The Special Litigation Unit of Legal Aid Society’s Criminal Law Reform team is seeking an attorney to develop creative and innovative legal advocacy and systemic law reform strategies across a range of criminal justice matters, with a particular focus on police misconduct and strategies to reduce the negative impact of policing on Legal Aid’s client communities.

The Special Litigation Unit of The Legal Aid Society’s Criminal Law Reform team engages in civil litigation, policy advocacy and organizing to address systemic injustices affecting the Legal Aid Society’s criminal defense clients and their families. Examples of past work include federal litigation challenging the NYPD’s stop-and-frisk practices and the NYPD’s violent response to the 2020 protests following the murder of George Floyd, litigation compelling arraignments within 24 hours, and policy advocacy to reform New York’s pre-trial criminal discovery and bail statutes. Working within the Special Litigation Unit, the Staff Attorney will be responsible for initiating new litigation strategies, managing active litigation, and supporting policy advocacy and organizing through research, lobbying, and coalition building across a range of issues, with a focus on policing.

The staff attorney will also support two special projects in the Special Litigation Unit (SLU). The Legal Aid Society’s Law Enforcement Look Up tool (LELU) is a one-stop investigation tool for the many emerging sources of police misconduct data in New York City. LELU pulls from various public sources of information designed to support public defenders, civil rights attorneys, journalists, community advocates and impacted families to shed light on law enforcement misconduct. The attorney will work with other SLU staff and members of Legal Aid’s Data Team to manage the flow of information into LELU, develop new sources of information through open-source research and Freedom of Information requests, and support LELU users to make best use of the tool through trainings, direct support of Legal Aid attorneys, and the development of new resources.

The other special project the attorney will support is Legal Aid’s Cop Accountability clinic which operates through the Cop Accountability Project (CAP). This clinic connects Legal Aid’s criminal and juvenile defense clients to civil rights attorneys and legal professionals to support clients who may have been victims of police misconduct to file CCRB complaints and provide initial advice about other possible civil legal remedies. The Clinic is a critical tool of accountability for police misconduct and part of Legal Aid’s holistic approach to client representation.

The posting reflects the range of potential salaries for the role. The specific salary offers will be dependent on candidate qualifications, including collectively bargained salary steps for unionized roles.

Salary Range/ Salary: $85,162 - $132,715

The leadership of The Legal Aid Society believes in attracting and retaining exceptional talent committed to serving our clients. We offer a generous benefits package including health insurance, paid vacation, disability, and life insurance, and more. Salaries for our unionized jobs are governed by our Collective Bargaining Agreement. Please visit our Careers page for additional information. Salary and benefits information will be available to applicants, when and if an offer is made.

The Legal Aid Society is a qualified employer for the purposes of the Public Service Loan Forgiveness. This position allows an employee to take advantage of PSLF and other State and Federal loan forgiveness programs.

Additionally, employees who are New York residents may be eligible for assistance from New York state to assist with loan repayments, depending on years of practice. To learn more, click the links below.

The leadership of The Legal Aid Society is committed to a work culture of zealous advocacy, respect, diversity and inclusion, client-oriented defense, access to justice and excellent representation. We are dedicated to building a strong professional relationship with each of our clients, to understanding their diverse circumstances, and to meeting their needs. Our ability to achieve these goals depends on the efforts of all of us.

All applicants must be legally authorized to work in the United States for any employer without sponsorship for a work visa or permit. We are currently unable to sponsor employment visas or permits. (However, for citizens of Canada and Mexico, LAS will provide a letter documenting employment status that is needed to obtain a TN visa.)

All applications must be completed online. We do not accept paper submissions. Please visit our Careers Page to review all current job postings, and instructions on the application process. For technical difficulties or questions regarding this posting, please email jobpostquestions@legal-aid.org.

As an Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) Employer, The Legal Aid Society prohibits discriminatory employment actions against and treatment of its employees and applicants for employment based on actual or perceived race or color, size (including bone structure, body size, height, shape, and weight), religion or creed, alienage or citizenship status, sex (including pregnancy), national origin, age, sexual orientation, gender identity (one’s internal deeply-held sense of one’s gender which may be the same or different from one’s sex assigned at birth); gender expression (the representation of gender as expressed through, for example, one’s name, choice of pronouns, clothing, haircut, behavior, voice, or body characteristics; gender expression may not conform to traditional gender-based stereotypes assigned to specific gender identities), disability, marital status, relationship and family structure (including domestic partnerships, polyamorous families and individuals, chosen family, platonic co-parents, and multigenerational families), genetic information or predisposing genetic characteristics, military status, domestic violence victim status, arrest or pre-employment conviction record, credit history, unemployment status, caregiver status, salary history, or any other characteristic protected by law.