The Georgia Justice Project (GJP) is a 33-year-old non-profit located in Atlanta’s historic Old Fourth Ward neighborhood. Our work spans three areas: Holistic Criminal Defense, Advocacy and Education, and Reentry Lawyering. You can read more about our work at www.GJP.org. GJP is funded primarily through private donations and currently has 17 staff members including lawyers, social workers, legal assistants, and development and administrative staff. GJP is currently hiring for several positions including a Reentry Attorney.
Around 2006 GJP started representing individuals displaced when Atlanta’s housing projects were torn down who were unable to obtain a housing voucher due to their criminal history. Since then, our work around barriers to reentry has expanded exponentially. We now represent hundreds of individuals each year with record restriction (expungement), sealing, corrections, pardons and other matters related to their criminal history. We are considered to be the state expert on criminal records and have drafted a comprehensive manual on criminal records in Georgia, which is in its 4th edition. Our criminal records team frequently makes presentations to volunteers and stakeholders around the state and over the last few years GJP has helped plan and provide technical assistance for record restriction summits throughout Georgia. Our reentry work has expanded to include child support advocacy, housing discrimination, occupational licensing issues, driver’s license suspensions, and other civil legal work related to barriers to re-entry. Over the last year we have also worked to assess and address the civil legal needs of men who are incarcerated at the Metro Reentry Facility. This attorney will assist with various civil barriers, but will focus on criminal records issues and developing materials and coordinating GJP’s work with local jurisdictions around the state on record restriction summits.
The ideal candidate will have a minimum of two years of legal experience; be well-organized; have experience communicating with diverse partners such as community groups, volunteers, prosecutors, and judges; have an interest in learning about and practicing in diverse areas of the law related to barriers to reentry; and be excited about bringing record clearing events and education to underserved communities around the state.
• Licensed Attorney with the State Bar of Georgia
• A demonstrated commitment to social and racial justice and an understanding of how poverty and race factor into the criminal legal system
• Ability to advocate assertively and effectively for low-income individuals
• Ability to engage respectfully with diverse groups of people
• Strong attention to detail
• Excellent written communication and research skills
• Experience in recruiting and working with student interns and volunteers
• Willingness to perform some administrative tasks (GJP has a small administrative support staff and we all pitch in to help where needed)
• Enthusiasm and energy for the difficult work of reforming the criminal legal system
• The ability to effectively manage the multiple priorities and fast pace of a non-profit workplace
• Ability to work occasional evenings or Saturdays for special events or projects; occasional travel
• Driver’s license (required)
Interested candidates should send a cover letter addressed to GJP’s legal director Brenda Smeeton, resume, and brief writing sample (no more than five pages) combined as a single PDF document to [email protected] . Subject line must state, “Attorney Position-Reentry”. This position will remain open until filled.
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