Staff Attorney, Families Together

Who We Are
Children’s Law Center is a mission-driven organization focused on providing high-quality legal services to children and families in DC. As an organization, we envision a world in which all children have a strong foundation of family, health and education and are free from poverty, trauma, racism and other forms of oppression. Our mission is to do this work together with DC children and families, Children’s Law Center uses the law to solve children’s urgent problems today, improve the systems that will affect their lives tomorrow and strengthen our community so that change endures. A key part of our mission is to challenge and reduce ways in which racism and other biases – structural and interpersonal – prevent each of us, our organization and the systems in which we work from providing children a strong foundation from which to thrive.

Our greatest assets are our people. We recognize that people with diverse backgrounds, experiences and perspectives fuel our ability to provide the best outcomes for our clients and our community. Staff members at Children’s Law Center advance the organization’s mission through their leadership, result-oriented mindset and commitment to cultural humility. We are looking for individuals who like to be challenged to grow both personally and professionally and value the opportunity to make a difference in their community. Children's Law Center's continued success depends on recruiting and retaining individuals who possess and exemplify these attributes.

Program Description
Children's Law Center (CLC) has a long history of working with parents and caregivers to help them solve problems that threaten a child’s health, safety and well-being. By providing legal services at the right time, attorneys can lift burdens of poverty that often drain a client’s capacity to care for their child. Through our Families Together program, Children’s Law Center is expanding the range of legal assistance provided to parents and caregivers.

Families Together supports pregnant persons, parents and caregivers in achieving their goals for their families, with the long-term outcome of mitigating the risk of child welfare involvement and ensuring children can remain safely at home. To reach families, Children’s Law Center partners with community-based organizations, the Court and governmental agencies that share our commitment to strengthening DC families impacted by poverty.

Job Summary
The primary responsibility of the Families Together Staff Attorney is to provide high-quality, culturally humble and trauma-informed representation for parents and caregivers. The Staff Attorney position will be co-located at Community of Hope, a leading provider of health care to children. Community of Hope’s Family Health and Birth Center provides comprehensive health and social services to families with a special focus on serving pregnant parents and their babies. Community of Hope has sites in Wards 5,7 and 8 – the communities with the largest number of low-income children in the District of Columbia.

The Staff Attorney will join the Community of Hope teaming model, which provides each pregnant person with coordinated care from family advocates, social workers, community birth workers and community health workers. The Staff Attorney will manage a case load of approximately 20-25 cases and advocate - both in and out of court - to provide interventions that support and stabilize families.

In addition to carrying a case load, the Staff Attorney will conduct legal education trainings for parents, caregivers, community members and Community of Hope staff. They will also conduct intakes and provide brief advice or services as assigned, train and mentor volunteer attorneys, assist with the onboarding and supervision of law clerks and interns and complete specific projects as assigned by the Families Together Director or Chief Legal Officer.

This position has an established career path with the potential for promotion to a Senior Attorney.

Role Responsibilities
Case Handling: Advocacy

• Provide high-quality, culturally humble, trauma-informed direct legal representation. 
• Zealously advocate for clients in all cases through reflective case planning, thorough investigation and high-quality litigation to achieve positive client outcomes. 
• Attend all court dates and file all appropriate pleadings on time. 
• Engage in creative strategies to avoid family separation and entry into foster care.

Case Handling: Policy and Protocol Adherence

• Adhere to program policies and protocols, including case planning notes, litigation protocol, case notes and timekeeping policy and client visitation and contact protocol to achieve positive outcomes for clients outlined in program logic models.
• Ensure timely and accurate input of case and intake information into case management system and adhere to applicable policies and protocols to support learning and positive outcomes for clients. Children’s Law Center policy requires a minimum of 30 hours to be entered weekly.
• Maintain accurate, timely data entry for non-case-related activities including but not limited to trainings and volunteer attorney mentoring.

Case Handling: Supervision

• Attend and actively participate in regular supervision with their supervisor to review and brainstorm case strategies, keep the supervisor informed and ensure quality of representation. 
• Provide written materials to their supervisor for feedback on all written material, including trial preparation.  
• Immediately report any impending or actual difficulty in fulfilling obligations to clients or Children’s Law Center to minimize adverse consequences for clients or the organization. 
• Identify and elevate Targeted Appellate Strategy Issue List cases to supervisor and Appellate Team.

Community Partnership & Engagement

• Organize and conduct legal education trainings.
• Effectively and compassionately communicate with Community of Hope staff, community partners and service providers to ensure optimal outcomes for clients.

Volunteer Support

• Participate in hiring, onboarding and supervision of law clerk and intern staff as assigned. 
• Develop and conduct volunteer attorney trainings as assigned. 
• Develop or update volunteer attorney training materials as assigned. 
• With experience, develop skills and capacity to mentor volunteer attorneys.

Learning and Systemic Advocacy

• Attend and participate in all Families Together team meetings, attorney and staff meetings and other internal committees and working groups as requested by the Families Together Director.  
• Provide support to Children’s Law Center Policy Team in areas of expertise to address the systemic needs of its client community. 
• Participate or attend external committees as needed and requested by the Families Together Director.

Organizational Competencies

• Cultural Humility – an openness to self-reflection and to understanding and respecting other cultural experiences and points of view and viewing individuals as experts in their own culture and experiences.
• Giving and Receiving Feedback – the ability to be self-reflective, give and receive appreciative, coaching, constructive, interpersonal and evaluative feedback.
• Conflict Management – a process which is designed to guide individuals and groups from the moment of conflict to the implementation of an identified solution. This process incorporates skills and techniques, including recognizing points of conflict, identifying the facts and feelings involved to get to the root of the issue, investigating equitable solutions, implementing and evaluating solutions, and supporting and guiding others throughout the process.

Salary and Benefits
The salary for this position ranges from $80,000 to $100,000 annually based on relevant experience. Children’s Law Center offers a generous benefits package that includes medical, dental, vision, and short- and long-term disability insurance; employer-provided retirement contributions; flexible spending plans; and vacation, sick, holiday, family and medical leave. You can find more details about Children’s Law Center’s comprehensive benefits package at https://childrenslawcenter.org/get-involved/careers/employee-benefits/.

Children’s Law Center is a 501(c)(3) organization. Employees with federal student loan debt can apply for Public Service Loan Forgiveness. For more information, go to https://myfedloan.org/borrowers/special-programs/pslf. Additionally, the DC Bar Foundation’s Loan Repayment Assistance Program provides renewable one-year, interest-free, forgivable loans up to $12,000 per year for qualified Children’s Law Center attorneys. For more information, see https:/dcbarfoundation.org/lrap/.

Hybrid Working Conditions
Children’s Law Center is currently operating on a hybrid work schedule. Employees are required to work in-person from Children’s Law Center’s office a minimum of two days per week. At least one of these days must be either Tuesday or Wednesday. The hybrid work schedule is subject to change based on organizational needs and/or best practices for health and safety. Hybrid work expectations may vary depending upon role responsibilities.

Work Authorization
Applicants must be authorized to work for any employer in the U.S. Children’s Law Center is unable to sponsor or take over sponsorship of an employment visa at this time.

Background Checks
Candidates who receive a conditional offer of employment will be subject to a background check.

EEO
Children’s Law Center is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We are committed to equal employment opportunities for all applicants and existing employees. We evaluate qualified applicants without regard to ancestry, age, color, disability, genetic information, gender identity, gender expression, marital status, military or veteran status, national origin, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, and any other basis protected by federal, state, or local law, ordinance, or regulation. In compliance with federal law, all persons hired will be required to verify identity and eligibility to work in the United States and to complete the required employment eligibility verification form upon hire. We invite you to visit our website to learn more about our company and our career opportunities (https://childrenslawcenter.org/get-involved/careers/).

Our Commitment
Children’s Law Center is dedicated to building a world that is inclusive in approach and has equal opportunities and equitable outcomes for all. Our organization is committed to developing and supporting a robustly diverse, equitable, inclusive and anti-racist community, where all members can create and feel a sense of belonging. Through our collective deliberate efforts, we work toward racial and social justice for children and families in DC.