The Legal Aid Society’s Civil Practice is seeking a Paralegal Casehandler to join the City-Wide Family/Domestic Violence Unit. The Paralegal Casehandler will work with the Director and the Supervising Attorney to assist clients with divorces, specifically uncontested divorces, as well as outreach, advice, and brief services to clients, data collection, data entry, and generating reports.

The Family/DV Unit provides comprehensive direct legal assistance to clients, many of whom are survivors of domestic violence in a broad range of family law matters, including orders of protection, divorces, custody, visitation, child support, spousal support, and property rights. The Paralegal Casehandler will work in the Harlem Community Law Office.  As part of the Family/DV Unit, the paralegal will also work in conjunction with several community-based organizations that are our partners to provide reciprocal referrals, training, clinics, outreach, and joint community education on various issues affecting survivors. The paralegal may also be required to provide outreach to various off-site locations.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES/RESPONSIBILITIES

Primary Responsibilities

• Interview clients, provide advice and direct assistance
• Under the supervision of an attorney, work with clients in uncontested divorces, handling all aspects of the client meetings and documents to be filed with the court
• Draft affidavits and other court documents, and work with staff attorneys on divorce cases
• Assist with the development of and conduct community education trainings and materials
• Maintain, organize, and update case files and case management database
• Assist with grant reporting
• This position may require off-site work and some evening hours

Professional Development and other duties as assigned

• Participate in continuous professional development
• Continuously learn about forms of bias in the workplace and demonstrate affirmative behaviors that support an inclusive work environment
• Other duties as assigned

TRAINING AND QUALIFICATIONS

Required qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree or paralegal certificate from an ABA-accredited paralegal program is strongly preferred; candidates with 4+ years of applicable legal work experience or an equivalent combination of education and applicable legal work experience will also be considered
• Excellent writing, oral advocacy, and computer skills
• Excellent organizational skills with the ability to multi-task and manage a large workload

Preferred qualifications:  

• Experience in and/or commitment to advocacy on behalf of low-income people and immigrants is strongly desired
• Knowledge of family law is desirable, but not required
• Experience assisting people in crisis is desirable, but not required
• Proficiency in languages other than English, especially Spanish, is desired

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.) their needs. Our ability to achieve these goals depends on the efforts of all of us.

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.