STAFF ATTORNEY (6-Month Contract)

Job Announcement
Legal Assistance the Elderly (LAE) is looking for an attorney to join our staff for a 6-month period. This position will be split between the Housing/Eviction Defense team and the CARE Court team depending on experience and legal needs.
Housing Team: We provide a vital service, aggressively representing tenants who are seniors or have disabilities and are threatened with losing their homes. Sixty percent of LAE’s clients face housing threats, including evictions, terminations of subsidies, unlawful rent increases, denials of necessary modifications, extra-judicial evictions, and harassment. LAE is part of San Francisco’s Tenant Right to Counsel collaboration, providing free, full-scope representation to tenants facing Unlawful Detainer actions. This collaboration comprises the largest part of our housing work. You will work with a very experienced team representing clients throughout their cases, beginning with pre-trial motions, through discovery, and at trial.
CARE Court Team:
Community Assistance, Recovery, and Empowerment (CARE) Court is a new framework to get people with mental health and substance use disorders the support, services, and care they need. CARE Court connects a person struggling with untreated mental illness – and often also substance use challenges – with a court-ordered CARE Plan or voluntary CARE agreement for up to 24 months. Each plan is managed by a care team in the community and can include clinically prescribed, individualized interventions with several supportive services, medication, and a housing plan. The client-centered approach also includes a legal representative and supporter to help make self-directed care decisions in addition to their full clinical team.

LAE seeks a dedicated and determined attorney who will provide representation to clients navigating the CARE Court system. Our legal representation will work as part of an interdisciplinary team that will collaborate in case assessment, strategy and providing services. This position has a strong preference for having experience working with clients who are severely mentally ill, specifically with untreated schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders and disorders on the schizophrenia spectrum, and/or clients in supportive housing. We would like the advocate to have excellent organizational skills and a willingness to work collaboratively across legal and social work disciplines.

AGENCY DESCRIPTIONFor over 40 years, LAE has provided free legal advice and representation to San Francisco’s seniors and adults with disabilities. Our mission is to protect and advance the right of San Francisco’s seniors and adults with disabilities to be housed, healthy, financially stable, and safe. Our primary practice areas are Eviction Defense/Housing Preservation, Income Support, Health Law, Financial and Physical Elder Abuse Prevention, Debt Collection Defense, Foreclosure Prevention, End of Life Planning, Conservatorship Defense, and CARE Court Representation. LAE is a friendly and collaborative work environment.
MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS• Member State Bar of California
• Strong written, verbal and interviewing skills
• Patient, flexible and kind
• Works well in a team
• Ability to independently manage a caseload
HIGHLY DESIRABLE• Bilingual in English and Spanish, Cantonese and/or Mandarin
• Knowledge of landlord-tenant law
• Litigation or Courtroom experience
• Experience working with elderly, veterans, adults with disabilities and/or unhoused individuals or those experiencing a crisis
• Experience working with clients who are severely mentally ill, specifically with untreated schizophrenia, and other psychotic disorders and disorders on schizophrenia spectrum
• Experience working with clients who have substance use disorders.
• Knowledge of legal issues related to poverty and/or aging
• A commitment to contributing to your community and advancing justice for seniors and adults with disabilities
• A familiarity and comfortability with San Francisco neighborhoods, including Tenderloin, South of Market, Bayview/Hunters Point, Mission Bay and the Mission
HOUSING ATTORNEY DUTIES & RESPONSIBILITIES• Provide legal advice and full scope representation in court to tenants facing eviction
• Conduct intake interviews with new clients, including home and hospital visits, when necessary
• Maintain accurate computerized client files and other documentation and provide project statistics to other staff as requested
• Provide in-office “backup” on a rotating basis, responding to client emergencies and agency inquiries

CARE COURT ATTORNEY DUTIES & RESPONSIBILITIES• Provide full-scope representation to clients navigating the CARE Court System. This includes Court appearances and meeting clients on the street
• Work closely with LAE’s Social Services Team to advocate for clients’ interest in the development of Court-supervised CARE Plans
• Conduct intake interviews with new clients in various settings, such as at home, including Single Room Occupancy Hotels, shelters, court, and other community-based settings.
• Provide in-office “backup” on a rotating basis, responding to client emergencies and agency inquiries

WORKING CONDITIONSThe position requires working with individuals during moments of extreme stress and instability. The position also requires the provision of culturally-sensitive and empathetic services. Some evening and weekend work may be required.
COMPENSATIONWe offer a family-friendly environment and compensation based on competitive public interest salaries along with a generous benefits package. This is a non-union position, however placement in salary range will be determined by union scale primarily based on years of related experience. The estimated annual salary range starting at $82,000- $98,000. LAE’s benefits package includes 100% employer-covered medical, dental, and life insurance for employees. This position will be eligible for the following paid leave: sick leave, compensation time, Organizational holidays each year; and vacation.
TO APPLYPlease submit your resume cover letter through BambooHr. If you're having problems with uploading your documents, please email your resume and cover letter to HIRING@LAESF.ORG. 

Attention Hiring Committee
Subject line: STAFF ATTORNEY- ContractIf you find that you meet many of the qualifications in the job description, we encourage you to apply and explain in your cover letter why your experience would make you a good fit for the position. We recognize that organizations may miss out on strong applicants who screen themselves out of the process because they do not meet every qualification and that disproportionately impacts people from historically marginalized backgrounds. We know that our greatest strengths come from the people who make up our team and a welcoming, inclusive and culturally diverse staff allows us to best serve our community. We look forward to your application.
LAE seeks to fill all positions with people who share our values, including our organizational commitment to diversity. We encourage all interested individuals to apply—especially people of color; women; people from low-income backgrounds; people with disabilities; people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, gender non-conforming, non-binary; or anyone belonging to any other federal or state protected category. We believe that all persons are entitled to equal employment opportunity, and are committed to not discriminating on any basis prohibited by applicable law.APPLICATIONS WILL BE CONSIDERED UNTIL THE POSITION IS FILLED. THOSE SELECTED FOR AN INTERVIEW WILL BE NOTIFIED. WILL BE NOTIFIED.