a regular basis to lift, carry, push, or otherwise move objects. While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to stand, sit, talk, hear and use hands and fingers to operate a computer and/or laptop keyboard and use a telephone. Specific vision abilities required for this job include close vision requirements due to computer work. The position may drive a motor vehicle while seated for extended periods of time daily. Occasional reaching, bending, kneeling and stooping involved to retrieve various items and materials are required. This position works in an environmentally-controlled office environment with moderate noise from phones, printers, and light office traffic.