Employment Attorney, Civil Justice Practice

Brooklyn Defender Services (BDS) seeks an attorney to join our Civil Justice Practice as an Employment Attorney to provide legal representation for individuals with concurrent criminal legal, family court, and immigration matters.

BDS is a public defense office representing low-income New Yorkers in criminal, family, immigration, and civil legal matters. For nearly 30 years, BDS has worked, in and out of court, to protect and uphold the rights of individuals and to change laws and systems that perpetuate injustice and inequality. Our legal expertise work with clients is focused on the intersections of these legal systems that disproportionately impact Black and Brown communities living in poverty.

BDS represents thousands of people each year who have diverse, complex, and multi-faceted legal needs. In addition to a zealous legal defense, our interdisciplinary teams of attorneys, social workers and advocates provide a wide range of legal and advocacy services, including for housing, public benefits, education, and employment. BDS staff work collaboratively and across disciplines to deliver high-quality legal services that serve the people we represent, their families and communities.

The Employment Attorney will work directly with BDS clients facing employment-related collateral consequences due to an arrest or prior conviction. Attorneys work across practice areas to determine employment-safe plea agreements and engage in direct employer advocacy and represent workers in hearings to lift license suspensions and revocations, affirmative discrimination complaints, and applications for post-conviction relief (i.e., sealing a prior conviction) to limit the lasting harm that comes from current and past involvement in court systems. We address workers’ rights issues, including filing complaints about wage theft and demanding back wages, asserting rights to paid leave and workplace accommodations, and assisting with unemployment insurance claims and other employment benefits. Employment lawyers also work closely with our immigration team to explore how pending employment law claims can make workers in removal proceedings eligible for immigration relief, including U and T visas. Because stable employment and financial security are so closely tied to positive outcomes in other court proceedings, our employment attorneys contribute significantly to our core work of avoiding harsh sentences, keeping families together, and avoiding immigration consequences.

Responsibilities

• Engage in direct representation of individuals on employment matters, such as wage and hour violations, workplace discrimination, and other common problems facing low-wage workers.
• Advise individuals who have been arrested to help them understand the collateral employment consequences of a pending case and possible resolutions and provide direct employer advocacy to help keep workers who have been arrested employed.
• Provide representation in license suspension and revocation hearings to workers who have been arrested to help preserve jobs in city or state-regulated industries.
• Screen immigrant workers in removal proceedings for paths to immigration relief and represent workers before the federal and New York Departments of Labor to obtain U and T visa certifications.
• Represent individuals seeking to claim unemployment and other employment benefits.
• File motions to seal eligible offenses under New York’s sealing statute.
• Conduct legal research, write legal memoranda, and train staff and outside organizations.
• Assist in identifying and developing impact litigation and policy platforms for systemic reform.
• Collaborate with attorneys and social workers in BDS criminal, family and immigration practices to address the varied employment BDS clients.
• Additional responsibilities as assigned.

Qualifications

• Admission to the New York bar or eligibility to become admitted.
• Interest in strategizing around issues for clients who face multiple interrelated issues.
• Excellent interpersonal skills, including an ability to work across practices with colleagues concurrently representing clients.
• Efficient, organized work style and an ability to prioritize quickly and manage multiple deadlines and emergencies.
• Experience with criminal defense, family defense, immigrant rights work or direct civil legal services work is a plus.
• Proficiency in a second language is a plus.

Position Information

This is a full-time, exempt, salaried position in the collective bargaining unit. The position is based at BDS’s offices and NYC courts and administrative forums.

BDS determines salary on a pay scale based on education and experience. For this position there is a salary range of $90,000-$121,000 depending on the applicant’s education and experience. BDS offers comprehensive benefits including health insurance and a 403(b)-retirement plan. In order to support work/life balance and family-friendly policies, BDS has generous vacation, sick, holiday, family, and medical leave policies.

Application Instructions

Click HERE to submit a cover letter and resume on our online application portal. Please submit your application by August 15, 2025.

Brooklyn Defender Services is a proud equal opportunity employer committed to celebrating diversity and maintaining an equitable and inclusive work environment. We strongly encourage candidates of all identities, expressions, orientations, disabilities, and experiences to apply. If you require an accommodation due to a disability or another reason, please contact the Managing Director, H.R., Christina Wallace, at cwallace@bds.org.