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 Criminal Defense Attorney.
GJP has been on the cutting edge of holistic defense representation for our entire history. Our goal has always been to provide zealous and client-centered representation of the highest quality, combined with holistic social service support. Each of our clients is assigned a social worker and the attorney and social worker work together closely to support the client and obtain the best outcome in the case. GJP primarily represents individuals with pending cases in Fulton and DeKalb counties. We interview applicants and attempt to choose clients who can benefit from and fully utilize our holistic representation model. If our clients are convicted we visit them while they are in prison and help them develop a reentry plan when they are released. GJP’s defense team also assists men who are incarcerated in the Metro Reentry Facility by resolving pending charges to ensure the best chance for success upon release. A focus for the new attorney hired will be to expand our representation of individuals facing probation revocations, which may involve representing clients beyond the metro area to test recent policy reforms and inform our legislative goals. The attorney will help develop this new component of GJP’s work through representation, creating materials, and providing trainings.
The ideal candidate will have a minimum of 3-5 years of criminal defense experience, including representing individuals on felony charges; have trial experience; have experience working collaboratively; be committed to finding the best resolution for our clients; and have a deep commitment to engaging with clients.
• 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-Defense.” This position will remain open until filled.
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