Health Consumer Center Staff Attorney

Bay Area Legal Aid•Oakland, CA

14d•$80,719 - $132,815•Hybrid

About The Position

Bay Area Legal Aid (BayLegal) is a non-profit law firm providing free civil legal services to low-income individuals and families across the San Francisco Bay Area. Our services span multiple legal areas including preventing homelessness, increasing economic stability, protecting consumers, expanding healthcare access, and ensuring safety for domestic violence survivors. The Health Consumer Center (HCC) team specifically focuses on eliminating healthcare access barriers for low-income individuals and families across nine Bay Area counties. The HCC operates an innovative telephone hotline for immediate legal assistance and engages in broader advocacy efforts, including participating in stakeholder workgroups, pursuing affirmative lawsuits, and collaborating with government stakeholders to address healthcare coverage and enrollment issues.

Requirements

Member of CA Bar in good standing or admitted to practice in another state and eligible to practice in California for 3 years under the California State Bar rules for the Registered Legal Services Attorney Program preferred. Candidates who have recently passed the California Bar or will be taking the bar exam at the next sitting are welcome to apply.
Commitment to complying with all California Rules of Professional Conduct, BayLegal funding requirements, and firm standards, policies, and practices.
Experience or demonstrated commitment to public interest law and social justice advocacy.
Demonstrated working knowledge of or willingness to learn health care related issues, including but not limited to Medicare, Covered California, Medi-Cal and its related programs such as In-Home Supportive Services, managed care plans, employer’s insurance and self-funded plans, among others.
Language fluency and proficiency in one or more of these languages: Spanish, Tagalog, Korean, Vietnamese, Dari, Hindi, Punjabi, Mandarin, or Cantonese preferred (wage differential available upon passing test for fluency and written proficiency).
Humility in working with colleagues, clients, and individuals of all identities, experiences, and perspectives.
Current proficiency, and ability to improve proficiency, in technological equipment, hardware and software necessary to perform duties of the position.
Willing to be on-site at BayLegal’s office as needed to support the needs of clients and for periodic team meetings and training.
Experience and skills maintaining organization of time, managing diverse activities, and meeting critical deadlines with minimal supervision.
Excellent writing, editing, and proof-reading skills, with the ability to be detail oriented.
Experience and commitment to working collaboratively with a dynamic team.
Curious and self-directed with the ability to anticipate what needs to be done.
Ability to simultaneously manage multiple projects while maintaining a firm grasp of individual project details.
Sense of humor and proactive problem-solver.
Livescan background check required by funders given the position involves access to confidential information. We will consider qualified applicants with a criminal history, including arrest and conviction records, in a manner consistent with the California Fair Chance Act.

Nice To Haves

Member of CA Bar in good standing or admitted to practice in another state and eligible to practice in California for 3 years under the California State Bar rules for the Registered Legal Services Attorney Program preferred. Candidates who have recently passed the California Bar or will be taking the bar exam at the next sitting are welcome to apply.
Language fluency and proficiency in one or more of these languages: Spanish, Tagalog, Korean, Vietnamese, Dari, Hindi, Punjabi, Mandarin, or Cantonese preferred (wage differential available upon passing test for fluency and written proficiency).

Responsibilities

Learn and advocate for the diverse legal needs of undeserved and vulnerable communities in San Francisco and the broader Bay Area to reduce homelessness, enhance stability, and address social justice.
Represent individuals in all stages of administrative hearings and plan grievance proceedings related to healthcare services and coverage, including negotiating with plans and providers for coverage of services and/or access to treatment.
Answer calls during shifts on the health legal advice hotline to provide immediate access/ assistance and address client's needs.
Provide workshops and technical assistance to community partners and client community on health access issues and a broad range of civil legal issues.
Engage with, build and foster broad public-private partnerships, including with governmental agencies, courts, community-based organizations, and pro bono partners to ensure integrated services, client outreach and address barriers facing BayLegal's client community.
Identify and employ impact advocacy strategies to remove barriers to healthcare services and coverage for client populations, including particularly vulnerable groups such as people experiencing homelessness, people with disabilities, people suffering from chronic conditions, people who have limited English proficiency, older adults, children, low income people, and pregnant people.
Engage in other tasks and projects that further the interest of fostering BayLegal's mission and operations as a non-profit.

Benefits

100% employer covered medical, dental, and life insurance for employees and up to 60% for dependents
BayLegal student debt reimbursement program
Long term disability insurance
Employee assistance program
Wage differentials for multi-lingual employees whose non-English language skills are regularly used in the provision of tasks and pass a request test of fluency and/or proficiency
Dependent childcare employer contribution program
Employer paid CA Bar license and/or social work license fees
401k retirement plan with BayLegal contribution following first year
Generous paid leave policy which includes 15 holidays each year
Vacation (starting at 13 days and increasing with additional years of employment)
3 floating holidays each year (days chosen by employee)
Sick leave
Parental leave