Managing Attorney Removal Defense Program

Position/Title: Managing Attorney, Removal Defense Programs

Status: Full-time; exempt

Reports to: Executive Director

Salary Range: $75,392 – $93,520; depending on years of experience

Position Description: The Managing Attorney is a part of Pennsylvania Immigration Resource Center’s (PIRC) Senior Team, participating in strategic decision making and leadership of the organization. The Managing Attorney provides mentorship, legal, and administrative supervision to attorneys and accredited representatives, as assigned by the Executive Director. This role may represent a small case load of primarily detained clients, as well as perform outreach and mentor pro bono attorneys on removal defense cases. This role is the primary budgetary, contractual, and data compliance liaison for multiple sub-programs involving legal services to detained non-citizens.

Job Purpose and Activities:

• Leads PIRC’s Removal Defense Programs consisting of direct representation of detained adults and unaccompanied children and Know-Your-Rights presentations, consultations, and pro se assistance to detained adults.
• Represents non-citizens in ICE custody in Pennsylvania. Cases include a wide scope of matters before immigration courts, the BIA, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals and District Courts primarily within PA. Case selection is dependent upon funding parameters, capacity, and organizational case selection criteria, currently under both vulnerabilities-based and universal representation models.
• Serves as PIRC’s primary budgetary, contractual, and data compliance liaison for the National Qualified Representative Program (NQRP), Unaccompanied Children’s Program (UCP), and the Pennsylvania Immigrant Family Unity Project (PAIFUP).
• Works with the Executive Director and Development Director to ensure compliance with contractual and grant requirements for PIRC’s Removal Defense Programs; captures and reports related data for funding purposes.
• Supervises direct reports, including one fully accredited DOJ Representative / Program Manager and at least one Supervising Attorney for removal defense. Other direct reports may include additional staff attorneys, fellows, program coordinators, and/or legal interns, depending on delegation. Provides mentorship, legal supervision of work product and legal strategy, and related administrative duties for staff and pro bono attorneys.

Qualifications and Experience:

• Law degree and licensed to practice law before the bar of any state in the U.S.
• Excellent research, writing, and oral advocacy skills.
• Effective communication and interpersonal skills. Ability to communicate with people of different racial, ethnic, cultural, and socioeconomic backgrounds.
• Ethic of serving clients with compassion.
• Sense of personal initiative and ability to work independently with appropriate guidance and supervision.
• Ability to balance competing priorities and communicate as priorities shift. Ability to meet deadlines.
• Must be flexible and adaptable.
• Commitment to PIRC’s mission, immigration advocacy, and legal services.
• Fluency (reading/writing/speaking) in Spanish and/or other language preferred.
• 3-5 years of relevant experience / legal practice and supervision experience preferred.

Other:

• Must successfully pass NCIC, FBI, and State Criminal and Child Abuse Clearance background checks.
• Regional travel required to perform outreach and detention facility visits.
• Performs in accordance with PIRC’s Core Values of integrity, adaptability, innovation, empowerment, collaboration and diversity.
• Abides by all policies and procedures established by PIRC.
• Other tasks as assigned.

Physical Requirements: The physical requirements described are representative of those that must be met by an employee, with or without accommodation, to successfully perform the essential functions of this job.

• Employee is regularly required to talk or hear. The employee is frequently in a sedentary, seated position; however, this position would require the ability to lift files, open filing cabinets and bend as necessary. Employee uses hands to finger, handle or feel; and reach with hands and arms.
• Employee is required to have close visual acuity to perform activities such as preparing/analyzing data, viewing a computer terminal and extensive reading.
• Employee is not substantially exposed to adverse environmental conditions.
• Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the job purpose and activities outlined above.

About the Organization:

The Pennsylvania Immigration Resource Center (PIRC) is a nonprofit legal organization with a mission of providing free high quality legal services so that vulnerable immigrants and their families have access to justice and a more secure future. Since 1996, the organization seeks to ensure immigrants and their families have a voice, dignity and hope in communities across Pennsylvania. For more information, go to

https://www.pirclaw.org.

Location & Work Arrangement: This position will require some travel to visit regional detention centers. Travel may also include occasional meetings and events across Pennsylvania to meet with partner organizations and stakeholders. PIRC's main office is located in York, Pennsylvania. This is a hybrid position, with office-wide in-person meetings required quarterly.

Benefits: Benefits include health, vision and dental insurance, short term disability insurance, life insurance, professional liability insurance, retirement with employer contribution, and generous paid time off.

Why PIRC: For immigrants in our community and in detention, the Pennsylvania Immigration Resource Center (PIRC) provides a unique combination of immigration legal services, advocacy, and education that provide protections to the most vulnerable immigrants in Pennsylvania. PIRC is an experienced provider of free, accessible, multilingual immigration services that empower, protect, and transform lives.

The staff at PIRC is its greatest strength. We strive to create a collaborative environment that encourages the sharing of ideas and victories, no matter how large or small. PIRC offers a comprehensive benefits package for full-time staff including a simple IRA with employer match and generous paid leave and flexible policies reflecting the organization’s ongoing commitment to self-care. Members of PIRC are passionate, intelligent, and hardworking individuals all committed to the common cause of providing access to justice for immigrants.

To Apply: Please send a cover letter, résumé and 2-3 professional references to Andrew Baranoski, Executive Director, at employment@pirclaw.org. Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis until the position is filled. The Hiring Committee will begin screening résumés upon receipt. Note: Applicants will be notified prior to contacting references.

Commitment to Inclusion: The Pennsylvania Immigration Resource Center provides support and services to communities across PA and is committed to a workplace that reflects the diversity of those we serve. All applicants and employees of different backgrounds and perspectives, regardless of race, religion, age, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic disposition, neurodiversity, disability, veteran status, or any other quality that makes them exceptional, are valued and treated as equals.

Benefits: Benefits include health, vision and dental insurance, short term disability insurance, life insurance, professional liability insurance, retirement with employer contribution, and generous paid time off.

Preferred - Spanish language fluency.