Legal Action of Wisconsin, Inc. (Legal Action) is seeking a full-time staff attorney, located in Milwaukee, to anchor its Road to Opportunity Project (RTO). The RTO Project is the “umbrella title” for a changing group of grant-funded projects that focus on helping individuals overcome barriers to employment both by increasing access to positive employment credentials and by mitigating the impact of such negative credentials as arrest and conviction histories. The position is available immediately.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this position may be remote.
Legal Action of Wisconsin (LAW) is a large, vibrant non-profit law firm funded by the federal Legal Services Corporation, the Wisconsin Trust Account Foundation, and other sources. LAW provides free legal aid to about 13,500 low-income persons annually in the southern 39 counties of Wisconsin with offices in Milwaukee, Madison, Racine, Oshkosh, Green Bay, and La Crosse. In addition, LAW operates a statewide farmworker= project, and several state-wide projects serving crime victims, including victims of sex and labor trafficking. LAW attorneys have expertise in a range of substantive areas, but the majority of our work is in the areas of housing, public benefits, removing barriers to employment, consumer law, and family law. Staff attorneys are expected to maintain a direct service caseload on behalf of individual and group clients, as well as to engage in law reform litigation and other impact work. Attorneys are expected to specialize in specific areas of poverty law.
The Milwaukee Area Office staff of 35 attorneys, 12 paralegals, and 17 other administrative, professional and technical staff provides representation to residents of Milwaukee and Waukesha County. Intake is done by telephone, on a walk-in basis, or at neighborhood outstations in Milwaukee and Waukesha. The Milwaukee Area Office also houses the Legal Action administrative staff, the SeniorLAW Project, and a Volunteer Lawyers Project. Two attorneys are located at the Center for Driver's License Recovery & Employment.
Equal justice under law can only be achieved through the collaboration of a diverse staff. When we utilize our differences, we effect positive change for the communities we serve. We are committed to equitable inclusion across gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, ability, sex, religion, economic circumstances, ethnicity, national origin, and culture. We are striving to transcend the construct of race and be an anti-racist law firm. We encourage staff to bring their whole selves to work each day and pledge to celebrate every aspect of who they are.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
Legal Action is seeking a full-time attorney to represent individuals in a range of employment-related cases, collaborate with project attorneys, and act as the public face of the Milwaukee office’s employment law work. Responsibilities will include:
• Records mitigation work focused on Wisconsin’s two primary public records databases: WCCA and the Department of Justice’s Criminal History Archive;
• Expungements for adults and juveniles;
• Advice and representation in pardon applications;
• Municipal court representation in cases that impact employability including, but not limited to:
o Retail theft
o Assault/Battery
o Disorderly Conduct
o Resisting/Obstruction
o Vandalism
o Possession of THC/paraphernalia
o All juvenile tickets;
• Representation in school cases that will impact employment and access to education, including expulsion hearings;
• Participation in firm-wide work group staffing in unemployment compensation cases
• Representation in selected employment discrimination cases; and
• Representation in selected occupational licensing cases.
The job also requires the lawyer to identify and help develop impact litigation, in coordination with the Employment Priority Committee and the Assistant Director of Litigation, for the firm as a whole. The new lawyer will be expected to plan and initiate affirmative litigation in state and federal courts.
The new employment lawyer will also conduct community education sessions, become familiar with community needs, attend job fairs, update employment training materials, and assist in training volunteer attorneys working in RTO clinical programs.
OTHER RESPONSIBILITIES
• Provide rigorous and high-quality representation in all direct service cases using Legal Action’s attorney performance standards.
• Work effectively with clients from a wide range of backgrounds
• Develop expertise in the areas of law that affect employability, and access to employment, including state and federal constitutional law, basic employment law, occupational licensing regulation, employment discrimination, public records and municipal law, school law and the laws that govern records mitigation.
• Participate in at least one of Legal Action’s firm-wide Priority Committees
• Staff attorneys may supervise interns or paralegals in addition to other duties that may be assigned from time to time.
• Attorneys are expected to share responsibility for the development and maintenance of good working relationships with community groups and with state and local bar associations and others.
• Attorneys will be called upon to provide training and other assistance to volunteers who participate in Legal Action's Volunteer Lawyer Project.
• All attorneys perform intake duties and, where necessary, make appropriate referrals to other community agencies.
QUALIFICATIONS
We value a diverse staff and work environment. We strongly encourage applications from women, people of color, people who identify as LGBTQIA, people with disabilities, and people with life experiences or education that add to our diversity and our capacity to provide high-quality legal aid. We also encourage applicants to include a statement about the ways that their unique backgrounds and personal, professional, and life experiences contribute to the diversity, cultural vitality, and perspective of our staff and our law firm’s mission along with their other application materials.
• Admission to Wisconsin State Bar
• Superior writing, research, and analytical skills
• Enthusiasm for representing clients in court as well as through motions and other written work
• Self-motivated, diligent, and able to meet deadlines and manage a case load that includes various kinds of cases
• Commitment to serving low-income clients, the Milwaukee community, and to improving access to justice
• Cultural competence and respect for differences in race, ethnicity, age, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, religion, ability, and socio-economic circumstances
• Prior legal aid or other relevant experience is preferred
• Some experience with federal or state courtroom procedure is helpful
• Ability to travel throughout Legal Action’s service area to meet with clients and to attend court hearings and for training and ability to travel overnight and out of state occasionally for training and other purposes.
SALARY, BENEFITS AND OTHER INFORMATION
The salary for this and all positions are determined by Legal Action’s attorney salary scale as set forth in the firms’ salary administration plan. The attorney salary is determined by Legal Action’s Board of Directors. The position may receive an annual increase if the Board of Directors approves it. For example, under Legal Action’s attorney salary scale, an attorney with 0-1 years of experience practicing law would earn a salary of $45,727. An attorney with 5 years of experience practicing law would earn a salary of $52,347.
Legal Action provides a generous fringe benefits package, including employer-paid health and dental insurance for employees and eligible dependents. (Some employees are required to contribute to the health insurance premium for their spouse, if the spouse has group health insurance provided by their employer.) Legal Action also provides life and long-term disability insurance, a profit-sharing retirement plan, salary deferral options for retirement planning, low-cost employee paid vision coverage, four weeks of vacation per year, four days of personal leave per year, generous sick leave accrual, and four weeks of paid parental leave for eligible employees.
The position is governed by Legal Action’s Personnel Policies, subject to unilateral change by the firm’s Board of Directors. All positions at Legal Action are “at will”; there is no guaranteed period of employment.
PHYSICAL DEMANDS AND WORK ENVIRONMENT:
This position involves sedentary work, including sitting and/or standing at a desk while working a computer for an extended period. This position also exerts up to 10 pounds of force on a regular basis to lift, carry, push, or otherwise move objects. While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to stand, sit, talk, hear and use hands and fingers to operate a computer and/or laptop keyboard and use a telephone. Specific vision abilities required for this job include close vision requirements due to computer work. The position may drive a motor vehicle while seated for extended periods of time daily. Occasional reaching, bending, kneeling and stooping involved to retrieve various items and materials are required. This position works in an environmentally-controlled office environment with moderate noise from phones, printers, and light office traffic.
TO APPLY
To apply, please send a cover letter, resumé, and a recent legal writing sample or samples. Applicants are also encouraged to include a statement about the ways that their unique background and their personal, professional, and life experiences contribute to the diversity, cultural vitality, and perspective of our staff and our law firm’s mission.
Applicants should email the items to Molly Gena at
RTOHiring@legalaction.org.
Deadline to Apply: Monday, July 13, 2020 at 5:00 P.M.
Legal Action of Wisconsin, Inc. is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer
