Staff Attorney (Medical Legal Community Partnerships - MLCP)

Join the Neighborhood Legal Services of Los Angeles County (NLSLA) and become part of an energetic team of advocates that provide a wide range of legal services aimed at addressing issues that disproportionately impact low-income communities. These services include litigation, providing training and technical assistance, and community education.  

NLSLA is the lead legal partner in the MLCP-LA project, a partnership between the LA County Department of Health Services (DHS) and key Los Angeles area legal services providers. NLSLA is also the primary legal organization serving patients in the LA County Department of Mental Health’s Innovations project in Boyle Heights. 

NLSLA is seeking a staff attorney to join its growing and innovative MLCP team. This new team member will be stationed at NLSLA’s The Wellness Center location and charged with the delivery and coordination of legal services to patients within the LA County DMH Innovations Boyle Heights project (“Innovations”). Innovations aims to demonstrate how the close partnership between healthcare, supportive services, and legal services providers can improve health outcomes for patients facing poverty, illness, substance use disorders, and other systemic barriers impacting the social determinants of health. 

             

Position: 

       

Staff Attorney 

Temporary Position 

       

 

Availability: 

   

 

Availability is Immediate.  

 

       

Salary: 

 

   

Salary range $76,000- $84,000, commensurate with experience. Excellent Benefits which include: choice of medical, dental, vision; life and disability insurance plans; flexible spending account (FSA)125 plan; 403(b), loan reimbursement, bilingual pay supplement, sick and vacation pay, and 14 employer-paid holidays.  

 

       

Duties and Responsibilities: 

   

Staff Attorney is expected to develop legal expertise in the substantive legal areas impacting the social determinants of health including; family law, healthcare access, housing, immigration, public benefits, re-entry and more. Experience in at least one of these areas is strongly preferred. 

Under the guidance of the MLCP Supervisor, the staff attorney will: 

• Play an active role in the implementation of legal service through Innovations including the ongoing refinement of processes and protocols; 

• Collaborate with Innovations partners staff, healthcare providers, and community agencies through ongoing engagement, case reviews, and representing NLSLA at Innovations meetings; 

• Provide direct client services, technical assistance to Innovations partners, and trainings for patients and healthcare providers; 

• Provide substantive legal support to MLCP paralegals; 

• Serve as an escalation point for service delivery issues arising out of Innovations; 

• Conduct process, skills, and substantive trainings for Innovations staff, patients, and other community members; 

• Maintain an active caseload composed of direct patient referrals and technical assistance requests;  

• Advocacy may include informal, administrative, litigation and/or policy work on a wide variety of substantive legal areas impacting the social determinants of health. 

 

       

Qualifications: 

   

The ideal candidate will be a skillful, initiative-taking, attorney who excels in a fast-paced, dynamic anti-poverty law practice and is capable of fiercely advocating on behalf of NLSLA clients in multiple forums. They will have a demonstrated passion and commitment to public interest law and prior experience serving low-income individuals and client groups, with a sensitivity to those in crisis. Previous experience with the Medical Legal Partnership model is a plus and expertise in one or more of the substantive legal areas impacting the Social Determinants of Health is strongly preferred. At the time of posting, NLSLA is operating through a hybrid remote and in-person work model. Regular travel between NLSLA program offices and MLCP sites will be required, consistent with NLSLA’s COVID safety protocols. 

Excellent writing, research, organizational skills, and the ability to communicate and collaborate effectively with clients, healthcare providers, community organizations, attorneys, the judiciary, and the public are essential. Spanish bilingual skills strongly preferred. California Bar membership is preferred. 

 

COVID-19 vaccination is required, which is a condition of employment. Reasonable accommodations will be considered.  

       

 

 

About NLSLA: 

   

 

Founded in 1965 as part of our nation’s War on Poverty, Neighborhood Legal Services of Los Angeles County (NLSLA) is now one of the largest and most prominent public interest law firms in California. NLSLA provides free assistance to more than 115,000 low-income residents of Los Angeles County each year. The NLSLA staff of 190, including 80 attorneys, specialize in areas of the law that disproportionately impact low-income people, including affordable housing and eviction defense, access to public benefits, support for domestic violence victims, access to healthcare, worker and consumer rights, services for justice-involved adults and youth, education rights, clean slate initiatives, and employment and training. 

Through a combination of individual representation, high impact litigation, and public policy advocacy, NLSLA’s advocacy combats the immediate and long-parting effects of poverty and expands access to health, opportunity, and justice. NLSLA serves all of Los Angeles County with a special emphasis on the poverty communities of the San Fernando, San Gabriel, Pomona, and Antelope Valleys, as well as the central county cities of Glendale, Burbank, and Pasadena. In addition, NLSLA advocates are co-located in courthouses in Van Nuys, Lancaster, Chatsworth, Pomona, Pasadena, and Downtown LA; Hospitals and health centers in Sylmar, Van Nuys, North Hollywood, and El Monte; and with social services providers in the Antelope Valley.