Staff Attorney - Fair Housing Enforcement

POSITION DESCRIPTION: This is a HYBRID role! (2 days in office and 3 days remote)
LawNY® seeks to fill two immediate openings for a full-time Staff Attorney in its Fair Housing Enforcement Unit to take cases protecting New York residents from housing discrimination through advocacy and litigation in state court, federal court, and administrative forums. The positions will focus primarily on cases in Monroe, Ontario, Livingston, Wayne, Seneca, and Yates counties. We prefer applicants to be based in either our Rochester or Geneva offices, but will consider placement in Ithaca and Bath as well. Applicants with a wide range of substantive legal experience are encouraged to apply. We expect those who fill this position will grow and adapt their practice to the needs of the community and the organization. The candidate must have the caring, patience, and emotional maturity to help low-income people overcome crisis situations.

Staff Attorneys at LawNY® provide comprehensive legal services to eligible clients. Therefore the ideal candidate should have a strong understanding of how civil legal issues affecting low-income communities intersect with social and economic justice. Staff Attorneys play a critical role in realizing LawNY®’s vision of diversity, equity, and inclusion. Every Staff Attorney is expected to actively engage in learning and becoming increasingly skilled in a practice that supports this vision.

RESPONSIBILITIES: These are the most significant responsibilities and primary functions of the position.

Maintain a full-time caseload representing eligible clients served by our Fair Housing Unit.
Develop and maintain specialized knowledge in fair housing matters, including both federal and state fair housing laws.
Provide legal services to low income clients and client groups, regarding these matters including advice, negotiation, litigation in federal and state courts, and representation in administrative forums including HUD and the New York Division of Human Rights. Interact respectfully with clients from a wide range of backgrounds, with an awareness of the importance of cultural competence and humility. Collaborate with other LawNY® advocates, human services providers, non-profit organizations and community groups as well as the courts, administrative tribunals and the private bar to address legal problems within our community, including providing outreach about our services and community legal education.
Contributes to a safe and healthy work environment for fellow employees.
Cooperates in all grant reporting requirements, program reporting, timekeeping, file maintenance, case closing and compliance review. Maintains a high level of professional competence through attendance at training sessions, seminars and conferences - including self-directed efforts to keep abreast of current developments in the area of poverty law and the application of an equity lens to client services.

ADDITIONAL TRAITS AND SKILLS These are the traits, attributes, attitudes, and skills that speak to the candidate’s ability to succeed in the position. While no one candidate will possess all of the qualities listed, the ideal candidate will have many of these qualities. LawNY® encourages each candidate to think about their own personal knowledge, skills, and experience, as well as professional skills and experience in relation to this list. Research shows that women and people from under-represented groups often apply to jobs only if they meet 100% of the desired competencies. We encourage you to apply even if you do not believe you meet all the desired competencies.
Litigation and advocacy experience in state and/or federal court, which includes at least one area of poverty law (especially civil rights, fair housing, and landlord-tenant).
Advocacy experience in administrative forums.
Experience with managing a reasonable caseload in a professional and efficient manner, while also keeping in mind client’s expectations of having cases resolved in a timely fashion.
Self-motivation to drive forward investigation, negotiation, and litigation.
Experience incorporating an anti-racist and anti-oppressive lens into legal practice.
An understanding of the concepts of structural and institutional racism and their impact on underserved and underrepresented communities.
Strong interpersonal skills, including a commitment to providing trauma-informed services.
Lived experience with our client communities.
True fluency in a language other than English that is spoken by our clients.

COMPENSATION

Salary is dependent on experience and based on a pay scale with annual increments. The beginning salary for a Staff Attorney is $58,000 and the salary for a Staff Attorney with ten years of experience is $72,400. LawNY is a qualifying employer for public interest student loan forgiveness program.

LawNY® provides an excellent package of fringe benefits including 94% employer paid health insurance with significant HSA contributions, 100% employer paid dental and disability insurance, vision coverage, and $50,000 automatic life insurance as well as generous leave provisions including, in the first year of employment, 20 days of vacation plus 13.5 holidays and two floating holidays. Employees also receive 12 sick days and five personal days per year. New parents receive 20 days of paid new parent leave.

LawNY® is committed to providing a work-life balance to their employees. We encourage and support a 35 hour work week to ensure our employees have this balance. We also offer a remote work policy where new staff are able to work from home up to 3 days per week during their 6 month probationary period with manager approval, as their work load permits. This increases to 5 days per week once successfully finished with a probationary period with manager approval, as their workload permits.

ORGANIZATION INFORMATION

Legal Assistance of Western New York, Inc. (LawNY®) is a not-for-profit law firm that provides free civil legal services to low-income clients in a 14 county area of Western New York, the Finger Lakes, and the Southern Tier. LawNY® has seven fully staffed field offices in Bath, Elmira, Geneva, Ithaca, Jamestown, Olean and Rochester, satellite offices in Lakeville and Lyons, and a business office in Rochester.

LawNY® has been providing high quality legal representation for 54 years, and today has over 180 employees, including attorneys, paralegals, and a legal support team who work closely across areas of specialization to bring a holistic approach to addressing legal issues affecting our clients and community.

LawNY® is committed to equitable inclusion across race, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, ability, sex, religion, economic circumstances, ethnicity, national origin, and culture. We are increasingly committed to creating a law firm where race equity, diversity and cultural competency are integral components of our work, from client advocacy to internal operations.

This position is considered Exempt pursuant to the Fair Labor Standards Act.

Location

Choice of Office, NY (Hybrid)

Department

Staff Attorney

Employment Type

Full-Time

Minimum Experience

Entry-level

Compensation

No Exp: $58,000 Ten Years Exp: $72,400