Supervising Attorney - Immigration

About the Asian Pacific American Legal Resource Center:

The APALRC is a non-profit legal services organization dedicated to advancing the legal and civil rights of Asian Pacific Islanders in the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Northern Virginia through legal services, education, and advocacy. The mission of the APALRC is to provide linguistically accessible and culturally appropriate legal services to low-income Asian Pacific Islanders to ensure their access to government services and the legal system, to protect and enforce their rights and to seek full participation in American society. The APALRC provides legal services in a wide range of civil legal issues including abuse prevention, anti-Asian hate, crime victim rights and immigration.

Job Overview:

The APALRC is seeking to hire an experienced immigration attorney to lead its immigration practice. The attorney will be responsible for providing training, mentorship and supervision to the immigration legal staff, along with setting priorities and working with the APALRC executive director to ensure that grant requirements are met.

Tasks & Duties:

• Provide training, mentorship, and supervision to immigration legal staff.
• Assist in the preparation of grant proposals, prepare reports and ensure the department’s compliance with grant requirements and outcomes.
• Work with the Executive Director to ensure proper program and grant financial management.
• Represent the APALRC at meetings and collaborations with other agencies.
• Provide direct legal representation in a variety of immigration matters including adjustment of status applications, family petitions, green card renewals, DACA renewals, applications for Employment Authorization Document, Refugee Travel Documents, T and U visas, VAWA-self petitions, naturalization, and FOIA requests to USCIS and Department ofState.
• Conduct legal research in support of the APALRC’s immigration cases and stay abreast of relevant immigration law and policy changes
• Represent individuals seeking various forms of immigration relief in interviews before USCIS.
• Coordinate and attend outreach events to promote immigrants’ rights and access to legal services in Washington, D.C.
• Coordinate and conduct community legal education/Know Your Rights workshops on a variety of immigration topics.
• Assist in recruiting and coordinating pro bono counsel (or co-counsel) for some APALRC immigration cases with area law firms.
• Assist the APALRC’s New Americans Campaign attorney with citizenship application workshops.

Qualifications:

• Demonstrated commitment in public interest law and social justice advocacy.
• Licensed to practice law in Washington, D.C. or in another U.S. jurisdiction with the ability to waive into D.C.
• 5-8 years of experience in the practice of immigration law.
• Experience working with immigrants, low-income individuals, and those with limited English proficiency, and/or comparable experience.
• Commitment to teamwork, demonstrated ability in community outreach, coalition building, working with volunteers and interns, and organizing workshops strongly preferred.
• Organized, able to manage a variety of cases at one time, able to draft workplans and meet goals and deadlines.
• Exceptional communication skills.
• Fluency in an Asian language, particularly Mandarin, Cantonese, Korean or Vietnamese.

Highly desirable:

• Prior experience working with a nonprofit, legal services or social services organization.
• Prior experience conducting community outreach, coalition building, community organizing, organizing workshops, legal clinics, and/or community education events.
• Prior experience working with Asian and Pacific Islander immigrant communities