Housing Justice and Tenant Solidarity Clinic Staff Attorney

Position Summary

The Rutgers Law School Housing Justice & Tenant Solidarity Clinic seeks a full-time staff attorney to represent individual tenants and organized tenant groups in Essex County, and to support the work of the clinic’s faculty and students. This is a calendar-year position, and it is anticipated that case volume will be highest during periods when students are least available, including holidays and summers, as well as during faculty research leaves.

The staff attorney’s caseload will be oriented toward providing individual representation to tenants and working with organized tenant associations and other community-based partners. Their work will include eviction defense, affirmative litigation in state and federal court, foreclosures, landlord-initiated bankruptcy proceedings, and directed advocacy with local and state agencies, landlords, and lenders. The Clinic partners closely with tenant organizers and organized tenants, and the staff attorney can anticipate taking referrals directly from those partners. Staff attorneys will attend organizing meetings, sometimes held in the evenings and on weekends, and handle matters referred by partners. The attorney will actively coordinate with organized tenants.

The staff attorney works within the clinic setting and has opportunities to attend seminars and rounds, interact with students, and possibly co-counsel cases with students. However, please note that this is not a teaching position and the candidate will not supervise students directly or teach classes. The staff attorney will have access to a professional development budget for continuing legal education and to attend approved academic conferences.

Organization

The Rutgers Law School Housing Justice & Tenant Solidarity Clinic has a dual mission. We use the law to empower community organizations, helping them grow in leadership and strength. We also educate the next generation of tenant and community-based lawyers in New Jersey and offer superior legal services to individuals and groups.

Located in Newark, New Jersey, the Clinic partners with community-based organizations and provides representation and advice to individuals and groups fighting for housing justice. Casework includes representing tenant associations, defending against eviction, securing safe housing conditions, fighting unlawful rent hikes, challenging housing discrimination, opposing the loss of affordable housing, leveraging land-use processes, and protecting the rights of the unhoused.

The Clinic is part of Rutgers-Newark’s broader clinical program. In our clinical education programs, second- and third-year law students learn essential lawyering skills and develop their professional identity. They work directly with clients on various issues and learn what it means to be the one their clients are counting on. Students gain hands-on legal skills, make a real impact, and bridge the gap between law school and legal practice.

Responsibilities:

• Carry a docket of eviction and other housing-related civil litigation matters. Represent new and established tenant associations and their members in a range of legal matters that may arise out of their organizing. Appear in the Essex County courthouse and potentially the Passaic and Union courthouses. Represent tenants before local and state agencies like rent control boards, subsidy termination hearings, and Division of Civil Rights complaints. Represent tenants in affirmative litigation or intervening in foreclosures and bankruptcies.
• Support tenant organizing in New Jersey. Attend evening and weekend tenant association meetings at buildings and off-site clinics. Provide legal representation for tenant organizing groups in Greater Newark. Provide legal capacity support for tenant organizing groups across New Jersey.
• Cover student cases during holidays and the summer, including feeling comfortable potentially transitioning those cases back to a new set of students at the start of a new term. Capable of handling caseload during these periods without substantial supervision.
• Assist with the administrative functions of the clinic. Assist with interviewing and placing students in Anti-Eviction Internships. Participate in fundraising events. Keep up to date on case management notes and grant reporting.

Minimum Education and Experience

• Admitted to practice or willingness to become so admitted in New Jersey, or admitted in another state and eligible to practice under the New Jersey Supreme Court’s rule permitting out-of-state attorneys to practice in a law clinic pursuant to N.J. Ct. R. 1:21-3(c)(1).
• At least two years of civil litigation experience.
• Availability and willingness to attend evening or weekend tenant organizing meetings held at buildings.

Preferred Qualifications

• Prior experience collaborating with tenant organizers and/or representing organized tenants.
• Prior experience defending tenants with a range of regulations impacting their tenancy (rent control, public housing, project-based Section 8, LIHTC, etc.).
• Prior experience litigating civil cases in state courts of general jurisdiction and/or federal court, such as consumer fraud, Fair Debt Collections Practice Act, foreclosure, and/or bankruptcy cases.
• Prior experience advocating with agencies and administrative bodies surrounding housing justice issues, including code enforcement agencies, rent leveling boards, and state administrative agencies.
• Prior experience in appellate advocacy.
• Prior experience engaging in legislative advocacy, including conducting research, drafting legislation, and strategizing with coalitions.
• Availability and willingness to attend evening or weekend tenant organizing meetings held at buildings.
• If practicing under the out-of-state attorney rule for clinics, the willingness to be admitted in New Jersey within twelve months.
• Fluency in Haitian Creole and/or Spanish.

Rutgers provides a comprehensive benefits package to eligible employees. The specific benefits vary based on the position and may include:

• Medical, prescription drug, and dental coverage
• Paid vacation, holidays, and various leave programs
• Competitive retirement benefits, including defined contribution plans and voluntary tax-deferred savings options
• Employee and dependent educational benefits (when applicable)
• Life insurance coverage
• Employee discount programs

Spanish or Haitian Creole fluency preferred, but not required.