Senior Staff Attorney-CILA, REQ #1797

Job Summary

Provide technical assistance, coordinate training, create written resources, and facilitate working group meetings for advocates who represent unaccompanied children. Strives to help advocates understand the immigration process for children including all forms of legal relief available to children such as asylum and Special Immigrant Juvenile Status, as well as skills in working with children from diverse backgrounds and who have dealt with varying levels of trauma and grief, in both detained and released settings.

Essential Job Functions and Responsibilities

• Responds to legal technical assistance requests from legal services staff, pro bono attorneys, private practice attorneys, and other advocates who work with unaccompanied children on issues relating to immigration legal relief, such as Special Immigrant Juvenile Status, asylum claims, U and T visas, removal defense, and other immigration law issues, as well as ethical issues, and working with children in a trauma-informed and culturally sensitive manner.
• Coordinates multiple webinar training courses throughout the year on a variety of topics in children’s immigration law including development of material, presenting, and recruiting outside experts to present at trainings.
• Drafts manuals, practitioner advisories, blog posts, and other educational materials for attorneys, legal staff, and others on children’s immigration law and related topics.
• Coordinates working groups by advertising upcoming meetings, preparing the agenda, and leading the collaborative meeting.
• Participates in meetings with stakeholders as needed.
• Performs other related duties as required.

Required Education, Qualifications, Experience

• Juris Doctorate or Master of Law (LLM) from an ABA-accredited law school and be in good standing, and three or more years’ experience in representing clients preferably on immigration matters.
• Licensed to practice law in a U.S. state or territory.
• Intermediate proficiency with Adobe and Microsoft Office products (Word, Excel, OneDrive, Teams).
• Must be familiar with conducting virtual meetings, training, and observations on software such as Zoom, Teams, etc.
• Excellent writing, editing, legal analysis, and oral presentation skills.

Preferred Education, Qualifications, Experience

• Licensed to practice law and member of the State Bar of Texas, and five years’ experience with at least three years on immigration matters.
• Prior work experience with children, particularly from Central America and including indigenous language-speaking populations.
• Prior volunteer, community, or work experience regarding immigration or detention.
• Prior non-profit experience, particularly involving unaccompanied children.

Extent of Travel Required in the Job

• As a normal course of business, this job will typically require travel of less than 15% of the time.

The American Bar Association is an Equal Opportunity, Affirmative Action Employer of all protected classes including veterans and individuals with disabilities. Women, minorities, veterans, and individuals with disabilities are encouraged to apply. In compliance with the ADA Amendments Act (ADAAA), if you have a disability and would like to request an accommodation in order to apply for a position with the American Bar Association, please call 312-988-5188.