The Board seeks a business professional to shape, manage and expand a team providing low-cost, top quality legal services to those in need. Responsibilities include:
• Advance equal justice in Northern Nevada regardless of client means, education, ability to defend themselves or other circumstances.
• Attract contributions of funding, in-kind legal services and other forms of support of attorneys and others who support the equal administration of justice in Northern Nevada.
• Inspire, lead, manage and grow a team of talented, committed attorneys and staff.
The Executive Director will represent the organization to the public and partners within Nevada and beyond, positioning NNLA as an organization promoting client advocacy and equal justice under the law.
BACKGROUND
Northern Nevada Legal Aid is the oldest provider of legal services and the largest private law office in Northern Nevada, serving qualified residents in Washoe County and rural northern Nevada counties. NNLA has an annual operating budget of approximately $4.0M, a professional and committed team of over 40 attorneys, legal assistants, coordinators, and volunteers, and an engaged Board comprised of attorneys and other community leaders. The majority of NNLA’s revenue comes from contributions and grants and the remainder from program service revenue.
A pillar of the community, the organization has a distinctive impact on the fair administration of justice across all practice areas and services, which include:
• Housing/Consumer Protection – Free legal assistance from a consumer fraud or eviction lawyer.
• Pro Bono Referrals – Attorneys who volunteer their time to help those in need.
• Immigration - Attorneys that helps immigrants get and maintain legal immigration status.
• Civil Law Self-Help Center - Information, resources, and document assistance in civil matters for those representing themselves.
• Domestic Violence - Free legal representation to help victims escape abusive relationships.
• Adult Guardianship – Attorneys who present protected (and proposed protected) persons in adult guardianship proceedings.
• Senior Law Center – Legal services for elders.
• Child Advocacy - Attorneys who represent children in foster care in permanency proceedings.
In 2023 NNLA’s free legal aid services assisted more than 9,600 individuals and directly represented more than 1,240 protected persons in adult guardianship cases, 1,244 children in foster care, and 86 survivors of domestic violence.
The Executive Director will lead NNLA to: provide legal aid to those who cannot otherwise afford an attorney, reduce barriers to accessing the legal system for society’s most vulnerable, protect rights and promote a fair and just civil society, and increase the number of cases handled by the legal system by decreasing litigant self-representation.
BASIC FUNCTION
Reporting to the Board, the Executive Director leads and coordinates all staff and provides the overall vision, leadership, management, culture and strategic direction to the organization. NNLA has a center out, customer-serving culture, not a top-down management-by-executive-fiat culture.
The Executive Director will be a friend-raising and fund-raising leader who involves the entire group of professionals in making friends in the community and in fundraising activities that generate various kinds of material and in-kind support. The Executive Director must promulgate professional standards, hold members of the team accountable for providing best-in-class service, build and evolve a cohesive workforce able to row together, have budgeting and financial management acumen, and be able to promote the work of NNLA in Nevada and the USA.
The workforce has unionized, which means that certain representation of staff interests will include communication through union representation. The Executive Director will collaborate with any such representatives in the interest of justice and NNLA’s clients.
In the first three months, priorities for the Executive Director and team will include:
• Establish collaborative working relationships with the staff: foster and sustain a culture of cooperation, trust, better communication, mutual support, teamwork and integrity. Provide a more conducive environment for staff to do their best work.
• Understand Northern Nevada Legal Aid as a whole - the history, diverse services and communities, the needs of people being served; its facilities, the organization’s budgets, finances, revenue streams; and relationships with the community; community, city and counties served, nonprofit partners, community partners and constituencies.
• Review the current state of play and assume management control of NNLA’s programs, operations, budgets and finances, fundraising and advocacy.
ONGOING RESPONSIBILITIES
LEADERSHIP, CULTURE AND TEAM MANAGEMENT
• Working with the Board and Executive Team, assess and make decisions on the organization’s strategy, direction, organization structure, culture, and services provided to clients and create a plan to implement, execute and measure programs; ensure that staff at all levels are focused on organizational priorities and big picture strategies.
• Maintain an organizational climate that attracts, retains, motivates and develops a multi-cultural, diverse, high-quality staff and Board; create an inclusive environment that embraces decisiveness, collaboration, transparency, open communication and accountability.
• Through use of a combination of team assessment, performance accountability instruments, satisfaction and feedback surveys, and staff and board focus groups, continually improve team cohesion, staff and board member retention, and productivity.
• Encourage cross-unit collaboration to create better team camaraderie.
FUNDING AND EXTERNAL RELATIONS
• Function as the organization’s “Fundraiser-in-Chief” viewing all board, staff, programs, clients and partners through a fundraising lens; create strategies to secure sustained funding and engage staff and board members in solicitation activities; continually explore new and creative strategies to expand NNLA’s revenue base; develop corporate sponsorships, and governmental & nonprofit partnerships; understand municipal, state and federal funding streams for legal services; foster continued positive relationships with State and County funders.
• Drive visibility for NNLA by serving as a credible, articulate and effective spokesperson, in person and in writing; ensure that NNLA is recognized for its leadership and outcomes.
• Spend considerable time in cultivating community partnerships with law firms, state bar, judges, banking, business, other professional services, and leading funding, political, legal services, public policy, and other constituents across Reno, Nevada and nationally.
FINANCE AND OPERATIONS
• Oversee and provide strategic guidance for strong financial performance; adhere to Board approved budget and operating plans; foster transparency and accountability; assure strong expense management and accurate (yet conservative) reporting on the organization’s financial position, in the process highlighting financial risks and other exposure.
• Provide for adequate and secure facilities, infrastructure, systems, record-keeping, etc. Since many of these will be provided through tech, it is particularly important that data be secure and systems are robust, backed up and extensible.
• Assure the financial strength of NNLA, and in particular that services are sustainably funded, and long-term financial planning is robust.
PROGRAMS
• Champion sustainable, high-quality programming while working to manage risks and liabilities that emerge during service delivery.
• Identify unmet needs, gaps in service and advocacy; where possible scale current programs to address increased demand for services, and develop new programs where necessary; negotiate productive partnerships and relationships that advances the organization.
• Develop relationships with human service and nonprofit community organizations that have need for client representation i.e., child advocacy, immigrants, housing, seniors, domestic violence, adult guardianship.
BOARD RELATIONS
• Secure the board’s trust and confidence; keep board members informed of the organization’s operations; provide timely and concise financial and fundraising assessments; assist the board in identifying and recruiting new members whose talents, backgrounds, commitment, and fundraising abilities are congruent with NNLA’s current and future needs.
• Develop and recommend policies and procedures as requested by the board; implement approved board policies, program goals and objectives; provide ongoing communication to the board on critical matters related to NNLA.
The Executive Director will have a deep understanding of the experience of people who live in insecure circumstances and with an array of challenges, and experience in developing and delivering services to those in need.
A leader with outstanding oral and written communication skills, the Executive Director will be an advocate, a collaborator and partner, negotiator, culture-builder and problem-solver with the ability to spot financial risk before it materializes. The following key qualifications and characteristics are important to this role:
• Proven senior-level managerial and operational experience in similarly sized public or private sector organization that provides professional services to those in need; an attorney is preferred, but is not required since NNLA has Supervising Attorneys; experience within organization that provides Legal Services would be an advantage.
• The ability to develop and use data to inform decisions and metrics to measure progress toward goals; a management style that is results-oriented, and adept at planning, prioritizing, organizing and following through.
• Track record of attracting financial support and personally cultivating and sustaining donors and increasing revenue; a grasp of financial forecasting and management, and the ability to connect grants with services delivered.
• Experience working with unions would be an advantage but isn’t required. The staff of the organization is going through the process of unionizing so an understanding of how to manage these relationships will be advantageous.
• Excellent public speaking and writing skills; decisive and resourceful, with the organizational sensitivity to gain the support and confidence of the Board; a leader who empowers the team while holding them accountable; understands the subtleties of recruiting, motivating, directing and retaining a diverse group of independent professionals with different work styles.
• A leader that deeply values diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility, and who embodies and has a strong track record implementing anti-racist, culturally responsive organizational policies and practices.
• An individual with outstanding human qualities; one who is straightforward, shares information easily, listens as well as offers advice, and respects the abilities of others; someone who imparts trust and integrity, and guides others in a similar vein.
• The Executive Director must maintain a sense of humor and grace under pressure.
For additional information or to apply, please contact Lisa Grossman, Oscar Quiros, or Steven Oppenheim at info[at]moppenheim[dot]com.
NLADA Mutual Insurance Co., RRG
