Staff Attorney

at  Ascentria Community Services Inc

The Staff Attorney provides legal services including direct representation to eligible noncitizen survivors of domestic violence, child abuse, and other crimes, as well as refugees and immigrants in their humanitarian and family-based cases, before U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the Executive Office for Immigration Review, state courts, and occasionally in additional venues such as working with law enforcement or victim assistance. The attorney also conducts advocacy, education, and other outreach activities to raise awareness of immigration relief in the community.

QUALIFICATIONS:

• Juris Doctorate from an ABA-accredited law school.
• Licensed and in good standing to practice law in the state of Massachusetts and/or Rhode Island preferred. If not admitted in Massachusetts, by transfer of UBE acceptable.
• Minimum 1-3 years of experience practicing immigration law required.
• Supervisory experience preferred, including supervising/mentoring volunteers, interns and pro bono attorneys.
• Ability to speak, understand, read and write in a second language. Spanish strongly preferred.
• Experience with Cerenade or similar immigration software.
• Data entry and reporting with software.
• Exceptional oral and written communication skills, excellent legal research and writing skills, strong organizational skills, an ability to work collaboratively with other staff, and self-motivation required.
• Demonstrated commitment to social and economic justice. Prior experience in a public interest setting is highly desirable.
  Don’t meet every single requirement? Studies have shown that women and people of color are less likely to apply to jobs unless they meet every single qualification. At Ascentria we are dedicated to building a diverse, inclusive and authentic workplace, so if you’re excited about this role but your past experience doesn’t align perfectly with every qualification in the job description, we encourage you to apply anyways. You may be just the right candidate for this or other roles.

EDUCATION

Required

• Doctorate or better in Law

• Provide direct representation to individuals and/or families in immigration matters, including removal defense, defensive and affirmative asylum claims, special immigrant juvenile status petitions, and VAWA, U and T visa applications.
• Legal representation may be before the Immigration Court (EOIR), the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA), Administrative Appeals Office, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Asylum Office, State courts, Department of State, agencies within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and applications for affirmative relief before United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).
• Conduct thorough immigration screenings for consultees to assess for immigration relief, including explanation of their rights and available options, benefits and risks of applying, processes, and costs if any.
• Ensure entry to timely, accurate, and detailed case data according to grantor provisions and as required by ILAP
• Provide support and oversight to paralegals, student interns and volunteers.
• Contribute to grant reporting and assist with general administrative tasks, as appropriate;