The Bronx Defenders 2026 Fall Training Team

Overview

The Bronx Defenders (BxD) – an innovative, progressive, holistic indigent defense office in the South Bronx – seeks passionate law graduates and entry-level attorneys with a commitment to public defense to join our Family Defense, Criminal Defense, Immigration and Civil Action Practices beginning Fall 2026.

Founded in 1997, The Bronx Defenders is a public defender nonprofit that has developed a nationally recognized model of representation called holistic defense, which provides people with teams of lawyers, social workers, and advocates to defend them zealously in court as well as to address the underlying drivers and enmeshed penalties of legal system involvement.

Since opening our doors, we have grown into an organization of more than 400 staff members defending nearly 20,000 New Yorkers each year in criminal, family, civil, and immigration proceedings who face incarceration, family separation, eviction, and deportation, among other devastating consequences.

Today we are reimagining the role of public defense even further, using community organizing and engagement, legislative advocacy, and impact litigation to partner with the communities we represent to bring about long-lasting systemic change.

We also share our model and lessons learned with current and future public defenders, run legal clinics at NYC law schools, and train public defenders throughout the country on how to move to a holistic model of representation.

Training Team

Training Team attorneys participate in several weeks of intensive, interdisciplinary training to learn about all aspects of holistic representation, including litigation skills and client and community engagement through an anti-oppressive lens that analyzes how the legal system impacts marginalized communities and the community we work with. Following this training period, staff participate in ongoing trainings to sharpen their advocacy skills, raise their cultural consciousness, and enhance their collaboration with colleagues and the people we represent. For the 2026 Training Team, BxD will be hiring law graduates and attorneys to join the Criminal Defense, Family Defense, Immigration and Civil Action Practices. More information regarding the specific practice areas can be found below.

Responsibilities (All Practices)

• Engage in intensive interviewing, counseling, research, writing, oral advocacy, and negotiations as part of legal representation
• Provide comprehensive, team-based representation collaborating with an interdisciplinary team of attorneys and advocates to avoid and mitigate further legal system involvement, support the people we represent during their cases, and consequences that may arise out of contact with the court system
• Effectively litigate, confidently negotiate and skillfully advocate for the people we represent in hearings and trials both orally and in writing
• Effectively communicate and negotiate with judges, adversaries including law enforcement and child protective services, as well other attorneys on behalf of the people we represent
• Co-counsel cases in Criminal, Family, Immigration and Civil courts
• Help identify systemic problems facing the people we represent and creative solutions to mitigate or eliminate these issues by advocating for systemic change
• Enter and maintain accurate client data, files, notes and timesheets regarding advocacy and representation
• Participate in holistic advocacy within the practice and in the office
• Participate in internal working groups to develop best practices
• Participate in trainings within the office as well as community events, conferences, and external trainings
• Support recruiting and hiring committee efforts, as well as mentorship and intern programming

Civil Action Practice (CAP)

A sweeping array of civil punishments are triggered the moment someone faces arrest, deportation, or family separation. The people we represent risk losing their jobs, homes, income, property, and basic civil rights – struggles that can be more devastating and long-lasting than the charges themselves. Last year, we helped 2,200 people obtain concrete benefits like maintaining their jobs, homes, income, property, and rights.

Our Civil Action Practice attorneys and legal advocates represent clients in every forum in New York City – administrative, state, and federal – and provide comprehensive representation to assist people in overcoming civil legal barriers to housing, eviction, employment, and public benefits, as well as addressing instances of police misconduct, criminal record errors, and civil forfeiture.

Responsibilities (CAP)

• Civil Holistic Defense Team: Zealously defend against the civil consequences of and advocate for the general civil legal needs of individuals facing criminal charges, parents facing child protective proceedings and for non-citizens experiencing immigration consequences

• RTC Housing Team: Zealously defend individuals under threat of eviction and navigating housing court and related proceedings through Housing Court intake, community intake, and the community housing helpline

Criminal Defense Practice

The Bronx is one of the most aggressively policed boroughs in New York City. As a result, we represent thousands of people each year, nearly 40% of whom are charged with low-level offenses such as shoplifting, traffic offenses, and drug possession. As part of our holistic approach, we spend time getting to know the people we represent and gaining a deeper understanding of their lives and needs. With that understanding, we advocate for people by thoroughly investigating their cases, raising novel legal arguments, using creative tools of persuasion and storytelling, and addressing needs that go beyond the scope of their cases.

Responsibilities (CDP)

• Zealously advocate for individuals facing criminal charges in Bronx, as well as related administrative and civil proceedings such as Department of Motor Vehicle hearings

Family Defense Practice

As residents of the most heavily disinvested borough in the city, families in the Bronx experience the highest rates of family policing and parent-child separation. We serve as the primary institutional provider defending parents and caretakers against the painful and unnecessary removals of their children in the Bronx. Together, our attorneys, social workers, and parent advocates provide the legal defense and support necessary to keep families together and interrupt generational cycles of family court involvement.

Responsibilities (FDP)

• Zealously advocate for parents facing child protective proceedings in Bronx Family Court and concurrent matters including custody, visitation, paternity, family offense, and termination of parental rights cases

Immigration Practice

Nearly a third of the residents of the Bronx were born outside the United States, and many face the unprecedented threat of detention and deportation by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Our attorneys help people facing criminal, family, and civil proceedings make informed and strategic decisions to protect their rights. We are also one of the three public defender organizations leading the nation’s first-ever universal representation program for detained immigrants facing deportation.

Since 2013, our immigration attorneys have also worked as assigned counsel at the Varick Street Immigration Court under the New York Immigrant Family Unity Project (NYIFUP), the first-ever universal representation project in immigration court.

We specifically seek applications from candidates with Spanish language skills and/or those from racially and ethnically marginalized communities disproportionately impacted by the immigration system whose lived experiences contribute to culturally conscious client representation

Responsibilities (IMM)

• Zealously advocate for detained and non-detained non-citizens including advising about the immigration consequences of contacts with other legal systems, advocacy mitigating negative consequences, and full representation in affirmative and defensive immigration matters at the trial and appellate level

Qualifications

To be eligible, upon hire, candidates must be:

• Recent law school graduates or attorneys with fewer than three years of relevant legal practice
• Barred in New York or have taken the New York bar exam and be able to practice under supervision as a law graduate or via pro hac vice admission

Applicants must demonstrate:

• Commitment to directly defending people ensnared in criminal, family, immigration, and civil legal systems
• Commitment to challenging systemic injustice and carceral systems with fierce advocacy; strategically challenging authority in defense of the people we represent
• Experience working in and with racially and ethnically marginalized communities of color targeted by systemic injustice
• Ability to effectively and respectfully communicate, collaborate and connect with people from various backgrounds and experiences
• Ability to work independently as well as collaboratively with an interdisciplinary team of lawyers and non-lawyers
• Effective research, writing, and courtroom advocacy skills
• Strong legal analytical skills and the capacity to employ non-legal resources to support the people we represent
• Ability to multitask, maintain order and meet deadlines in a fast-paced, high-stakes environment
• Meticulous attention to detail
• Ability to think critically and creatively, finding innovative solutions to unique obstacles
• Ability to receive constructive feedback, demonstrate introspection, and shift behavior accordingly
• Ability to exercise good judgment, discretion, and confidentiality around sensitive issues

Additional Immigration Practice Qualification:

• A valid driver’s license--or the ability to obtain one--is required as the role sometimes requires travel to detention facilities outside of NYC where clients are held. Vehicles provided.

This is an in-person position.

Salary is commensurate with experience. This is an entry level Law Graduate/Attorney Position with a salary of $83,504. Full-time employees are also eligible for a comprehensive benefits package including but not limited to medical, dental and vision coverage; a 403(b) plan with employer contribution; a generous vacation, sick leave, and parental leave policy.

Approximately 70% of The Bronx Defenders' staff, including attorneys and non-attorneys, are represented by UAW Local 2325 - Association of Legal Aid Attorneys (AFL-CIO). This position is within the bargaining unit. 

This position is exempt. By law, non-exempt employees are compensated hourly based on their annual rate and therefore are entitled to over-time, whereas exempt employees are not.

The application deadline is October 15th, 2025, but applications will be considered on a rolling basis.

The Bronx Defenders is an equal opportunity employer and is committed to maintaining a workplace that embraces staff with a diversity of backgrounds, identities, and experiences. We acknowledge the ways in which systemic oppression and injustice can undermine access to professional opportunities and are committed to conducting hiring and promotion processes that are equitable and accessible to those commonly excluded from the workforce. We do not discriminate against and in fact specifically encourage applicants from marginalized communities to apply, including those who identify as Black, Indigenous, people of color, queer, transgender, gender non-conforming, disabled, neurodivergent, and those directly impacted by criminal, civil, family, and immigration legal systems. We value lived as well as professional experience and particularly welcome applications from the Bronx community that we serve.