Legal Services Project Staff Attorney

Job Description – Transgender Law Center

Job Title: Legal Services Project Staff Attorney

Status: Full-time, exempt

Location: This position can be remote or work out of TLC’s offices in Oakland or Brooklyn

Reports to: Legal Director or Legal Director’s designee

Salary: $70,000-$80,000 depending on experience

About Transgender Law Center

Transgender Law Center (TLC) is the largest national trans-led organization advocating self-determination for all people. Grounded in legal expertise and committed to racial justice, TLC employs a variety of community-driven strategies to keep transgender and gender-nonconforming people alive, thriving, and fighting for liberation. (www.transgenderlawcenter.org)

POSITION SUMMARY

This position is within TLC’s Legal Services Project, which works to break down barriers to legal access for trans and gender-nonconforming people by operating a Legal Information Helpdesk and Prison Mail Response Program, developing know-your-rights resources, and providing technical assistance and training to attorneys, government officials, and service providers.

The Legal Services Project Staff Attorney will support the work of the Legal Information Helpdesk and Prison Mail Response Program and will work to improve and expand the resources the Legal Services Project makes available to TGNC communities. The Project includes all of the organization’s legal information, pro bono legal services, and know-your-rights education work, including the Legal Information Helpdesk, and the volunteer-staffed Prison Mail Response Program. This staff person will be generally responsible for ensuring those separate pieces are coordinated, as a project manager, and will also be directly responsible for several specific elements of the work. This position will focus on issues connected to criminalization of trans people, possibly by organizing clinics on vacatur/expungement in key jurisdictions and/or providing limited legal representation and support to people who have been arrested. As currently structured and when fully staffed, TLC’s Legal Services Project also includes a Helpdesk Coordinator, a Prison Mail Coordinator, and a Legal Assistant who also supports the broader legal team.

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Provide direct supervision support to pro bono attorneys, interns, and volunteers

• Support the Legal Information Helpdesk and Prison Mail Response Program, including reviewing and responding to incoming inquiries, recruiting and training volunteers, maintaining an internal database of legal information and resources, and identifying and implementing improvements to each program’s operations

• Develop legal clinics that support people with criminal convictions in key jurisdictions

• Work with public defenders throughout the US to help support competency on criminal cases

• Maintain and update internal legal information database tracking most relevant laws and policies for all 50 states across a wide variety of issue areas (e.g., identity document updates, public accommodation nondiscrimination protections, criminal defense, and other issues)

• Recruit, onboard, and supervise volunteers and interns to support the Helpdesk which responds to about 1,200 inquiries each year

• Seek out innovative ways to improve the delivery of legal information and assistance to TGNC community members

• Provide training and ongoing technical assistance to attorneys and/or service providers

• Support other work within the Legal Services Project as needed, which may include legal research and analysis and direct advocacy on behalf of currently incarcerated TGNC people

• Support TLC’s Prison Mail Program, which provides basic legal information and resources to about 900 TGNC people inside prisons and jails across the country each year

• Collaborate with TLC’s program/organizing staff, and grassroots TGNC groups to coordinate legal education strategies and organize legal clinics in communities across the country

• Create and lead “train-the-trainer” programs to support community organizations and law firms interested in hosting legal clinics or otherwise providing direct pro bono legal assistance to TGNC community members

• Maintain and grow TLC’s database of cooperating attorneys willing to assist TGNC people with a wide range of legal issues across the country

• Engage in limited-scope direct advocacy for TGNC people

• Recruit, train, and supervise interns and other LSP volunteers

• Engage in limited-scope direct advocacy for TGNC people

• Perform other job-related duties as assigned

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

• A Juris Doctor from an accredited law school

• Project management experience / experience with program development

• Familiarity with legal issues impacting transgender communities and communities of color including name/gender changes, healthcare access, criminal defense, police misconduct, and other legal issues that impact low-income people

• Experience with criminal law

• Demonstrated commitment to racial and disability justice, and challenging anti-blackness

• Ability to explain legal and other complex issues in clear ways for all audiences

• Strong writing, editing, and research skills

• Collaborative approach to work both within an organization and with other groups

• Experience working with people from a variety of different racial, ethnic, socioeconomic, educational, religious, sexual, gender, and generational backgrounds

• Experience with Salesforce or similar Customer Relationship Management software

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Admission to the bar of at least one state

• At least 2 years post-JD experience

• Experience with criminal defense and/or post-conviction relief

• Experience supervising, pro bono attorneys, interns, and/or volunteers

• Proficiency in an additional language other than English

BENEFITS

• Medical/dental/vision (TLC covers100% of premiums for employees, 75% for dependents)
• Employer-funded Health Reimbursement Account (currently $2,000 per year)
• Optional employee-funded Flexible Spending Account
• Employee Assistance Fund that can grant financial assistance for certain qualifying disasters and personal hardships
• Short-term and long-term disability insurance
• 3 weeks of sick leave
• 19 days vacation (24 after 3 years’ employment) and 12 holidays
• Flexible Friday schedule with organization-wide ‘no internal meetings’ practice
• Organizational ‘slowdown’ in winter and summer
• Two-weeks paid time off in the summer and 2 weeks paid time off at the end of the year (separate from employee vacation time)
• 2-month paid sabbatical program available after 5 years’ employment
• Retirement plan with partial organizational matching
• Indemnity insurance for critical illness, hospital confinement, and accidents
• Professional development & coaching
• Office setup, phone and internet reimbursement (if working from home)
• Additional mental health, budgeting, travel, and pet benefits

EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER

Transgender Law Center is proud to be an affirmative action employer. All interested individuals, including Black, indigenous, and other people of color; women and femmes; people with disabilities; and people who are transgender, intersex, lesbian, gay, bisexual, or queer are particularly urged to apply. For more information about Transgender Law Center please visit our website: www.transgenderlawcenter.org.