Attorney (Right to a High Quality Education for All Project)

Greater Boston Legal Services (GBLS) is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity/ Accessible Employer and strives to ensure that our staff members reflect the diversity of the communities we serve.

GBLS provides free legal services representation to clients in the greater Boston area who cannot afford private legal representation. Low cost and free services are available for those with SSI/SSDI cases.

GBLS seeks applicants for a permanent attorney position in our Elder Health and Disability Unit (EDHU) to focus on its Right to a High Quality Education for All Project. The project will respond to challenges faced by the most vulnerable among the approximately 40 percent of public school students who come from low-income families. The goal is to form a cohesive legal advocacy community and establish a focused effort on systemic reform, so students can receive equal educational opportunities critical to achieving a high quality education.  

The Unit represents elders, people with disabilities, and families to ensure that they have income, health care, and services needed to live independently in the community. The Unit’s work includes access to SSI income for children and adults, access to affordable health care for all, and representation of elders in benefits and housing matters. Our special projects include: Medicare Advocacy Project, Children’s Disability Project, and School to Prison Pipeline Intervention Project. We empower people to make decisions about their lives and support people with disabilities in their fight for accessibility.

The responsibilities of the position include but are not limited to: Be sited at GBLS at least 2 days per week; Collaborate with advocates from across the state regarding systemic issues faced by children in education; Systemically challenge the denial of equitable educational opportunities to students within protected population groups; aide in the elimination of discriminatory barriers to crucial learning opportunities; and Conduct and attend necessary trainings.

Qualifications:

• 3-5 years of experience
• Desire to work with clients with significant barriers to quality education and navigating bureaucracies
• Ability to work effectively with diverse clients
• Strong written and oral communication skills
• Experience in systemic legal advocacy, and/or Education law, or demonstrated relevant skills
• Ability to perform careful, detailed work
• Demonstrated capacity to analyze and work with complex materials
• Admission to Massachusetts Bar
• A plus, but not required: fluency in Spanish or another language prevalent among our clients.

Salary is based on a union scale, which begins at $73,000 for an attorney with three years of experience. GBLS offers a generous benefits package, retirement contribution, a student loan repayment assistance plan for eligible attorneys, and generous PTO leave.

Candidates should submit letter of interest, resume and brief writing sample to the Human Resources Team via email at jobs@gbls.org. Please refer to Job Code: EHD-ATT when applying for this position. Deadline for applications is June 9, 2023 or until position is filled.

GBLS values diversity and encourages applicants from a broad range of backgrounds.