Colorado Springs Managing Attorney

Organization Overview:
Colorado Legal Services (CLS) is Colorado’s statewide nonprofit legal aid program, with thirteen offices providing civil legal assistance to low-income Coloradans throughout the state. CLS provides free legal assistance in a broad variety of legal areas, including family law, public benefits, eviction defense, consumer protection, services to survivors of serious crime and human trafficking, and many others.
CLS has strengthened lives, assisted families, and supported communities–one person at a time for over 90 years. We are committed to providing high-quality, free legal advice and representation to eligible individuals throughout Colorado. We have a long history of successful impact and advocacy. CLS strives to bring about substantive, transformational change in the lives of those we serve.

Position Summary:
The Managing Attorney will provide supervision, assistance, training, and leadership to the Colorado Springs office, and is responsible for the quality, quantity, and coordination of the office’s litigation and advocacy. The Managing Attorney is expected to handle an active, but reduced, caseload and exercise judgment and creativity in attempting to solve the legal problems of the poor. The Managing Attorney is responsible for some grant writing, community outreach, and coordination of private attorney involvement in the delivery of legal services to eligible clients. The position requires the Managing Attorney to excel as a supervisor, administrator, attorney, and as a representative of Colorado Legal Services in the community. This position reports to the Advocacy Director for Southern Colorado.

Essential Duties:
- Provide the oversight, assistance, guidance, and supervision necessary to ensure the effective administration, operation, and management of the office.
- Cultivate a culture that supports staff while holding the office to CLS’s high expectations of performance.
- Maintain an active, but reduced, caseload.
- Provide supervision and guidance for other casehandlers, including periodically reviewing their legal work and providing training, professional development, employee coaching, and performance evaluation.
- Oversee and manage staff workloads, client relations, and interpersonal conflict, and make recommendations to Senior Leadership for performance improvements or disciplinary action consistent with the terms of CLS’s Collective Bargaining Agreement as needed.
- Ensure that office intake functions accurately, effectively, and efficiently while adhering to office case acceptance protocols and the regulations of the Legal Services Corporation (LSC), CLS’s major federal funder.
- Recruit private pro bono attorneys and provide assistance and supervision to the private bar on legal services cases.
- Ensure compliance with CLS and LSC policies.
- Periodically review office case acceptance protocols and solicit input from office staff, the community, clients, and the judiciary regarding the on-going legal needs of the community and modify office case acceptance protocols as necessary to be responsive to community needs.
- Review and close all office cases in a timely manner to ensure compliance with LSC regulations and the current LSC Case Service Report Handbook.
- Attend management meetings, participate in statewide substantive task forces and working groups, and provide case support and assistance to other CLS casehandlers.
- Provide orientation and training for new staff and participate in the hiring process for new staff.
- Act as the office’s community liaison, maintaining contact with local human service agencies, the local bar association, and other organizations, in developing strategies for assisting low-income clients and vulnerable client groups.
- Participate in agency and community meetings as the program's representative and make presentations to community groups about the services provided by the office and its funding needs.
- Assist with grant management activities, such as communicating with grantors, assisting with gathering data for grant reports, completing grant reports, and working with Senior Management to apply for grant funding.
- Lead and coordinate systemic work and community outreach with external and internal stakeholders.
- Complete administrative tasks such as leave request approvals, timesheet review, and reimbursement requests.
- Oversee operations of the office, including communications with building management, as needed.