Legal Director

Who We Are
Children’s Law Center believes every child deserves to have a stable family, good health, a quality education -- and to live in a world in which racism, trauma and poverty are eliminated as barriers to success. At the Children’s Law Center, everything we do is focused on one thing – delivering better client outcomes for kids and families in DC. Our staff are empowered to open minds, shape decisions, and offer solutions. We encourage intellectual curiosity, innovation, diversity, and mutual respect.

Our greatest assets are our people. We strive to attract and cultivate a vibrant, creative, and diverse community. We recognize that people with diverse backgrounds,
experiences and perspectives fuel our ability to provide the best outcomes for our clients. Our staff drive the Children’s Law Center’s mission with their leadership, result-orientated mindset, and commitment to cultural humility and centering the needs of our clients. We are looking for an individual who enjoys working in a fast-paced, team-oriented environment, likes to be challenged, and values the opportunity to make a difference.

Children Law Center’s success depends on recruiting and retaining individuals who possess and value these attributes.

The Children’s Law Center is currently operating remotely. This position will work from home until the organization returns to the office. We prioritize the health and wellbeing of our clients, employees and their families and friends. All employees must be fully vaccinated and provide proof thereof as a condition of employment unless the employee is approved for an exemption as an accommodation due to a disability or a sincerely held religious belief.

Job Summary
The legal director is responsible for ensuring that Children’s Law Center’s legal assistance to individual children and families yields high-quality, effective results that provide children with stable families, good health, and a quality education. The legal director works closely with Children’s Law Center staff, external allies and partners, clients, community leaders and donors to accomplish the organization’s mission. In particular, the legal director collaborates with internal and external partners to increase our impact through innovative legal strategy and collaboration between individual and systemic advocacy, by creating a more diverse, inclusive, equitable and anti-racist organization, by furthering our work as a learning organization and by advancing a culture of philanthropy to ensure the organization’s continued financial stability.

The legal director supervises the directors of the organization’s three individual assistance programs, Healthy Together, Pro Bono and Guardian ad Litem, sits on the leadership team and reports to the executive director.

Responsibilities
• Has primary responsibility for ensuring CLC provides high quality individual legal assistance through our in-house and pro bono programs, including ensuring that staff in these programs are:
 o Current on law and best practices
 o Focused on long-term child outcomes
 o Infused with cultural humility
 o Responsive to the changing needs of our clients and our service delivery partners
• Supervises the directors of Healthy Together, GAL and Pro Bono
• Identifies new programs and strategies to meet the changing needs of the community and our organizational partners
• Promotes collaboration among legal programs and, when appropriate, ensures cross-program consistency in policies and practices
• Works closely with the policy director to expand the impact of our individual and systemic advocacy strategies through cross-collaboration
• Works closely with the chief talent and equity officer and staff across the organization to promote diversity, equity, inclusion, cultural humility, and anti-racism in our programs
• Works closely with the chief talent and equity officer and program directors to ensure that program staffing (structures, roles, and skills) effectively and efficiently meet organizational and program goals.
• Works with the communications and development teams to advance organizational goals.
• Collaborates with other organizations to meet the legal needs of DC children and families.
• Collaborates with other organizations to meet the health, education, and family needs of DC children.
• Directly and through her teams, manages relationships with local and federal courts, the office of administrative hearings, legal services organizations, medical partners, and pro bono leads at area law firms
• With the executive director and development staff, represents CLC with law firm leadership and at donor events

Skills and Competencies
Leadership competencies:
• Strategic thinking
• Problem solving
• Systems thinking
• Change leadership
• Project management

Role specific competencies:
• A clear vision for ensuring low-income Black and Latinx children in DC have a solid foundation of family, health, and education
• Demonstrated commitment to provide high quality legal services
• Demonstrated commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, and anti-racism
• Ability to collaborate with and see connections among legal programs and other internal and external partners (policy, community, courts, communications, and development.)
• Excellent oral and written communication skills. Education
• Eligible to practice in the District of Columbia (DC Bar membership or eligibility to waive in)
• At least 10 years of experience as a lawyer
  o A minimum of five years of experience working with low-income
individuals (either as a lawyer or in another capacity).
  o A minimum of five years of experience in management and/or supervision.
• Expertise in abuse and neglect, custody, special education, housing conditions and/or health care law preferred
• Trial and appellate advocacy experience preferred

Values
The ability to model and a commitment to Children’s Law Center’s organizational values:
Holistic Representation: We take a holistic approach to meeting the needs of our clients. We focus on the whole person, not just the legal problem.
Impact: We approach our work with a sense of urgency and make a big difference by taking small steps. We also focus on the long-term and understand that change can take time.

Creativity: We develop innovative solutions to the challenges we face.
Teamwork: We work with our clients, other staff members and our allies to meet our clients’ needs and to achieve our collective goals.
Tenacity: We don’t give up.
Respect: We nurture a collegial environment in which staff members have the support and flexibility they need. We value the diverse skills and experiences that our staff members bring to our work.