Staff Attorney

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:

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. Policy Development: Contribute to the development and drafting of legislative proposals to increase affordable housing production and reduce segregation.

We are looking for candidates who:

• Have 1-5 years of litigation experience in state or federal court or experience that demonstrates the potential to litigate in federal court if the candidate has not done so previously, ideally with additional work or educational background in the fields of housing, land use, or civil rights.
• Have experience successfully managing the demands of several active projects, preferably including experience managing projects from conception through execution.
• Have demonstrated flexibility and adaptability in prioritizing and balancing shorter and longer-term priorities in a fluid environment responsive to changing political, financial, and legal realities.
• Possess the following competencies and attributes: team-oriented; creative and strategic thinker/problem solver; self-aware and curious; ambitious and collaborative work ethic; detail-oriented and organized; easily able to communicate with and build relationships across differences.
• Are committed to contributing to an inclusive and equitable workplace culture that values diverse viewpoints and lived expertise.
• Are excited about and committed to OCA’s mission as well as broader social change, including being part of an advocacy ecosystem in which OCA provides one part of a broader solution.
• Possess excellent legal research, writing, and oral argument skills.
• Live in Connecticut or are willing to relocate.
• Are admitted to practice in Connecticut or are eligible for admission without examination (OCA can cover admission fees).*
• Have a strong command of Westlaw, Zoom, Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, and PowerPoint) .

The ideal candidate will operate with a strong equity and diversity lens, contributing to organizational values of objectivity, integrity, civility, and diversity and supporting the inclusive culture of OCA.

• For more about Connecticut admission without examination, please visit: https://www.jud.ct.gov/cbec/faq.htm.

Salary & Benefits

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.

To Apply:

Please submit a resume and cover letter to apply@ctoca.org and include “Staff Attorney” in the subject line. Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis, with priority given to applications received by May 29, 2026.

If you require a disability-related accommodation to submit your application, please email apply@ctoca.org. Otherwise, due to high volume we are unable to respond to queries about application status.

OCA is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified candidates will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, age, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran status, disability or any other status protected by law.

Research has shown that traditionally marginalized communities (people of color, people with disabilities, etc.) often don’t apply for jobs if they don’t meet every single qualification. If you think you can do this job but don’t meet every qualification, we encourage you to still apply.

We seek to build diversity, equity, and inclusion both within our organization and in partnership and allyship with the communities we serve.

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.