Senior Probate Attorney

Open Door Legal • San Francisco, CA

1d • Hybrid

About The Position

Open Door Legal (ODL) is a legal aid organization working to provide universal access to civil legal representation and reduce poverty. The Senior Probate Attorney will join the Probate Law Team, helping families and elders navigate San Francisco probate court and address estate-related issues that can threaten housing security and community wealth. The team also handles estate planning, trust administration, conservatorships, and elder abuse restraining orders.

This is a challenging, fast-paced position combining direct legal representation and complex casework with team management and strategic leadership. The attorney will help build the team’s capacity, systems, and expertise while ensuring clients receive effective, culturally sensitive, trauma-informed legal services. The role reports directly to the Managing Attorney and directly supervises the Probate Paralegal. It is hybrid, with work from one or more office locations at least three days per week.

Requirements

• At least six years of relevant professional experience.
• At least two years of probate and elder law experience.
• Experience directly supervising paid staff attorneys and ability to provide references from attorneys supervised.
• Membership in good standing with the State Bar of California or licensure in good standing with another state bar; applicants without a license are encouraged to apply to volunteer.
• Knowledge of California civil law and Superior Court civil procedure.
• Genuine motivation to work with low-income clients, many of whom are people of color, and ability to work effectively with clients impacted by emotional, mental, or physical trauma.
• Strong time-management skills to supervise and perform legal work in a fast-paced, high-volume practice.
• Enthusiasm for and commitment to self-learning and professional development.
• Excellent writing, editing, and proofreading skills, with attention to detail.
• Excellent interpersonal and diplomacy skills, including providing constructive feedback and building relationships with organizations and agencies.
• Ability and willingness to work from one or more office locations at least three days per week.
• Comfort learning and using technology and case-management systems, including Salesforce, Dropbox, and Google Suite.
• Demonstrated cultural humility and sensitivity to barriers low-income San Franciscans face in accessing the justice system.
• Demonstrated understanding of effective trauma-informed advocacy for clients in crisis.
• Legally authorized to work in the United States without sponsorship.

Nice To Haves

• Ability to translate and interpret legal information between English and Spanish or Cantonese without assistance; this may come with a slight compensation increase.
• Experience practicing in San Francisco Probate Court.
• Experience working with low-income and vulnerable populations.
• Experience in a high-volume direct-services legal aid or similar environment.
• A significant personal connection to San Francisco, particularly the Bayview/Hunters Point, Excelsior, Sunset, Western Addition, Tenderloin, or Mission neighborhoods.

Responsibilities

• Advance ODL’s mission of universal access to civil legal aid and ensure probate needs in the service area are met by ODL or other providers, with strong legal outcomes and client satisfaction.
• Directly represent probate clients, handle complex cases, and maintain a personal caseload based on team needs.
• Conduct or facilitate in-person and virtual intakes across ODL locations.
• Balance casework with growing management and leadership responsibilities.
• Maintain expertise in legal advocacy and relevant practice areas, mentor the team, and oversee the legal advice and representation the team provides.
• Hire, train, support, mentor, and manage Probate Team staff, interns, fellows, and volunteers in collaboration with the Director of Talent and Culture, including performance management and professional development.
• Develop and maintain relationships with legal service organizations, social service organizations, and private attorneys as referral resources.
• Develop and maintain expertise in probate petitions, trust administration, estate planning, conservatorships, guardianships, contested probate matters, elder abuse restraining orders, property-tax reassessment exemptions upon ownership transfer, and relevant real property matters.
• Maintain litigation expertise in legal strategy, negotiation, mediation, trial and deposition skills, civil procedure, statutes of limitation, local and court rules, discovery, and motion practice.
• Use creative strategies and data to increase team capacity and advance the department’s strategic vision.
• Lead knowledge management for the civil law and civil procedure areas handled by the team, including client management and diminished-capacity issues.
• Create and maintain consistent systems, checklists, and templates that support high-quality work with minimal supervision, and ensure the team follows best practices.
• Develop solutions with team members for case capacity, intake distribution, case-opening standards, department success criteria, quality control, and onboarding attorneys.
• Ensure services are sensitive to cultural, socioeconomic, and disability-related barriers and that the team can navigate difficult or tense situations.
• Maintain positive client feedback ratings for the probate department.
• Embody ODL’s values of teamwork, grit, caring, passion, and dynamism.

Benefits

• Conditional loan repayment assistance for staff pursuing 10-year public-interest debt forgiveness, covering minimum payments on qualifying loans.
• Medical, dental, and vision plan offerings at 100% coverage.
• Four weeks of vacation and two weeks of sick/care leave.
• Flexible work hours.
• Paid parental leave.
• 401(k)/retirement account.
• Financial investment in individual professional development, which may include mentorship, coaching, conferences, workshops, and other learning opportunities.
• Best-in-class technology solutions.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior
• Education Level: No Education Listed