Staff Attorney

Staff Attorney | Farmworker Team

TRLA Service Area

Texas RioGrande Legal Aid, Inc. (TRLA) seeks a staff attorney to specialize in farmworker advocacy, providing employment-related legal services to low-wage migrant and seasonal agricultural workers in Texas, as well as in Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee. This position may be based in any of TRLA’s Texas offices or in our Southern Migrant Legal Services (SMLS) office in Nashville, TN and will involve a multi-state docket.

TRLA is one of the largest legal aid organizations in the U.S. and is nationally recognized for its farmworker and employment rights work. Our SMLS office in Nashville focuses on six Southern states and continues TRLA’s decades-long tradition of strategic and tenacious advocacy for agricultural workers.

About the Work:

Most of the Staff Attorney’s work will focus on employment law and litigation in both state and federal courts. Cases include wage theft, discrimination, human trafficking, unsafe working conditions, and retaliation.

TRLA’s prior litigation has included claims under:

• Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act (AWPA)
• Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)
• Federal H-2A program
• Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964
• Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA)
• Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA)
• 42 U.S.C. § 1981 and 42 U.S.C. § 1983
• State laws involving contracts, wage-and-hour violations, torts, and workers’ compensation disputes.

Attorneys also represent workers in federal and state administrative processes, including filing complaints with the U.S. Department of Labor, EEOC and OSHA, and filing immigration petitions (such as T and U visa applications) on behalf of survivors of trafficking or other crimes.

Primary Duties and Responsibilities:

• Serve as lead counsel or co-counsel in all aspects of civil litigation, including complex wage and hour litigation, multi-party employment discrimination, and human trafficking cases
• Conduct outreach and perform intakes to identify farmworker clients across multiple states
• Collaborate with regional partners, federal agencies, and private counsel
• Handle all matters of representation in administrative and court forums

Overnight travel for outreach or cases is regularly required, although TRLA pays per diem and other travel-related expenses.

TRLA gives new lawyers substantial litigation and outreach responsibilities from day-one, but new staff practice under the close guidance of seasoned TRLA farmworker attorneys. TRLA staff collaborate closely with those in TRLA’s other 17+ offices, along with co-counseling with other legal aid programs, including participating in outreach and litigation in various parts of Texas and other states.

Qualifications and Preferences:

Applicants must be licensed to practice law in Texas or Tennessee, be licensed in a state with which Texas/Tennessee could grant reciprocal admission, or be willing to take the next available Texas/Tennessee bar exam, in that order of preference.

Preference will be given to applicants with a demonstrated commitment to public interest law on behalf of low-income persons, especially in workers’ or immigrants’ rights, and with Spanish-language fluency.

The strongest candidates will also have superior writing, analytical, and organizational skills; litigation experience is also preferred but not required.

Compensation and Benefits:

Salary is commensurate with experience and includes an excellent fringe benefits package including law school loan repayment, generous paid leave, healthcare insurance, a retirement plan, and training & travel stipends.

Spring graduates from law school typically start being paid the first week of July while studying for the bar, but report to work after the bar exam. TRLA provides reimbursement for the bar application fee and bar preparation course to new law graduates who have not yet taken the bar exam.

The consideration of candidates is ongoing and will continue until the position is filled. The position is available immediately, although the start date is somewhat negotiable.

TRLA IS AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER