Director of Litigation and Advocacy

Neighborhood Legal Services Program of the District of Columbia has an immediate opening for an experienced litigator with a deep commitment to lawyering in the public interest to serve as our Director of Litigation and Advocacy.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF POSITION

Neighborhood Legal Services Program (NLSP) is a federally funded, non-profit, civil legal aid law firm that provides free legal information, advice, and representation to low-income District of Columbia residents. We help with problems involving housing, family, domestic violence, public benefits, and other economic security matters. We also provide advice on some consumer issues and assist with preparing wills and advance directives. Our neighborhood-based, service delivery model -- which includes offices in Wards 5, 7 and 8 -- allows us to bring dedicated legal services attorneys and enthusiastic pro bono lawyers into low-income communities across the city to provide legal help while they learn first-hand the myriad, daily challenges faced by residents living in poverty.

The Director of Litigation and Advocacy serves as the chief lawyer for the firm and is responsible for overseeing all of the legal work of a team of 28-32 staff attorneys, post-graduate fellows and loaned associates. The successful candidate for this position must be an experienced, legal services litigator with a strong track-record of training, mentoring, and supervising junior attorneys in a dynamic law firm environment. The Director of Litigation and Advocacy also oversees the firm’s appellate work, impact litigation and our broad-based advocacy efforts.
The firm’s four Managing Attorneys (Intake/Brief Services Unit, Housing, Family, Economic Security Unit) all report directly to the Director of Litigation and Advocacy. The Director of Litigation and Advocacy reports directly to the Executive Director, serves on the Senior Management Team, and is actively involved in all aspects of law firm management including setting case acceptance priorities, attorney hiring, budgeting, development (including grant-writing) and long-term, strategic planning.

PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITIES
• Serves as the firm’s chief lawyer and oversees all of the direct, legal services work of the firm at the trial and appellate level, including all affirmative and impact litigation.
• Directly supervises the day-to-day legal work of the staff attorneys, post-graduate fellows and loaned associates in the firm’s veterans and consumer law practices. The Director of Litigation and Advocacy may also directly represent clients and/or co-counsel matters with NLSP attorneys.
• Identify, shape and guide NLSP’s broad-based, high-impact advocacy efforts.
• Play leadership role in developing and implementing litigation skills and substantive training programs.
• Ensure adherence to program and case handling standards, funder requirements and the highest, professional standards.
• Collaborate closely with other legal services providers locally and nationally to identify opportunities to better serve our shared, client community and to pursue, shared advocacy goals.
• Serve as a resource on professional responsibility and ethical issues for attorneys.
• Establish and implement firm program policies relating to legal work.
• Work closely with NLSP’s Pro Bono counsel to promote community engagement strategies and use of volunteers in a manner that furthers NLSP’s overall advocacy goals and strengthens its capacity to serve clients.
• Other responsibilities as assigned by the Executive Director.

BENEFITS
Benefits package includes employer-paid medical, dental, and vision insurance; employer-subsidized family health coverage; paid vacation, holidays, personal days and sick leave; 8-week parental leave for birth or adoption of a child; employer-paid life and long-term disability insurance; 403(b) Thrift Plan (voluntary retirement savings program); and tax-free transit benefits.

ABOUT NLSP
Established in 1964, NLSP pioneered the concept of a law office rooted in the neighborhoods that it serves and established landmark precedents which have retained their vitality and relevance. NLSP remains embedded in D.C.’s most low-income communities, builds its work on strong partnerships with community-based organizations, and seeks to achieve lasting change for its clients and their communities by using a full range of advocacy tools. Its diverse, multi-lingual, and passionate staff embrace an explicitly anti-poverty mission and share a deep commitment to securing meaningful access to justice.