What are the responsibilities and job description for the Staff Attorney position at National Legal Aid & Defender Association?
Position Description
Open Communities Alliance (OCA) is a Connecticut-based civil rights non-profit. We work to confront the state’s deep levels of residential segregation in order to provide low-income families of color access to opportunity, spur investment in higher poverty communities, and counteract racial disparities.
Position Overview
OCA’s Legal team works at the individual, community, and systems levels to advance fair and affordable housing, including through advancing equitable zoning policies, ensuring housing vouchers work effectively and provide housing choice, promoting balanced subsidized housing locations, and supporting equitable investments are made in lower resourced communities. We deploy a variety of legal tools including litigation in state and federal court, policy development and advocacy for legal and administrative changes at the state and municipal levels, and community trainings on fair housing and civil rights topics. The successful candidate will be an attorney with demonstrated legal skills in one or more of these domains with the capacity to develop additional skills to creatively use legal knowledge in a broad range of forums and settings to protect the rights of lower-income people of color.
The Staff Attorney must be deeply committed to social justice and prepared to work as part of a team to apply the principles of the Fair Housing Act to the systems that generate and perpetuate housing segregation in Connecticut and assist a representative group of individual clients.
Responsibilities
The Staff Attorney will report to the Legal Director. Responsibilities will include:
This is a full-time permanent position with a salary of $80,000-$90,000. Additional remuneration and responsibilities commensurate with experience may be possible for exceptional candidates.
OCA offers the opportunity to do meaningful and impactful work with the benefit of a small, capable, and collegial team. OCA currently operates a hybrid working environment with all staff reporting to our Hartford office one day per week. OCA also provides excellent benefits, including medical and dental insurance (OCA pays 100% of employees’ and 75% of dependents’ medical insurance premiums), 15 vacation days (increasing to 21 days after one year of employment), 15 sick days, 3 personal days, 2 flex-holidays and 11 standard holidays, along with a 401(k) retirement plan (after completing six months of employment) with a 3% contribution from OCA regardless of employee contribution.
Open Communities Alliance (OCA) is a Connecticut-based civil rights non-profit. We work to confront the state’s deep levels of residential segregation in order to provide low-income families of color access to opportunity, spur investment in higher poverty communities, and counteract racial disparities.
Position Overview
OCA’s Legal team works at the individual, community, and systems levels to advance fair and affordable housing, including through advancing equitable zoning policies, ensuring housing vouchers work effectively and provide housing choice, promoting balanced subsidized housing locations, and supporting equitable investments are made in lower resourced communities. We deploy a variety of legal tools including litigation in state and federal court, policy development and advocacy for legal and administrative changes at the state and municipal levels, and community trainings on fair housing and civil rights topics. The successful candidate will be an attorney with demonstrated legal skills in one or more of these domains with the capacity to develop additional skills to creatively use legal knowledge in a broad range of forums and settings to protect the rights of lower-income people of color.
The Staff Attorney must be deeply committed to social justice and prepared to work as part of a team to apply the principles of the Fair Housing Act to the systems that generate and perpetuate housing segregation in Connecticut and assist a representative group of individual clients.
Responsibilities
The Staff Attorney will report to the Legal Director. Responsibilities will include:
- Case Development and Execution: In partnership with OCA’s Legal Director and Senior Staff Attorney, and typically with the assistance of pro bono counsel, develop and maintain a focused caseload of fair housing and civil rights actions in federal and state courts and administrative hearings. Under supervision, conduct intake and manage a small caseload of individual clients with legal advice, referral and representation in administrative matters.
- State & Municipal Advocacy: Review state and municipal policies and advocate for changes that advance equitable housing policy. This may include testifying at hearings and before state agencies.
- Community Engagement & Education: Build relationships with community partners serving people impacted by housing segregation, and provide education to impacted families and the professionals serving them about fair housing and other legal rights.
- Policy Development: Contribute to the development and drafting of legislative proposals to increase affordable housing production and reduce segregation.
This is a full-time permanent position with a salary of $80,000-$90,000. Additional remuneration and responsibilities commensurate with experience may be possible for exceptional candidates.
OCA offers the opportunity to do meaningful and impactful work with the benefit of a small, capable, and collegial team. OCA currently operates a hybrid working environment with all staff reporting to our Hartford office one day per week. OCA also provides excellent benefits, including medical and dental insurance (OCA pays 100% of employees’ and 75% of dependents’ medical insurance premiums), 15 vacation days (increasing to 21 days after one year of employment), 15 sick days, 3 personal days, 2 flex-holidays and 11 standard holidays, along with a 401(k) retirement plan (after completing six months of employment) with a 3% contribution from OCA regardless of employee contribution.
Salary : $80,000 - $90,000