Attorney or Senior Attorney, Health Justice & Public Benefits

About the Legal Aid Justice Center:

The Legal Aid Justice Center is a nationally recognized, non-profit organization that partners with low-income clients and communities of color in Virginia to fight for racial, social, and economic justice. We understand that the harms our clients endure are inextricably linked to overarching systems of injustice. Together we are dismantling those systems through a combination of community organizing, litigation, policy advocacy, public relations, and individual legal services.

Founded in 1967, LAJC has offices in Charlottesville, Richmond, Petersburg, and Falls Church and provides services under six key program areas: Civil Rights & Racial Justice (focuses on the criminal legal system), Housing & Consumer Justice, Youth Justice, Health Justice & Public Benefits, Immigrant Justice, and Worker Justice. As examples of LAJC’s recent work, our lawsuit and organizing against the state forced reform of Virginia’s unemployment insurance system, including advocacy that resulted in the distribution of over $1 billion in illegally withheld payments to over 160,000 Virginians. During the pandemic, we demanded and secured a statewide eviction moratorium and emergency pandemic protections that helped hundreds of families avoid eviction. We reduced incarceration across the state, including reducing the population of a local immigration detention center down to historically low levels through a coordinated effort of organizing paired with impact and individual litigation. Our staff are on the front lines of some of the most important anti-poverty fights happening today.

With a staff of over 90, the past few years have been a time of exciting growth and opportunity for the organization. In addition to the growth of programmatic efforts including increased organizing capacity, LAJC has expanded its operations and administrative capacity, created new opportunities for professional growth and leadership among staff, engaged in ongoing race equity work, and explored changes to organizational structure to deepen its efforts to create long-term, sustainable, community-driven change.

LAJC’s latest strategic plan is available at https://www.justice4all.org/lajc-strategic-plan-2022-2026/#area%20d.

For more information about LAJC’s work and programs, visit www.justice4all.org.

About the Position:

Legal Aid Justice Center seeks a strategic, collaborative legal advocate to be an Attorney or Senior Attorney (depending on qualifications) in LAJC's Health Justice & Public Benefits program (HJPB), focused on improving access to healthcare and public benefits programs through advocacy with and on behalf of individuals and families, as well as managing systems-change campaigns that seek to achieve justice for Virginians by dismantling systems that create and perpetuate poverty. The preference is for this attorney to work primarily from our Charlottesville office, but candidates able to work from any other LAJC offices (Falls Church or Richmond) will be considered. As part of our comprehensive benefits package, relocation assistance may be available.

The attorney will be responsible for maintaining a portfolio of health law cases and campaign work aimed at identifying and addressing systemic health justice issues in their local region and statewide. The attorney will be expected to develop subject area expertise in health and public benefits law but also identify and creatively address other areas of need affecting community health (for example, housing or immigration needs). The attorney will be expected to develop and maintain relationships with health care providers and other public health professionals, with an eye to identifying systemic issues and dismantling systems that prevent low-income communities or communities of color from accessing health care or living optimally healthy lives. Additionally, the attorney will co-teach up to eight law students in our Health and Disability Law Clinic, taught in conjunction with University of Virginia School of Law. The attorney may be expected to maintain ongoing collaborative relationships with providers from UVA and other health care centers in central Virginia.

HJPB attorneys pursue the above goals through a combination of individual representation, impact litigation, community education and technical assistance, and policy advocacy. This position could also incorporate cross-programmatic legal matters as needed.

The program seeks one position, but level of the position will depend on whether you meet the qualifications for the Attorney or Sr. Attorney. Please review the qualifications listed below.

Job Duties:

• Provide individual representation and advice to low-income individuals and families regarding various health and public-benefits-related matters, including through administrative procedures and in state and federal court.
• In conjunction with your supervisor, the Program Director, and the entire HJPB team, develop litigation and related strategies to maintain and improve safe, affordable, and equitable healthcare, insurance, and benefit access for our client communities.
• In conjunction with the healthcare navigators and other attorneys on the HJPB team, as well as staff across LAJC, identify patterns and practices that are barriers to Virginia residents’ ability to access healthcare and public benefits programs. You will combat these barriers through a combination of impact litigation and policy advocacy.
• Policy Advocacy: you will be responsible for, or serve as a helper on, health- and public-benefits-related legislative campaigns before the Virginia General Assembly, on the local level, and potentially at the national level. This will include reviewing proposed national, state, and local healthcare and public-benefits-related policies and advocating for or against such policies to meet client communities’ needs, often in conjunction with other legal aid organizations and/or community partners.
• Conduct education and outreach regarding healthcare access and public benefits programs. This may include doing Know Your Rights trainings, individual outreach to community members or patients, attending community events to provide materials, or responding to partner requests for such information.
• Engage in community work with client groups, health-related agencies, and local hospitals as needed to support community members and advance health justice.
• Participate in strategic planning and, following LAJC’s interdisciplinary model, work collaboratively with healthcare navigators and organizers, as well as litigation, policy, and communications staff to integrate legal, organizing, policy, and communications strategies.
• Provide support to the administrative team related to health justice and public benefits matters.
• Maintain up-to-date time entries and capture all legal work in LAJC’s case management system.
• Build and maintain relationships with directly impacted community members, members of the bench and bar, agency staff, and elected officials and their staff.
• May coordinate the Medical Legal Partnership (MLP) with UVA’s Department of Pediatrics, along with other health care providers throughout central Virginia. This would involve receiving referrals from medical and social work staff regarding patients with legal issues that LAJC may be able to handle. May involve supervising law students assisting LAJC with these referrals.
• Co-teach the Health and Disability Law Clinic through UVA Law School at our Charlottesville office, including teaching health law, poverty law, and advocacy basics, as well as supervising case management and trial practice through assigning LAJC client cases to clinic students.
  • Racial Equity: you will promote racial equity across all dimensions, including within LAJC, by doing the following: Helping to recruit, retain, and support both staff and leadership that reflect the racial composition of our communities.
  • Cultivating respect for the work and expanding resources for non-attorney staff that are disproportionately people of color.
  • Creating spaces for staff to discuss issues of racial, gender, and all other issues of marginalization; and
  • Pushing for institutional and cultural changes from management, the board, and staff to further promote racial equity.

Qualifications for Attorney:

Required Qualifications:

• Membership in any state bar; if not admitted in Virginia, must be eligible to waive in or to sit for the Virginia Bar (Note: this position may be eligible for the newly enacted Virginia Supreme Court rule allowing for any attorney working exclusively for a legal aid organization to practice without examination as long as they are in good standing in another state);
• Strong and demonstrated commitment to social, economic, and racial justice;
• Interest in and commitment to community lawyering and movement lawyering;
• Willingness to be trained and a commitment to practice in the manner HJPB and LAJC attorneys perform this work;
• Desire to seek feedback and learn from it;
• Mission-aligned experience (work and/or lived) partnering with and advocating in low-wealth communities and communities of color;
• Ability to work and communicate effectively across lines of identity and difference;
• Ability to work effectively both independently and collaboratively;
• Effective oral advocacy, research, and writing skills; and
• Willingness to work a flexible schedule that may include evening and weekend events, as well as occasional travel across the state.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Advocacy experience (worked or lived) using an explicit race equity lens; and
• Familiarity with health and public benefits issues (from work and/or lived experience).

Qualifications for Senior Attorney:

In addition to the above, you must also have the following qualifications

Required:

• At least 3 years of experience practicing as an attorney

Preferred Qualifications:

• Advocacy experience (worked or lived) using an explicit race equity lens; and
• Familiarity with health and public benefits issues (from work and/or lived experience).
• Litigation experience in Virginia state and/or federal courts;
• Experience advocating in administrative processes;
• Systemic litigation experience;
• Experience with impact advocacy, through either litigation or policy advocacy;
• Experience supporting the development and execution of campaigns and/or community or movement lawyering, grassroots organizing, and coalition building.

Location: This role is preferred to be based in our Charlottesville office, with the option to be located in Falls Church or Richmond. Occasional travel between offices will be required. While a consistent presence in the office is expected, LAJC offers a remote work policy designed to support employees in collaboratively creating schedules and arrangements that enable optimal performance.

A Note to Potential Candidates: Studies have shown that women, trans, and non-binary folks, and BIPOC are less likely to apply for jobs unless they believe they meet every single one of the qualifications as described in a job description. We are committed to building a diverse and inclusive organization, and strongly encourage you to apply, even if you don't believe you meet every one of the qualifications described.

Vaccination Requirement: The Legal Aid Justice Center requires all employees to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 or have an approved medical or religious exemption as a qualification of employment. Proof of vaccination or accommodation request must be provided within one day of employment.

The Legal Aid Justice Center is an equal opportunity employer, committed to inclusive hiring and dedicated to diversity in our work and staff. We strongly encourage candidates of all identities, experiences, and communities to apply. The Legal Aid Justice Center is committed to strengthening the voices of our low-income clients, working in collaboration with community partners, and rooting out the inequities that keep people in poverty. We strive to take on the issues that have broad impact on our client communities and to be responsive to client input. Recognizing the particular impact of racism on our clients and staff, we devote special attention to dismantling racial injustice. All applicants must be dedicated to working in and sustaining an environment that enables staff and clients to feel empowered, valued, respected, and safe. In reviewing applications, we look for evidence that applicants have experience and/or thoughtfulness in working with traditionally marginalized populations.