Job Description

Job Details

Job Location : Bronx - Bronx, NY

Position Type : Full-Time

Education Level : Law Degree (JD)

Salary Range : $84900.00 - $122800.00 Salary/year

Travel Percentage : Negligible

Job Category : Legal

Description

The Center for Family Representation Inc. (CFR) is an award-winning, innovative law and policy organization that serves primarily Black and Brown families and youth in Queens, Manhattan, the Bronx and Staten Island with an interdisciplinary legal defense model that serves more than 2400 clients every year. CFR was originally founded in 2002 to dramatically change the trajectory of indigent parents being prosecuted by the Citys Administration for Childrens Services (ACS). Our goal is to defend and protect our clients rights, reduce the harm of family separation and prevent or minimize the time any child spends in the foster system.

CFR provides interdisciplinary family defense with a model that was unique at our founding and that is now being replicated nationally: we assign every client an attorney and a social work staff member, and teams have the support of parent advocates, who are parents with direct personal experience of being investigated and prosecuted by ACS. CFR was the first agency in the country to integrate parents with lived experience into legal teams and now has 7 parent advocates working in all three of our family defense locations. CFRs Community Advocacy Project represents parents during a child protective investigation (to avoid court involvement where possible) and assists parents in clearing their names from state maltreatment records.

As an agency committed to securing justice for families, we built the Youth Defense practice (YDP) to defend youth at risk of family separation through incarceration. YDP uses the same interdisciplinary model to represent youth being prosecuted in Queens and Manhattan in Supreme Court Youth Parts, during Probation Adjustment and in Delinquency proceedings in Family Court. CFRs Home for Good program provides legal and social work services to CFR clients in immigration , civil legal services and criminal defense matters, to afford clients an efficient and well-coordinated one-stop solution to a range of issues that threaten family stability.

Recognized as experts in our fields, we annually train over 500 practitioners in the city, state and around the country on strategies to promote family preservation and interdisciplinary representation, and we provide community based Know Your Rights presentations to parents, youth and service providers. We advocate at the city, state and national level for policies that reduce the harm of family separation , and promote parent engagement and justice for youth and families.

Current opening :

Staff Attorneys primary responsibilities include:

• Work as part of CFRs interdisciplinary legal teams (comprised of attorneys, social work staff, paralegals and parent advocates) to provide our clients with high-quality legal defense and meet objectives such as keeping children out of the foster system, shortening lengths of stay for children in the foster system, promoting quality family time arrangements, and insuring that families receive services that are well-tailored to expedite safe and lasting reunification

• Represent parents in Family Court who are respondents in Article 10 and all related supplemental proceedings, including termination of parental rights proceedings

• Pursue interim appeals on behalf of CFRs clients in collaboration with CFRs appeals team

• Keep case data, client legal notes and files up to date

• Participate in CFRs policy initiatives

• Actively engage in CFRs Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion initiatives

• Work collaboratively with CFR's Home for Good and Early Defense teams

• Participate in CFRs community engagement initiatives for Staten Island families

• Where appropriate, supervise law school interns

Attorneys joining CFR can expect intensive, interdisciplinary training on CFRs Cornerstone Advocacy model, family court, the family regulation system, client interviewing, and other critical skills. CFR is dedicated to providing ongoing professional development in best practices in all these areas in a variety of training forums for all staff.

Salary Range :

$86,800 (1 year of experience) - $122,800 (16 years of experience

*Based on relevant experience gained post JD graduation

CFR offers a generous compensation package, including a competitive base salary as well as health, 403(b) and vacation benefits. The salary, benefits, and employment policies relevant to this position are governed by the Collective Bargaining Agreement between CFR and the CFR Union, part of ALAA (Association of Legal Aid Attorneys) UAW 2325.

Qualifications

Qualifications :

• Admitted to practice law in the State of New York.
• At least 1yearof prior experience with family law, public benefits, housing, criminal defense or immigration is preferred
• Fluency in Spanish or other languages is preferred
• Applicants should demonstrate strong interpersonal and communication skills, a commitment to interdisciplinary representation of parents and a desire to share in both the exhilaration and challenges of a growing endeavor.

Apply

Candidates should submit their cover letter and resume through CFRs Career Portal .

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