Staff Attorney - Clean Slate/Homelessness

East Bay Community Law Center (EBCLC) is a non-profit legal services organization, the community-based clinical program for U.C. Berkeley Law School, and one of the Bay Area’s largest and most effective systems disrupters. With a dual service and teaching mission, EBCLC is a racial justice organization committed to building a culturally diverse workplace, centered on an internal Equity and Inclusion Roadmap that outlines the organization’s equity priorities. EBCLC is also an organized workplace, having reached its first collective bargaining agreement this summer. With about 80 staff, 150 law students a year, and a nearly

$10 million annual budget, EBCLC is the largest provider of free legal services in Alameda County, providing multimodal, collaborative, and holistic legal services to over 5,000 clients annually and engaging in legislative and policy advocacy at the state and local levels.

The Staff Attorney/Clinical Supervisor for the Homelessness sub-unit of the Clean Slate Practice provides representation and advocacy on behalf of unhoused residents of the East Bay Area and trains and supervises law student interns. The position requires a strong community-centered legal advocate with excellent case management and organizational skills, experience designing and implementing new legal advocacy practices, experience in civil impact litigation and criminal law, interest in training law students, and a passion for working with low-income people impacted by the criminalization of poverty and contact with the criminal justice system. The Staff Attorney/Clinical Supervisor will join our eight-member Clean Slate Unit, which includes a Program Director, four Staff Attorneys, two Program Coordinators, and one Legal Fellow.

Primary Responsibilities
· Conduct intakes and provide direct representation for people experiencing homelessness, who have issues with service providers including discrimination, denial of services, eviction from shelters and transitional houses, and discourtesy. Advocacy will include assistance with filing complaints, direct advocacy with supervisors within the service organization, and advocacy with municipal and county funders.

· Engage in ongoing client-centered impact litigation defending the civil right of individuals experiencing homelessness. Continue developing connections with organizations and firms conducting litigation on behalf of homeless human and constitutional rights, with a view towards potentially co-counseling on cases that would benefit our clients.

· Lobby and engage in advocacy at the municipal level in East Bay Area cities for policies that protect the rights of the homeless & against policies that target them. This may include but is not limited to: the establishment of sanctioned encampments on unused city property; the creation of an oversight board to hear complaints of homeless clients about providers of transitional shelters and housing; the ability of RV dwellers to have safe parking options; and the allocation of city resources to provide sanitation, garbage pickup, porta-potties, and services to people currently living in encampments.

· Provide a direct representation of homeless people living in their vehicles who have received administrative citations and parking tickets as a result of inhabiting their vehicles, and assistance for those who have their vehicles/homes towed.

· Perform outreach, conduct intake, and provide representation for people who continue to be cited for municipal ordinances such as Berkeley’s sidewalk ordinance.

· Organize with nonprofits and community groups to bring their services to encampments where people have heretofore not had access.

· Monitor Caltrans’ activities in the aftermath of a recent settlement and support homeless individuals who may still be impacted by Caltrans activities. Enforce terms of a settlement agreement if necessary.

Minimum Qualifications
· J.D. degree required and member of the California State Bar in good standing

· Minimum 3 years of legal experience

· Ability to manage a demanding case load; excellent time management, priority-setting, and organizational skills

· Excellent written and oral advocacy skills

· Ability to work effectively with a diverse range of groups, including people of color, homeless people, immigrants, non-English speakers, people with mental disabilities, people experiencing domestic violence, law students, service providers, government employees, community partners, elected officials, and law school faculty

· Strong interpersonal skills, flexibility, and demonstrated ability to work well independently and as part of a team

· Experience providing legal services to low-income people

· Experience with, or strong interest in, law student supervision and teaching.

Desired Qualifications
· Civil impact litigation or criminal court experience

· Knowledge of disability law

· Bilingual skills in Spanish, Cantonese, or Mandarin

Salary and Benefits

Starting salary for this exempt position is $68,000 – $90,000 based on the law school graduation date, as dictated by the EBCLC salary scale.

Benefits include fully paid health insurance (medical, dental, and vision) for employees and their dependents, life and disability insurance, and generous paid leave (vacation, sick, and holidays); EBCLC also offers flexible spending accounts for qualified health, dependent care, and commute expenditures; and retirement options.

Workplace Expectations
Due to COVID-19, all EBCLC employees are currently working remotely. Staff may work in the office if they wish to do so, subject to certain capacity limits and other safety protocols. Please note that the Staff Attorney may need to attend in-person meetings and/or engage in in-person fieldwork to support our clients and the coalitions we work closely with. EBCLC will provide the necessary equipment to fulfill the job responsibilities of working from home.

Working at EBCLC
EBCLC is a unionized workplace and members of the bargaining unit are represented by the Engineers and Scientists of California Local 20, IFPTE. This position is part of the bargaining unit.

EBCLC is strongly committed to advancing justice through education and advocacy, and the need to transform legal services and legal education. Please take time to review EBCLC’s mission, vision, programs, and website, and ensure that your cover letter reflects how your background, experience, and expertise have prepared you to be successful in performing the responsibilities of the position.

Additionally, EBCLC is committed to building a culturally diverse workplace centered on equity and providing an inclusive, welcoming, and culturally responsive environment for all members of our staff, volunteers, subcontractors, vendors, and clients.

To achieve this goal, EBCLC works actively to improve our office climate, systems and structures, communications, and community engagement to create an inclusive and respectful workplace where differences are acknowledged and valued. In your cover letter, please address how your personal background and experiences, professional or otherwise, have prepared you to contribute to our commitment to cultural responsiveness and diversity amongst our staff.

We strongly encourage individuals from traditionally underrepresented communities to apply. EBCLC does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religious creed, sex, gender, gender expression, gender identity, age, national origin, ancestry, disability, marital status, sexual orientation, military status, prior contact with the criminal legal system, or any other basis prohibited by law.

Application Process:

Interested applicants should apply by

visiting https://eastbaycommunitylawcenter.easyapply.co/. The position will remain open until filled. EBCLC will review applications and interview applicants on a rolling basis and will only review complete applications. A complete application must include a cover letter, resume, short writing sample, and names/contact information for two professional references. Please submit your complete application as one single pdf file by uploading it under “Upload your Resume.”