Housing Brief Service Staff Attorney

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

The Housing Brief Service Staff Attorney works across both the Healthy Together program and Special Legal Projects at Children's Law Center (CLC). Healthy Together is a medical-legal partnership working with community health care clinics to provide legal services to children and families who have health-harming legal needs. Special Legal Projects expands Children's Law Center's legal tools to include other forms of innovative healthy housing advocacy and collaborations, impact litigation and new approaches to working toward a future where every child can grow up with a strong foundation of family, health and education and live in a world free from poverty, trauma, racism and other forms of oppression. The Brief Service team, which works within Special Legal Projects and collaborates with Healthy Together, is often the first point of contact for a community member who is reaching out to Children's Law Center.

Job Summary

The Housing Brief Service Staff Attorney role is a temporary, grant-funded position which has been funded for a 12-month period. If additional grant funding is available, there may be a possibility to extend the position beyond the initial 12-month period.

The Staff Attorney is responsible for providing high-quality legal assistance to parents and caregivers with limited financial resources in a compassionate, culturally appropriate and trauma-informed manner. The Staff Attorney will often be the first point of contact for many of the families seeking legal assistance from Children's Law Center. The primary job function of this attorney is to conduct legal intakes with potential clients to determine how CLC can help them in housing cases and housing-related matters. The Staff Attorney is also responsible for recommending cases for extended representation to be handled in-house or by pro bono attorneys and for conducting brief services, brief advice, information and referral for other intakes.

Role Responsibilities

Handle Children's Law Center Referrals for Healthy Together and Pro Bono Programs

• Serve as a point of contact for community members and receive referrals from the Healthy Together, attorneys, online and phone community intake lines, CLCPP partners, health care and other community partners.
• Conduct preliminary and subsequent intake interviews with potential clients to determine legal issue and whether and how Children's Law Center can assist the potential client and family.
• Enter intake information into our case management database and conduct intakes within Children's Law Center guidelines.
• Independently assess whether potential clients need full representation, brief service, advice, referral or information.
• Conduct legal research and/or identify other community resources for intakes.
• Collaborate with intake specialists around screenings and scheduling of intakes.

Referrals, Advice, and Brief Service to Parents and Caregivers

• Provide brief advice and referral information to parents and caregivers in need of legal assistance to address health-harming legal needs of their children.
• Provide brief service to parents and caregivers in need of legal assistance in the areas of housing conditions, homelessness, shelter denials/appeals, Rapid Rehousing appeals/denials, reasonable accommodations, source of income discrimination and other housing-related areas. Examples of brief service include but are not limited to: writing letters to landlords and/or property managers detailing housing conditions concerns, request remediation and providing notice; advising about DC mold law; providing warm referrals to a partner organization, and; providing troubleshooting assistance through phone calls or emails to agency personnel to try to resolve a legal problem.
• Collaborate with intake specialists to provide referrals, brief advice and brief services to community members.
• Recommend cases for extended representation.
• Revise and/or prepare outreach and education materials, such as tip-sheets, referral sheets, know your rights flyers, etc., to improve the efficacy and timeliness of legal service delivery to parents and caregivers.

Engage in Evaluation and Data Management Activities

• Provide input and feedback on CLC's intake process and guidelines.
• Ensure timely and accurate input of case and intake information into the case management system and adhere to applicable policies and protocols, including but not limited to case planning, intake and case-handling timelines and case notes/timekeeping policies.
• Maintain accurate, timely data entry in CLC's intake/case management system.
• Provide information for grants and reporting as needed.

Participate in and Contribute to Learning, Systemic Advocacy and Coalition-Building Opportunities

• Attend and participate in program staff meetings, CLC attorney and staff meetings and other internal committees and working groups as requested by the Program Director/supervisor.
• Train other attorneys in intake and brief service handling.
• Work with team to update and revise intakes and intake process as needed.
• Provide support to Children's Law Center Policy Team in areas of expertise to address the systemic needs of the Children's Law Center client community.
• Participate in community partner coalitions or external committees as needed and requested by the Program Directors/supervisor.

Required Skills and Experience

• JD degree.
• DC Bar membership or eligibility for DC Bar membership based on the transfer of a Uniform Bar Examination score attained in another jurisdiction or membership in good standing in the Bar of another jurisdiction for at least 3 years immediately prior to the application for admission.
• Experience in legal services or other community lawyering. Experience that will be considered includes job experience, law school clinics, clerkships and internships.
• Commitment to equity, inclusion, and humility when working with clients and colleagues at the intersection of multiple identities, including race, ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, immigration status, religion, physical and mental disability, and/or limited English proficiency.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with affordable housing and/or landlord/tenant legal practice strongly preferred. Experience that will be considered includes job experience, law school clinics, clerkships and internships.
• A demonstrated commitment to social, economic and racial justice.
• Exceptional interpersonal, communication and relationship-building skills.
• Strong legal analysis, research, writing and oral advocacy skills.
• Excellent organizational and time management skills.
• Demonstrated capacity to work independently and collaboratively.
• Strong independent judgment and decision-making skills.
• One or more years' experience with customer service.
• Experience conducting intake or similar interviews.
• Experience working with children and families with limited financial resources.
• Familiarity with DC and community resources.
• Bilingual English/Spanish communication skills.

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.

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