Bilingual Legal Assistant - Client Advocate

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 Assistant - Client Advocates (LA/CA) play an essential role in the day-to-day operations of LAJC. This is a highly collaborative and in-person client-facing role within a community-focused legal aid office. The LA/CA communicates with clients in Spanish and English (and other languages, as appropriate and will available skills), conducts intakes, supports case management and document preparation and translation, maintains calendars and files, helps oversee reception activities, and provides other administrative support to help ensure smooth office operations and a responsive client experience.

The LA/CA position is conducted in-person, 8:30am-5:00pm, Monday-Friday, with potential for one remote workday after onboarding is complete. Successful candidates enjoy working in a fast-paced in-person environment, balancing multiple responsibilities, interacting with clients and staff throughout the day, and proactively supporting team and office needs as they arise.

This role blends administrative support responsibilities with client advocacy and client intake coordination. LAJC's LA/CA's communicate with clients to support their understanding of LAJC's next steps in a timely and supportive manner. The LA/CA plays an important role in supporting high-quality intake processes by helping gather accurate information, maintaining organized records, and coordinating communication with clients, staff, and community partners.

Our LA/CAs are members of our Administrative Team, whose mission is to promote justice and reduce poverty across Virginia by acting as a bridge between LAJC's staff members and its client community and managing the details that keep LAJC's office running smoothly. This position is best suited for someone who is proactive, adaptable, detail-oriented, and energized by supporting both client and colleagues in a team-centered office environment.

Job Duties:

• Communicates with clients to define and clarify our mission and services to help create a collaborative environment in which community, staff and volunteers are informed of the work we do and the cases we accept. Handle all aspects of community contact in an efficient and professional manner including answering phone in real time listening to voicemails; supporting emergency triaging in urgent client matters, and receiving client documents.
• Support high-quality intake processes by gathering accurate information, maintaining organized records, and ensuring timely communicating and follow through.
• Communicate with clients with an equity and social justice lens to assess needs and coordinate essential services.
• Conduct intakes with potential clients, which include fact gathering, reviewing, eligibility information, ensuring accuracy in databases and flies, and gathering documents to support building a case while managing multiple responsibilities with strong attention to detail, responsiveness, and organization.
• Oversee all front desk related activities including but not limited to directing visitors and handling administrative tasks, maintaining the reception area, and other tasks to ensure efficient operations and a professional, welcoming, and responsive environment.
• As needed, supervise and train undergraduate interns, or volunteers to support intakes and call volume.
• Act as a Spanish language interpreter where appropriate, including during client appointments, occasional outreach events, and accurate translation of legal materials.
• Provide accurate data entry and file maintenance in a fast-paced environment.
  • Other administrative tasks may include but are not limited to:Preparing and providing materials and information for client cases and other legal issues and assist with paper and electronic filing
  • Communicating pre-approved advice, updates, or legal information with lawyers to clients
  • Providing collaborative backup support across offices and assisting with shared office and client service needs as they arise
  • Assisting with communications with clients and community partners, and preparing documents for attorneys
• Interact with staff, community partners, and community members through a cultural humility and trauma informed lens.
• Demonstrate respectful, professional, and timely written and verbal communication, during all internal and external interactions.
• Together with the team, provide referrals and maintain lists of resources for clients in relevant subject areas and observe/track changes and trends in community requests and needs.
• Organize and maintain confidential documents and files and perform assigned administrative tasks to support office functions and safeguard compliance with relevant laws and regulations.
• Provides LA/CA support to other offices as appropriate
• 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 community;
  • Cultivating respect for the work of 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 by management, the board, and staff to promote racial equity.

Required Qualifications:

• Strong commitment to social, economic, and racial justice.
• Spanish fluency.
• Self-started who is excited, proactive, and passionate about client and community experiences.
• Proficient in MS Office applications, including Word, Excel, Teams, and Outlook.
• Ability to learn and effectively utilize case management systems such as Salesforce.
• Analytical thinker with excellent conceptual skills.
• Demonstrated organizational skills, meticulous attention to detail, and ability to multitask in a high pace environment.
• Ability to work under pressure and meet deadlines.
• Ability to work independently and as part of a team.
• Willingness to work in-person in an office setting, interacting with clients - both in-person and by telephone - in real time.
• Excellent interpersonal skills with the ability to manage sensitive and confidential situations with tact, professionalism, and diplomacy.
• Skills in professional email, verbal etiquette, and effective communication.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Two (2) years of legal assistant or closely related customer service experience in a law office or similar setting.
• Legal Assistant or Paralegal certification.
• Experience in Spanish/English translation in a law office or similar setting.
• Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience
• Ability to provide a fully bilingual, English/Spanish, Legal Assistant experience through a cultural awareness and trauma informed lens.

A Note to Potential Candidates: Studies have shown that women, trans, 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.

Location: This role will be based in our Falls Church office. Occasional travel between offices will be required. Although a regular presence in the office is required, LAJC offers a remote work policy to support employees in co-creating schedules and arrangements that allow us all to do our best work.

Salary: The salary scale for this position is $51,500.00 - $68,958.50 based on the LAJC salary scale. To allow for salary growth within the position over time, the anticipated hiring range for this position is between $51,500.00 - $60,229.25. Positions based in Falls Church receive an upward 12% cost-of-living adjustment, which translates to the following range: $57,680.00 - $77,233.52, and the anticipated hiring range is $57,680.00- $67,456.76.

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.

Benefits: Our mission is compelling, and our team members are passionate about their work, and so we recognize the need to provide generous benefits and encourage rest and a healthy work environment. For example, we provide:

• Comprehensive health coverage starting day one, with multiple Anthem medical plan options, including an employer-sponsored plan where 100% of the employee-only premium is covered, plus competitive dental coverage and fully employer-paid vision coverage
• Employer support for healthcare costs, including up to $2,00 annually in an HRA or a generous employer-funded HSA contributions (depending on plan selection).
• Paid time off that grows with your experience, beginning at 20 days of annual leave and increasing based on relevant prior experience, up to 30 days annually, plus 12 days of health leave, 14 paid holidays, and an organization-wide winter break.
• Robust parental leave benefits, with 20 weeks of parental leave, including 16 weeks fully paid, available to all parents following the birth, adoption, or placement of a child, regardless of birthing status.
• Employe-paid disability coverage, including short-term and long-term disability, providing income protection for qualifying medical or pregnancy-related absences.
• Retirement savings with employer contribution, through a 403(b) plan with a 4% employer contribution after six months of employment; employees may begin contributing upon hire.
• Flexible and supporting work environment, offering remote and flexible scheduling options, employer-provided technology, and home office and connectivity stipends.
• Meaningful student loan assistance through our Loan repayment Assistance Program (LRAP) - employees with qualifying student loan debt may receive up to $7,500 annually for attorneys and up to $2,500 annually for non-attorney staff, with payments made directly to student loan services.

• Spanish fluency.