Law Clerk

CHIRLA•Sacramento, CA

4d•$70,304 - $71,991

About The Position

The Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1986. CHIRLA is a California leader with national impact made of diverse immigrant families and individuals who act as agents of social change to achieve a world with freedom of mobility, full human rights, and true participatory democracy. CHIRLA organizes and serves individuals, institutions, and coalitions to build power, transform public opinions, and change policies to achieve full human, civil and labor rights. Guided by power, love, and vision of our community, CHIRLA embraces and drives progressive social change. POSITION DESCRIPTION: The Law Clerk is a member of the legal department who may be assigned to work primarily with one or more of the legal teams as needed. Accordingly, the types and amounts of cases assigned to a staff member will reflect the needs of the clients serviced by the team(s) they are assigned or the needs of clients across the legal department as a whole. The Law Clerk will assist clients pursue immigration benefits for and assist attorneys in the efforts to provide representation for clients in applications, hearings or proceedings before a variety of courts, tribunals and agencies as needed to safeguard and/or improve their immigration status within the United States. Further, the Law Clerk is also responsible for helping their assigned teams and the legal department pursue community-based systemic reform and advocacy aimed at reforming unforgiving federal immigration laws. The Law Clerk will provide screenings and intakes to potential new clients on a regular basis, at Legal Triage, and other events. The Law Clerk will provide clients with effective, responsive, compassionate, and efficient service.

Requirements

Juris Doctorate (JD) required
Pending admission to a State Bar association within the United States or the intention to seek admission to a State Bar association within 1 year of being hired
Active admission and good standing in the California State Bar is preferred
Fluency or high proficiency in the Spanish language and/or other languages that would allow communication with existing, new, or potential clients is required as the job requires extensive legal counseling and representation with clients who primarily speak languages other than English
General knowledge of immigration law
Demonstrated commitment to social justice, progressive social change, empowering communities’ rights, and justice
A high level of integrity and the ability to maintain confidentiality
Ability to communicate effectively both orally and in writing
Must be flexible to work early morning, evenings and Saturdays during clinical/consultations times as needed.

Nice To Haves

Pending admission to the California Bar association or the intention to seek admission to the California Bar association within 1 year of being hired
Experience in assisting noncitizens apply for a wide variety of immigration benefits and processes before USCIS and/or the Immigration Court
Engaging communication skills that can effectively and independently communicate with diverse audiences and network collaboratively among a variety of stakeholder groups
Excellent creative problem solving, strategic thinking, and analytical skills
Excellent organizational skills and strong attention to detail
Experience with providing direct services to the community, ideally in a nonprofit setting
Experience working with survivors of trauma, victims of violence, and human trafficking
Experience working with underserved and diverse populations
Ability to be comfortable in a collaborative, consultative environment
Highly self-motivated, creative, takes initiative, ability to learn quickly, flexible, and able to work as part of an interdisciplinary team of legal staff
Demonstrated experience working effectively as part of a team and with colleagues of diverse backgrounds and perspectives, both in person and within a remote work environment
Ability to establish and maintain effective relationships within their team, within the legal department and throughout the organization
Demonstrated ability to be proactive in their approach to assigned responsibilities, completing tasks and/or using technology and systems to maximize efficiency
Strong commitment to CHIRLA’s mission of empowering low-income community groups

Responsibilities

Assist attorneys to provide representation to clients with cases involving issues such as criminal history, immigration law violations, family law issues, current or previous removal proceedings, appeals, or other issues related to their immigration matters as needed.
Assist attorneys with the preparation, review, revision, and submission of any documents needed to address a client’s immigration issues, including but not limited to, applications, motions, legal memos or briefs, petitions or requests.
Assist attorneys to represent individuals before federal, state or local courts, agencies or tribunals at all levels as needed to properly address and resolve issues for clients in their cases. Such representation should follow both ethical and professional responsibility obligations as well as funder requirements.
Ability to work effectively under pressure with urgent deadlines.
Research and analyze complex and straightforward legal matters pertaining to own caseload and assuming responsibility and risk for outcomes of client cases.
Screen potential clients for all potential and available immigration benefits that they may qualify for and use that information to assess their ability to successfully pursue and obtain those benefits.
Communicate to potential clients an assessment or evaluation of their immigration cases or circumstances, including but not limited to any rights these individuals possess, any requirements these individuals must complete, and any deadlines they must comply with.
Stay up to date with changes in immigration law and other immigration-related developments in order to be able to provide clients with the best representation possible in their immigration matters.
Make appropriate referrals as necessary for immigration legal services beyond the scope of the program or one’s own competencies, and for other social service needs.
Assume caseload of any departing staff member as needed.
Communicate and interact with clients with professionalism, respect, compassion, and sensitivity to their life circumstances and potential or actual trauma that they have suffered.
Maintain regular communication with clients and provide them with updates regarding their cases no later than 90 days after the last case update provided to them.
Respond to any client communications or inquiries no later than within 48 – 72 hours of receipt of message from client(s).
Participate at in-person legal screening events, community presentations, and other special events as scheduled. For example, participation is required on Saturday Legal Triage events, which are scheduled on alternating Saturday mornings (7A – 12P) throughout the year.
Support CHIRLA’s fundraising goals including annual fundraising drive and GALA activities.
Update case notes with any developments or client interactions within 48 - 72 hours to provide accurate and up to date information for other staff to rely on in a timely manner.
Update and maintain current all databases, tracking sheets or other documents mandated by policies and procedures issued by CHIRLA, the legal department, and any legal team(s) to which they are assigned.
Work closely and diligently with all other staff to represent clients in their legal matters ethically, efficiently, and properly in order to maximize client outcomes and deliverable requirements for funders.
Perform other duties and responsibilities as necessary to address urgent issues or priorities either within their assigned team(s), other legal department teams, or for the legal department as a whole.

Benefits

CHIRLA offers a competitive salary based on qualifications and an excellent benefit package, which includes generous time off benefits, 401K Plan, health, dental and vision plans

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