Immigrants’ Rights Senior Staff Attorney

Background: 

TakeRoot Justice provides legal, participatory research and policy support to strengthen the work of grassroots and community-based groups in New York City to dismantle racial, economic and social oppression. Applicants are encouraged to learn more about TakeRoot’s work by visiting our website. TakeRoot’s Immigrants’ Rights team works to protect individuals from detention and deportation, keep families together, and build power in immigrant communities. We work alongside our partners to provide their staff and membership with direct representation on a wide range of immigration cases. Additionally, we provide community education and strategy support on many issues including immigrant community defense networks, immigrant tenants’ and workers’ rights organizing and the fight against immigration fraud.

Position: 

TakeRoot Justice seeks applicants for the position of Senior Staff Attorney to join our Immigrants’ Rights team. The Immigrants’ Rights team works to strengthen the organizing work of TakeRoot’s community-based partners by providing legal clinics and direct immigration representation to members of our partner groups, as well as community education and strategy support in line with organizing goals.

Primary responsibilities include: 

· Direct representation of clients on a wide range of affirmative and defensive matters, focusing heavily on complex matters such as applications for Asylum/CAT/Withholding, U/T visas, VAWA, family-based petitions, and cancellation of removal, waivers of inadmissibility, bond advocacy, post-order advocacy, including representing individuals in immigration court, and family and federal district court;

· Develop and conduct community education presentations for partner organizations and their members, including sometimes on evenings and weekends;

· Support partner organizing groups’ members and campaigns through advocacy, research, and action support;

· Staff community-based legal clinics and advise clients of their avenues for relief;

· Advocate to legislative and regulatory bodies on behalf of immigrants and community-based organizations, primarily at the city and state level;

· Assist the resource management team in grant compliance and fundraising, and assist the supervising attorney in monitoring the performance of work within the practice area to ensure compliance with grant requirements;

· Assist with peer support of attorneys, legal advocates and interns in the Immigrants’ Rights practice area as needed.

· Participate in TakeRoot’s self-governance structure, including collective staff decision-making, participation in governance circles or working groups,

· Together with TakeRoot staff, develop and maintain relationships with community-based partners throughout New York City;

 Ideal Candidates will: 

  • Be committed to economic and racial justice and the immigrant justice movement in New York City; 
  • Be passionate about working in partnership with community organizers, and about developing creative lawyering strategies to support immigrant organizing; 
  • Have a J.D. degree; 
  • Be admitted to the bar of any state in the U.S., with a preference for New York;  
  • Have at least two years of immigration law or related experience, including removal defense experience;  
  • Have fluency in a second language (Bengali, Haitian Creole, Nepali, or Spanish language strongly preferred);  
  • Have strong writing, analytical, and interpersonal skills;   
  • Be self-directed and enthusiastic about boundary-pushing immigration advocacy. 

 Salary and compensation:  

 A salary competitive in the NYC legal services community and excellent benefits package is available, including generous vacation, personal, and sick time, along with strong medical and dental coverage.  This is a bargaining unit position represented for collective bargaining purposes by the National Organization of Legal Services Workers, UAW, Local 2230. 

 Application Instructions:  

Interested applicants should send a cover letter, resume and writing sample in a single PDF by e-mail only (no hard copies please) with the subject line “Immigrants’ Rights Senior Staff Attorney” to nqurashi@takerootjustice.org, Attn: Nadia Qurashi. Applications will be considered on a rolling basis.

 TakeRoot Justice is an equal opportunity employer. TakeRoot encourages applications from people with diverse backgrounds, including women, people of color, immigrants, people with disabilities, LGBTQ people, people from low-income backgrounds, and people with personal experience with the criminal justice system. We strongly encourage applications from people with lived experiences in the communities we serve.