What We Do
Disability Rights Texas (DRTX) is the federally designated legal protection and advocacy organization for people with disabilities in Texas to protect and advocate for the rights of people with disabilities.
The Institutional Rights and Civil Liberties Team (IRCL) serves the following people:
• Persons with mental illness living in institutions and in the community;
• Persons with intellectual disabilities living in state supported living centers or who have recently transitioned to the community for up to 90 days;
• Persons with mental illness and/or intellectual disabilities in jails and juvenile justice facilities
Services provided include:
• Community integration and prevention of institutionalization
• Abuse and neglect investigations (primary and secondary)
• Advocacy regarding rights violations
• Guardianship restoration
The Team Attorney for Institutional Rights and Civil Liberties (IRCL) in Austin will be responsible for monitoring Austin State Hospital, private psychiatric hospitals in Central Texas, Central Texas jails, as well as other institutions as assigned. The attorney is responsible for identifying and investigating abuse, neglect, and rights violations, and drafting complaints based on the findings of the investigation; providing legal services and determining eligibility under Organization priorities; conducting legal research; negotiating outcomes; and representing clients in
administrative hearings and in state and federal judicial proceedings. This position provides legal assistance, direction, and supervision of an Advocate’s case work, when appropriate. The IRCL Team Attorney also provides education and training sessions for people with disabilities, advocates, and professionals/service providers and the community.
DRTx has a Union and the starting salary for this position is governed by the terms in our Collective Bargaining Agreement, and is based on years since licensure to practice law. The general range for this position is $68089 (0-1 years since licensure) to $131467(up to 49 years since licensure).
What an IRCL Attorney Does
• Monitors assigned institutional facilities regularly.
o Monitoring means going unaccompanied around the facility and, through a combination of talking to residents and observation, picking up potential cases to further investigate. It is rewarding and exhausting. A good monitor is curious, tenacious, observant, adept at building quick rapport with clients, and is able to identify issues that merit further investigation.
• Independently identifies abuse, neglect, and rights violations through monitoring.
• Investigates potential cases, reviews medical and facility records, compiles evidence, and determines whether further action needs to be taken.
• Provides legal services and advice to individuals eligible for Disability Rights Texas services, which may include legal advocacy, negotiation, mediation, litigation, and handling of administrative and court proceedings.
o While an IRCL attorney practices law and carries a litigation caseload, most of our cases are resolved through administrative processes. This is not the job for someone who wants to regularly file lawsuits.
• Conceptualizes case strategies and develops case work based on proper legal concepts and established precedents. Is creative in finding solutions and reaching outcomes.
• Clearly communicates with clients, fellow staff members, institution staff, and other necessary parties, and documents case file to reflect activity in case and case status.
• Responds to requests for assistance and determines eligibility for services.
• Provides direction and technical assistance to Advocates, when appropriate.
• Develops and/or maintains ongoing caseload within the level established by the agency's client services policies and procedures and meets expectations for litigation.
• Provides technical assistance on an ongoing basis to private attorneys representing persons with disabilities
• Develops materials for and conducts a selected number of education and training (E&T) presentations on Disability Rights Texas's services and legal rights issues.
• Travels as needed to provide services.
• Appropriately prioritizes tasks as needed and multi-tasks numerous responsibilities in a timely manner.
• Establishes personal credibility throughout and outside the organization, in order to be an effective partner and advisor.
• Effectively and regularly communicates with employees, clients, and the public at the individual, team and organizational levels.
• Maintains thorough and complete records.
• Applies the principles of the organization’s vision and values in all work-related business and interactions.
• Performs other duties as requested or required.
Required Qualifications
• Law Degree plus Texas Law License, and maintain licensure.
• Experience doing direct service work with underserved and marginalized populations.
• Desire to provide direct client services to individuals with mental illness and other disabilities.
• Commitment to zealous client-directed advocacy. We work to determine what the client’s wishes are and advocate for them. We are often the only ones in a meeting advocating for the client’s actual wants while everyone else focuses the “best interests” of the client. This can make for contested or adversarial situations.
• Ability to work well both independently and with others.
• Willingness to take direction and to independently follow through on all instructions in a timely fashion.
• Demonstrated ability to manage individual workloads so that services are delivered timely and appropriately.
• Ability to multitask, prioritize conflicting assignments, and work under challenging conditions while meeting required deadlines.
• Demonstrated legal skills, including the ability to develop and evaluate facts and apply knowledge to client outcomes; the ability to analyze and apply legal rules and principles in order to develop case strategies; the ability to conduct legal research and apply information to case strategy; the ability to conduct an investigation and gather all pertinent facts; and being able to form logical and legal conclusions from the information.
• Demonstrated effective written and oral communication skills including the articulation of well thought out arguments; drafting complaints, briefs, memorandums of law and other pleadings; conducting depositions and other discovery methods; engaging in negotiations and settlement discussions; writing demand letters and other correspondence.
• Ability and willingness to travel regularly, including overnight trips, and to rural communities.
• Excellent interpersonal, relationship-building and collaboration skills to be able to work effectively with others inside and outside of the organization; relationship builder with the flexibility and finesse to “manage by influence”.
• Demonstrated public speaking skills to conduct education and training sessions.
• Comply with organizational standards regarding legal case development and management.
• Strong working knowledge of Microsoft Office suite (Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint) and legal case management software (LegalFiles).
• High level of commitment to service excellence, plus high degrees of integrity, ethics and judgment are a must.
Preferred Qualifications
• Bilingual in English/Spanish – both written and spoken word.
• Experience working with individuals in institutions
Other Requirements
• Uses computer 8 hours per day.
• Uses telephone, email, and conferencing systems to communicate with clients, colleagues, and other professionals, approximately 3-6 hours per day.
• Spends approximately 1-3 hours per day in meetings.
• Monitors facilities (10-15%).
• Travel within the state of Texas is required, which may involve overnights (20%).
• Requires working under a moderate degree of stress (time constraints; deadlines; multi-tasking high-level projects and issues; complex issues; and conflict resolution).
External candidates should apply via our careers page on the DRTx website: https://disabilityrightstexas.applytojob.com/apply
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