In-House Housing Counsel (Unlawful Detainer Focus)
About The Position
Arboreal Management is a Seattle-based property management company managing several thousand residential units across Washington and Oregon, with a focus on workforce and affordable housing. We are operationally sophisticated, process-driven, and committed to compliant, fair, and efficient housing operations. We play an important role in proiding quality property management services for affordable housing, and are growing 20-30% per year. We have brought the majority of our unlawful detainer and tenant-law work fully in-house and are hiring a full-time attorney to own and scale and lead this function. This is a litigation-heavy, operations-oriented role focused primarily on unlawful detainer matters, with additional responsibility for advising on tenant-law issues and supervising offshore legal and paralegal staff. The attorney will work closely with operations, leasing, and leadership to ensure cases move quickly, correctly, and consistently. Approximately 80% of this role is unlawful detainer work, with the remaining time spent on tenant-law advice, compliance questions, and process oversight.
Requirements
- JD from an accredited law school
- Active Washington State Bar license in good standing
- 2+ years of experience in unlawful detainer, landlord-tenant, or housing litigation
- Strong familiarity with Washington eviction procedures and court rules
- Comfortable managing a high-volume, repeatable litigation workflow
- Experience supervising paralegals or legal support staff (or willingness to do so)
- Practical, operations-oriented mindset
- Strong writing, organization, and case-management skills
- Willingness to travel periodically for court appearances
Nice To Haves
- Oregon bar admission strong plus, with ability to travel to Portland, OR for in-person hearings (most WA hearings are remote)
- Experience representing housing providers or property managers
- Exposure to affordable or regulated housing environments
- Comfort working with remote or offshore support teams
- Interest in building scalable legal processes
Responsibilities
- Handle Washington unlawful detainer matters end-to-end, from notice strategy through writ
- Draft and review predicate notices, pleadings, motions, and declarations
- Appear in court for hearings and trials as required (remote and in-person)
- Advise operations teams on eviction risk, notice strategy, and timing
- Supervise one or more full-time paralegals based in the Philippines
- Review paralegal work product for accuracy, completeness, and compliance
- Develop and maintain standardized templates, workflows, and SOPs
- Advise on tenant-law issues, including disputes, lease interpretation, and reasonable accommodation questions
- Provide high-level guidance on affordable and regulated housing compliance issues and identify matters requiring escalation to outside counsel
- Coordinate with outside counsel as needed for overflow or specialized matters
Benefits
- Full-time, stable in-house role with no billable hour requirements
- Opportunity to grow responsibility, scope, and compensation as the function scales
- Direct access to leadership and real operational impact
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Mid Level
Education Level
Ph.D. or professional degree
