Senior Attorney, Early Defense

CENTER FOR FAMILY REPRESENTATION•New York, NY

5d•$104,000 - $127,500•Hybrid

About The Position

The Center for Family Representation Inc. (CFR) is an award-winning, innovative law and policy organization that serves primarily Black and Brown families and youth in Queens, Manhattan, and the Bronx with an interdisciplinary legal defense model that serves more than 2400 clients every year. CFR was originally founded in 2002 to dramatically change the trajectory of indigent parents being prosecuted by the City’s Administration for Children’s Services (ACS). Our goal is to defend and protect our clients’ rights, reduce the harm of family separation and prevent or minimize the time any child spends in the foster system. CFR provides interdisciplinary family defense with a model that was unique at our founding and that is now being replicated nationally: we assign every client an attorney and a social work staff member, and teams have the support of parent advocates, who are parents with direct personal experience of being investigated and prosecuted by ACS. CFR’s Early Defense Practice represents parents during a child protective investigation (to avoid court involvement where possible) and our SCR practice assists parents in clearing their names from state maltreatment records. As an agency committed to securing justice for families, we built the Youth Defense practice (YDP) to defend youth at risk of family separation through incarceration. YDP uses the same interdisciplinary model to represent youth being prosecuted in Queens and Manhattan in Supreme Court Youth Parts, during Probation Adjustment and in Delinquency proceedings in Family Court. CFR’s Home for Good program provides legal and social work services to clients in immigration, civil legal services and criminal defense matters, to afford clients an efficient and well-coordinated one-stop solution to a range of issues that threaten family stability. Recognized as experts in our fields, we annually train over 500 practitioners in the city, state and around the country on strategies to promote family preservation and interdisciplinary representation, and we provide community based “Know Your Rights” presentations to parents, youth and service providers. We advocate at the city, state and national level for policies that reduce the harm of family separation, and promote parent engagement and justice for youth and families. The Senior Attorney for Early Defense (SAED) will partner with other Early Defense supervisors and the Early Defense Director to create and encourage strategies and practices that will shield or reduce CFR Early Defense clients from the family policing system. The SAED will report to the Managing Director of Litigation (MDL). Location: This position is seated in Queens and is remote or in person as needed. CFR has offices in Staten Island, Lower Manhattan, the Bronx, and Queens. This position may work out of any of these offices as needed subject to CFR’s hoteling policy.

Requirements

Juris Doctor degree
Minimum 4 years of experience in direct client representation in family defense, preferably in New York City
Knowledge of New York City Article 10 institutional providers and system actors
A demonstrated commitment to working with impacted communities to achieve change.
Specific experience with legislation and/or coalition membership is preferred as is experience in parent defense and Article 10 proceedings, CVO cases, and/or other administrative hearing support (SCR, HRA, DOE)
An aptitude for productive problem-solving
A desire to contribute to the stewardship of CFR
The ability to positively and productively contribute to the work culture at CFR in working with staff at all levels.
Strong written and oral advocacy
Be well organized and have the ability to work efficiently and effectively, managing numerous projects and being simultaneously attentive to multiple deadlines.

Nice To Haves

Prior supervisory experience is preferred but not required

Responsibilities

Being a strategic thought partner to the Director of Early Defense and Early Defense management team in building out the practice
Strategically communicate with legal representatives of respective agencies involved in a family policing investigation (i.e. DOE, Hospital, ACS, PPRS etc.);
Delivering and monitoring a variety of written and oral communications including Early Defense Retainers, Client’s Rights and Responsibilities, practice resources, internal memos, and important messaging for internal and external use;
Provide legal representation and individualized advice to parents and other adults facing ACS investigations as needed;
Think creatively around strategies and practices to shield Early Defense Clients from the Family Policing System. Included but not limited to
Use of Standby Guardianship Agreements and Designation of Person with Parental Relationship;
Develop strategic relationships with other organizations that regularly interact with our client population (i.e., legal defender organizations, ACS, and other agencies) to forward the goals of the Early Defense practice and its clients;
Developing training materials for parents, external stakeholders/partners and CFR staff;
Attend regular internal meetings with other members of management as necessary
Collaborate with Family Defense Practices in all boroughs that CFR practices;
Collaborate with CFR’s wraparound and practice areas including criminal, immigration, SCR, and civil defense;
Participating in routine and regular management meetings to discuss specific issues regarding the Early Defense practice and agency-wide routines, concerns, policies, best practices, funding, reporting etc. as it relates to Early Defense;
Serve as a liaison between the Early Defense Department and Policy Department to connect Early Defense work to larger policy goals that impact our clients and their communities
Serve as back up to the Senior Attorney, Education Advocacy as needed
Support the Family Defense team with intake supervision as needed
Collaborate with the Supervisor of Policy, Community Engagement Supervisor and Supervisor of Government and Community Affairs as needed in furtherance of CFR’s community engagement goals
Engaging in community outreach and presentations, with the goals of educating the community, mandated reporters and other service providers about the Early Defense Practice and developing referral sources for the project;
Collaborate with the Attorney-in-Charge of Special Projects and Legal Support and Senior Leadership Team as needed, including on CFR’s impact litigation work as needed -especially as relates to the work of Early Defense and investigations
Coordinate and assist in planning for the Fordham Family Defense Hosted Externship Program as needed
Work with the Development and Fiscal teams as needed on proposals and reporting related to funding
Working closely with the Communications Director and Supervisor of Government and Community Affairs, and other relevant internal and external stakeholders.