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Director, Immigrant and Workers' Rights Practice Group

Description: 

For more than 50 years LAF has provided people living in poverty in metropolitan Chicago with comprehensive free legal services to resolve non-criminal issues. Each year LAF’s more than 80 full-time attorneys and staff help resolve civil legal problems, including public benefits issues, domestic violence, consumer fraud, and unfair evictions. Our work impacts over 30,000 people each year. Position Summary LAF seeks a full-time attorney to serve as the Director of the Immigrants and Workers’ Rights (IWR) Practice Group. The Practice Group provides individual legal representation and engages in broad-based advocacy in the areas of immigration, migrant, anti-trafficking, and employment law.

Responsibilities include without limitation:
Leadership
• Lead the Immigration and Workers’ Rights Practice Group which includes supervisory attorneys, senior and staff attorneys, paralegals, volunteers, and interns;
• Oversee staff training and professional development of IWR;
• Lead strategic initiatives, including the development of projects that cut across the areas of immigration, migrant, and employment law;
• Facilitate meetings within IWR and across LAF to share information, strategies, new developments, and training needs;
• Provide vision on policy initiatives, impact litigation and advocacy; and
• Work across LAF to coordinate advocacy with the needs and priorities of clients and community partners.

Supervision and Litigation
• Manage the legal and advocacy work of IWR, primarily in the fields of employment and unemployment law, wage theft, discrimination, labor based U-visas, and labor trafficking;
• Supervise the legal work of each supervisor within IWR, perform case reviews, evaluations of staff, and on-going support for all litigation matters; and
• Maintain a small caseload of impact cases or initiatives.

Grants and Fundraising
• Manage the administration of IWR, including fulfilling grant requirements, drafting and reporting on new and recurring grants, and using data to analyze outcomes and inform funders; and
• Collaborate in the cultivation of major donors and on the development of new and innovative initiatives and funding sources.

External focus
• Lead and engage in community outreach, which includes travel across Illinois;
• Engage LAF, the wider advocacy community, and the public on immigration, migrant, and employment issues that impact our clients;
• Be a face of LAF within the legal, philanthropic, and social service communities on a local, regional, and national level; and
• Be the main LAF media contact for issues within IWR.

Requirements: 

Qualifications
• Applicants must have a J.D. degree and be, or be eligible to become, a member of the Illinois bar. Considerable experience in at least one of the areas of law covered by the practice group is required.
• Applicants must have the ability to work well under pressure, and be committed to leading a diverse team of advocates.
• In addition, the successful applicant must have exceptional communication and organizational skills, including being a strong public speaker; be outstanding in one-on-one interactions; be knowledgeable of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, leadership development, budgeting, and coordination of people and resources; have the ability to delegate without micromanaging; and present a vision of how IWR can contribute to the overall work of LAF on and ongoing basis.
• The ideal candidate will be fluent in Spanish, have demonstrated experience working with low-income clients, including coalitions and community groups, and have a track record of working to identify and work on issues of poverty (e.g., work on task forces, participation in national or regional conferences, work with general or specialized bar associations, work with media, etc.).

To Apply: 

Send a cover letter, resume, and the names of two professional references: resume@lafchicago.org. Please type “Director: IWR Practice Group” in the email subject line. This position will remain open until filled. LAF values diversity, is an Equal Opportunity Employer, does not discriminate on the basis of disability and encourages candidates with experience working with our client population to apply.

Information

Submission Deadline: 
May 27, 2018
Organization Information: 
LAF
United States