STAFF ATTORNEY (INTAKE & STRATEGIC INTERVENTION)

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Join the Intake and Strategic Intervention team at Legal Assistance the Elderly (LAE)! We provide a vital service, serving tenants who are seniors or have disabilities and are threatened with losing their homes. Sixty percent of LAE’s clients face housing threats including terminations of subsidies, unlawful rent increases, denials of necessary modifications, extra-judicial evictions and harassment. As a member of this team, you will conduct intakes, advise clients on housing matters, provide brief services designed to resolve problems before they escalate, and represent clients at administrative hearings before the San Francisco Rent Board, the San Francisco Housing Authority, and the California Civil Rights Department. Approximately 90% of the work is housing related. This is an excellent opportunity for an attorney who wants to make an immediate, concrete difference in clients' lives across a high volume and wide variety of matters.

 

AGENCY DESCRIPTION

For over 47 years, LAE has provided free legal advice and representation to San Francisco’s seniors and adults with disabilities. Our mission is to protect and advance the right of San Francisco’s seniors and adults with disabilities to be housed, healthy, financially stable, and safe. Our primary practice areas are Eviction Defense/Housing Preservation, Income Support, Health Law, Financial and Physical Elder Abuse Prevention, Debt Collection Defense, Foreclosure Prevention, End of Life Planning and Conservatorship Defense. LAE is a friendly and collaborative work environment.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

• Member State Bar of California
• Strong written, verbal and interviewing skills
• Patient, flexible and kind
• Works well in a team
  

EXTREMELY DESIRABLE

• Bilingual in English and Spanish, Cantonese and/or Mandarin

 

HIGHLY DESIRABLE

• Knowledge of landlord-tenant law, including rent control, housing subsidies, habitability, reasonable accommodations, and housing discrimination
• Knowledge of legal issues related to poverty and/or aging
• Experience with administrative hearings or advocacy before administrative agencies
• Experience working with elderly, disabled, or homeless individuals or those experiencing a crisis
• Experience working in a non-profit legal service organization or other non-profit

DUTIES & RESPONSIBILITIES

• Conduct intake interviews with new clients, including home and hospital visits, when necessary
• Provide legal advice to tenants on housing matters
• Provide brief services, such as writing estoppel letters, requests for reasonable accommodations, and requests for repairs
• Represent clients at administrative hearings, including before the San Francisco Rent Board (unlawful rent increases), the San Francisco Housing Authority (subsidy terminations), and the California Civil Rights Department (housing discrimination)
• Work collaboratively with the team's supervisor, paralegal/client advocates, and reception staff to ensure clients are efficiently connected to the right services
• Provide legal support to Client Advocates and Paralegals
• Maintain accurate computerized client files and other documentation and provide project statistics to other staff as requested
• Provide in-office support to teammates responding to client emergencies and agency inquiries

SUPERVISED BY

Supervising Intake Attorney

WORKING CONDITIONS

The position requires working with individuals during moments of extreme stress and instability. The position also requires the provision of culturally sensitive and empathetic services. Some evening and weekend work may be required.

 

This is an in-office position.

 

UNION MEMBERSHIP

After successful completion of a probationary period (90 days), membership in the National Organization of Legal Services Workers becomes a condition of employment.

COMPENSATION

We offer a family-friendly environment and compensation based on competitive public interest salaries along with a generous benefits package. The estimated annual salary range starts at $88,000- $98,000 (placement in the range determined by union scale primarily based on years of related experience). LAE’s benefits package includes 100% employer-covered medical, dental, and life insurance for employees and dependent children and up to 75% for spouses; LAE student debt reimbursement program; employer-paid CA Bar license and/or social work license fees; and 403(b) retirement plan with annual LAE contribution. LAE has a generous paid leave policy which includes sick leave, parental leave, compensation time, 20 holidays each year, and vacation (starting at 17 days and increasing after three years with additional years of employment).

TO APPLY

Please click "Apply for this Job" to submit your RESUME AND COVER LETTER

Attention: Hiring Committee

Position: STAFF ATTORNEY INTAKE

 

If you find that you meet many of the qualifications in the job description, we encourage you to apply and explain in your cover letter why your experience would make you a good fit for the position. We recognize that organizations may miss out on strong applicants who screen themselves out of the process because they do not meet every qualification, and that disproportionately impacts people from historically marginalized backgrounds. We know that our greatest strengths come from the people who make up our team, and a welcoming, inclusive and culturally diverse staff allows us to best serve our community. We look forward to your application.

 

LAE seeks to fill all positions with people who share our values, including our organizational commitment to diversity. We encourage all interested individuals to apply—especially people of color; women; people from low-income backgrounds; people with disabilities; people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, gender non-conforming, non-binary; or anyone belonging to any other federal or state protected category. We believe that all persons are entitled to equal employment opportunity and are committed to not discriminating on any basis prohibited by applicable law.

 

APPLICATIONS WILL BE CONSIDERED UNTIL THE POSITION IS FILLED. THOSE SELECTED FOR AN INTERVIEW WILL BE NOTIFIED.