Farmworker Legal Services (FLS) is seeking a bilingual (Spanish/English) staff attorney to join its dynamic and committed team working directly with migrant and seasonal agricultural workers and community groups to provide civil legal services to migrant and seasonal agricultural workers throughout Michigan. The position will have an emphasis on farmworkers’ trafficking and immigration cases—such as filing labor-based deferred action, T or U-visa applications for victims of employment-based crimes, and exploitative schemes involving the H-2A visa program—and will include significant collaboration with local and national community partners engaged in anti-trafficking work. This position is union supported and based out of our Kalamazoo, Grand Rapids, or Ypsilanti (Ann Arbor area) office with a flexible remote work schedule option.
Farmworker Legal Services (FLS) is a growing and nationally recognized non-profit law office and the statewide division of the Michigan Advocacy Program (MAP) that fights for justice and dignity alongside the farmworker community through our systemic, multi-forum legal advocacy, community engagement, and direct legal representation of farmworkers in their civil legal matters. FLS currently has 7 permanent staff and 7 summer seasonal advocates based out of our Kalamazoo, Grand Rapids, and Ypsilanti (Ann Arbor area) offices. FLS provides a full range of civil legal services to Michigan’s eligible population of migrant and seasonal farmworkers and their dependents and prioritize cases including wage theft, trafficking, discrimination, sexual harassment, workplace health and safety, housing, civil rights, and labor-based immigration relief.
MAP works to advance the safety, independence, and economic stability of those most affected by poverty, racism, and other structurally oppressive systems by increasing access to justice and working for systemic solutions. MAP has provided civil legal aid for those unable to afford an attorney for more than 50 years, serving 13 counties through five legal aid offices and managing 6 statewide programs that serve farmworkers (Farmworker Legal Services), immigrant communities (Michigan Immigrant Rights Center), vulnerable older adults (Michigan Elder Justice Initiative), victims of domestic violence and elder abuse (Crime Victims Legal Assistance Program), legal aid advocates through research and training support (Michigan Poverty Law Program), and self-represented litigants (Michigan Legal Help Program). MAP has a staff of about 220 people in offices in Battle Creek, Detroit, Jackson, Kalamazoo, Lansing, Grand Rapids, Monroe, and Ypsilanti. Visit www.miadvocacy.org and www.farmworkerlaw.org for more information.
Applicants must be licensed to practice law in Michigan, qualify to be admitted by waiver, or able to take the next available bar exam in Michigan;
have lived or mission-aligned work experience or a demonstrated commitment to advocating in low-income or immigrant communities;
be willing to occasionally work a flexible schedule that may include travel and evening or weekend outreach;
have demonstrated success working effectively in teams with diverse identities;
possess excellent communication, analytical, and problem-solving skills; and
be committed to social, racial, and economic justice and FLS’s mission.
Please submit an application along with your resume and cover letter describing your level of Spanish competency and how your personal background or experiences have prepared you to work effectively alongside diverse colleagues and the farmworker community. You can also access the application by copying and pasting the following web address into your browser: https://miadvocacy.bamboohr.com/careers/118. The position is open until filled; applications received by August 9, 2024 will receive priority.
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