Subject to continued funding and staffing priorities, the City-wide Housing Practice at The Legal Aid Society is seeking Paralegal Casehandlers to join our Emergency Housing Response Teams in Brooklyn, Bronx, Manhattan, and Queens Neighborhood Office.

Every day across New York City, hundreds of low-income families end up in the various housing courts seeking immediate assistance as they have been evicted or are facing eviction within the next 24 hours. These critical cases require immediate action. Under this program, a team of supervisors, attorneys, and paralegals will operate as an emergency response team to provide representation to these clients. The ERT provides clients with legal and social services, with the dual objectives of preventing the immediate threat of homelessness, and stabilizing families over time to reduce the risk of homelessness in partnership with social services agencies.

The Paralegal Casehandlers will be based in one of our neighborhood offices and are integral members of the legal team that assists tenants in Housing Court. The Paralegals will also attend negotiation sessions, court proceedings and act as a liaison to court personnel.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES/RESPONSIBILITIES 

• Provide direct assistance to clients in the benefits area
• Interview and assess clients for representation
• Work with attorneys to resolve the government benefits issues involved with cases
• Obtain rent arrears payments and other rental arrears relief
• Advocate with various agencies regarding government benefits
• Handle a high volume of individual cases and respond to the needs of community-based organizations
• Off-site work and evening hours as needed
• Other duties as assigned

TRAINING AND QUALIFICATIONS

• Paralegal certificate from an accredited school, Bachelor’s degree in relevant field or satisfactory completion of a comprehensive in-house training course appropriate to practice area
• Excellent writing, verbal, organizational, and computer skills
• Able to work independently as well as collaboratively in a team and manage a high volume of cases
• Commitment to protecting the rights of low-income clients
• Experience in and/or commitment to advocacy on behalf of low-income people and immigrants is strongly desired
• Experience assisting people in crisis is desirable
• Proficiency in languages other than English is desirable, but not required

REQUIRED DOCUMENTS

Please submit these documents as a single combined PDF when you apply via the LAS (Legal Aid Society) Recruitment Portal.

• Resume
• Cover Letter

SALARY TRANSPARENCY

The posting reflects the range of potential salaries for the role. The specific salary offers will be dependent on candidate qualifications, including collectively bargained salary steps for unionized roles.

Salary Range/ Salary: $60,033 – $91,932

SALARY AND BENEFITS

The leadership of The Legal Aid Society believes in attracting and retaining exceptional talent committed to serving our clients. We offer a generous benefits package including health insurance, paid vacation, disability, and life insurance, and more. Salaries for our unionized jobs are governed by our Collective Bargaining Agreement. Please visit our Careers page for additional information. Salary and benefits information will be available to applicants, when and if an offer is made.

Click here to read more about the benefits of working at The Legal Aid Society 

HIGHER EDUCATION AND LOAN FORGIVENESS

The Legal Aid Society is a qualified employer for the purposes of the Public Service Loan Forgiveness. This position allows an employee to take advantage of PSLF and other State and Federal loan forgiveness programs.

Additionally, employees who are New York residents may be eligible for assistance from New York state to assist with loan repayments, depending on years of practice. To learn more, click the links below.

studentaid.gov 

hesc.ny.gov/loan-forgiveness-programs 

OUR COMMITMENT TO DIVERSITY, EQUITY, AND INCLUSION

The leadership of The Legal Aid Society is committed to a work culture of zealous advocacy, respect, diversity and inclusion, client-oriented defense, access to justice and excellent representation. We are dedicated to building a strong professional relationship with each of our clients, to understanding their diverse circumstances, and to meeting their needs. Our ability to achieve these goals depends on the efforts of all of us.

WORK AUTHORIZATION

All applicants must be legally authorized to work in the United States for any employer without sponsorship for a work visa or permit. We are currently unable to sponsor employment visas or permits. (However, for citizens of Canada and Mexico, LAS will provide a letter documenting employment status that is needed to obtain a TN visa.)

HOW TO APPLY

All applications must be completed online. We do not accept paper submissions. Please visit our Careers Page to review all current job postings, and instructions on the application process. For technical difficulties or questions regarding this posting, please email jo**************@le*******.org.

As an Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) Employer, The Legal Aid Society prohibits discriminatory employment actions against and treatment of its employees and applicants for employment based on actual or perceived race or color, size (including bone structure, body size, height, shape, and weight), religion or creed, alienage or citizenship status, sex (including pregnancy), national origin, age, sexual orientation, gender identity (one’s internal deeply-held sense of one’s gender which may be the same or different from one’s sex assigned at birth); gender expression (the representation of gender as expressed through, for example, one’s name, choice of pronouns, clothing, haircut, behavior, voice, or body characteristics; gender expression may not conform to traditional gender-based stereotypes assigned to specific gender identities), disability, marital status, relationship and family structure (including domestic partnerships, polyamorous families and individuals, chosen family, platonic co-parents, and multigenerational families), genetic information or predisposing genetic characteristics, military status, domestic violence victim status, arrest or pre-employment conviction record, credit history, unemployment status, caregiver status, salary history, or any other characteristic protected by law.