Staff Attorney

Legal Services for Prisoners With Children•Oakland, CA

9d•Onsite

About The Position

Legal Services for Prisoners with Children (LSPC) is a nonprofit legal organization dedicated to fighting for the human rights and liberation of incarcerated and formerly incarcerated individuals. LSPC fosters community power through legal advocacy, policy advocacy, community organizing, and leadership development, all guided by an abolitionist framework and a commitment to racial and gender justice. The organization prioritizes the voices and experiences of those with lived experience of incarceration. The Staff Attorney role, reporting to the Supervising Attorney, is integral to advancing civil legal services in California. This position contributes to LSPC's mission of releasing individuals from jails and prisons, restoring civil and human rights, and reunifying families and communities affected by mass incarceration. As an IOLTA-funded legal support center, LSPC's core mission is to provide civil legal services to indigent Californians, focusing on the civil rights and needs of currently and formerly incarcerated and convicted individuals. Key areas of focus include fair chance employment and occupational licensing, sentencing reform, ending predatory collection practices for court-ordered debt, protecting family unity and challenging the family policing system, ending involuntary servitude, and promoting fair chance housing, disability justice, and climate justice for incarcerated individuals.

Requirements

Active membership in good standing in the California State Bar.
0-4 years of legal work
Demonstrated commitment to advancing racial and gender justice.
Initiative and Ingenuity: You leverage resources creatively to solve problems and dive right in to take a concept from idea to implementation. You often consult with others, but you can also propose solutions and get things rolling without much guidance.
Relationship-Building Skills : You are skilled at connecting with people from many different backgrounds, working in coalitions with multiple stakeholders and partners towards a common goal, as well as developing connections and relationships with traditional legal professionals, bridging those perspectives to serve LSPC’s mission.
Strategist’s Mind: You quickly grasp the subtleties of complex issues and identify patterns and recurrent challenges. You don’t stop at diagnosing problems, though; you move to come up with insightful, pragmatic, equitable, and sustainable ways to produce positive change.
Legal Knowledge and Skills: You work to develop deep legal knowledge and skills related to carceral systems and reentry legal needs, become an expert in a particular subject area or areas, and then use your legal knowledge and skills to support and develop the civil legal aid community for the benefit of incarcerated, formerly incarcerated, and convicted persons and their families.
Attention to Detail: You are reliable and consistent, so the civil legal aid community comes to rely on you for availability and the quality of your work.
Communication Skills: You are adept at translating complex legal issues into accessible language and formats for a wide range of audiences with a commitment to further legal and political education for those often shut out of traditional professionalized spaces and you lead with humility.

Nice To Haves

Lived experience as a formerly incarcerated and/or system impacted person.

Responsibilities

Develop and deliver legal trainings on issues related to the civil and human rights of incarcerated, formerly incarcerated, and convicted persons and their families.
Conduct legal research and deliver legal technical assistance and consultation to civil legal service providers throughout California and nationally.
Partner with LSPC policy advocates and organizers to provide policy advocacy support for civil legal services by serving on coalitions and task forces, conducting legislative and regulatory research, bill analysis and bill drafting, participating in strategy sessions and direct public policy advocacy with legislators, elected officials and other administrative officials and entities.
Provide litigation support for civil legal services through participation in impact litigation which may include drafting and reviewing amicus briefs, fact investigation, legal research and analysis, and serving as co-counsel.
Produce relevant legal resource materials covering a broad array of legal issues impacting incarcerated, formerly incarcerated, and convicted persons and their families.
Actively network, engage and outreach to the civil legal aid community in California to learn about pressing legal issues and collaborate to develop strategic responses to help close the justice gap for incarcerated, formerly incarcerated, and convicted persons and their families.
Review and respond to requests for legal information from incarcerated individuals and their family members.
Train and supervise legal interns.
Participate in and support LSPC’s outreach, organizing and community building events.
Work in conjunction with all LSPC staff members to determine strategic priorities.