Staff Attorney- CRP Hybrid/Remote

at  Legal Aid of NorthWest Texas

POSITION ANNOUNCEMENT

POSITION: Staff Attorney – Community Revitalization Project
CLOSING DATE: Position Immediately Available and Closed When Filled
LOCATION: Hybrid/Remote – Amarillo, Texas

OVERVIEW: Legal Aid of NorthWest Texas (LANWT) seeks a dynamic, self-starting attorney who has vision, initiative, and a demonstrated commitment to public interest law benefiting low-income communities for its Community Revitalization Project (CRP). The staff attorney will be responsible for providing legal services, advocacy and transactional work in the following areas of community revitalization:

• Affordable Fair Housing – increased access to fair housing; removing barriers to developing and maintaining affordable housing for individuals; educating communities regarding fair housing issues, eliminating discriminatory housing practices and ensuring the affordability, accessibility and integration of public housing, subsidized housing and private housing.
• Environmental Justice – addressing environmental injustices, including but not limited to exposure to high level of pollutants, health impacts related to exposure to pollutants, resulting community deterioration; and protecting communities from environmental hazards.
• Community Development and Advocacy – ensuring the right to meaningful input on matters affecting the community; advocating to promote economic justice; ensuring fair allocation of infrastructure resources; combatting predatory practices and other environmental and public safety issues in low-income communities.

DESCRIPTION: LANWT is a non-profit public interest law firm that provides high-quality free civil legal services to low-income persons in North and West Texas covering 114 counties with both urban and rural areas.
DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES: The staff attorney will meet regularly with community groups and community organizers, assess emerging needs of low-income communities, advise clients and community groups about their rights, draft legal documents, conduct civil lawsuits, engage in administrative advocacy before quasi-judicial tribunals and governmental agencies, develop strategies for developing low-income communities, and train community advocates to address community needs before governing bodies of local communities. The staff attorney must interview clients and witnesses with cultural competence, as well as handle other tasks in representing clients. The staff attorney will also interpret laws, rulings, and regulations for clients and the client community.
The staff attorney designs and conducts outreach and community legal education and works closely with the community partners and low-income community groups to further LANWT’s mission of reducing poverty by providing equitable access to the civil justice system and supporting the initiatives of LANWT’s CRP.
The staff attorney may supervise and coordinate activities of legal, clerical, volunteer, or student workers.
In short, the staff attorney is expected to handle a caseload involving substantial litigation and other justice-related advocacy under the close guidance of LANWT’s management, periodically attend evening legal clinics, and devise and participate in community legal education programs and outreach offered by LANWT.
In fulfilling this mission, the attorney will provide high-quality representation to indigent clients in accordance with LANWT’s policies and procedures and with an attorney’s responsibilities under the Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct, the Texas Lawyer’s Creed, and the American Bar Association’s Standards for Providers of Civil Legal Services to the Poor.

QUALIFICATIONS:

• Licensed to practice law in Texas.
• Prior legal services, public interest, or volunteer experience serving low-income persons preferred.
• Experience coordinating/training community services/partners.
• Experience in community lawyering, community development, affordable housing, environmental justice, or supportive transaction work (probate, real estate, nonprofit and small business organization).
• The ability to think and plan strategically and to develop and implement projects.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
• Fluent in Spanish – both verbal and written is preferred.
• Ability to engage in occasional travel throughout the LANWT service area.
  SALARY: Current entry-level salary is $66,500 per year. The salary for the successful applicant may be significantly higher, based on applicant’s years of experience.
  BENEFITS: Excellent benefits package that includes paid vacation and holidays; a retirement plan; health, dental, and life insurance.

• Affordable Fair Housing – increased access to fair housing; removing barriers to developing and maintaining affordable housing for individuals; educating communities regarding fair housing issues, eliminating discriminatory housing practices and ensuring the affordability, accessibility and integration of public housing, subsidized housing and private housing.
• Environmental Justice – addressing environmental injustices, including but not limited to exposure to high level of pollutants, health impacts related to exposure to pollutants, resulting community deterioration; and protecting communities from environmental hazards.
• Community Development and Advocacy – ensuring the right to meaningful input on matters affecting the community; advocating to promote economic justice; ensuring fair allocation of infrastructure resources; combatting predatory practices and other environmental and public safety issues in low-income communities