Community Paralegal, Bilingual (English/Spanish)

Childrens Law Center•Washington, DC

1d•$55,000 - $65,000•Hybrid

About The Position

The Bilingual (English/Spanish) Community Paralegal will provide critical support to the Special Legal Projects team in systemic work and brief service work. They will collaborate with attorneys doing systemic work such as impact litigation, filing amicus briefs and leveraging other tools to support systemic change for Children’s Law Center’s clients. This role will provide support in systemic litigation, including being a key point of contact for clients, gathering and maintaining client information, drafting client communications, conducting research and gathering, maintaining and analyzing evidence and case documents. The Bilingual Community Paralegal may also conduct client and related witness interviews and draft statements and declarations. This role will be responsible for coordinating with organizers in whole building housing conditions cases, including coordinating tenant meetings. This Bilingual Community Paralegal role requires some hours outside of the regular office hours for the purposes of tenant meetings and outreach but not on a weekly basis. The Bilingual Community Paralegal may also assist in research, filing, cite checking, fact-gathering and proofreading appeals and amicus briefs related to education, housing and other potential issues managed by the Special Legal Projects Program in collaboration with the Appellate Program.

Requirements

3-6 years’ experience as a paralegal or in related roles providing administrative support in a legal setting.
Experience managing a high-volume caseload, including efficient management of client files.
Experience with children and families with limited financial resources through work or lived experience.
Excellent attention to detail, organizational, time management and problem-solving skills.
Strong analytical and writing skills.
Proven ability to handle competing priorities and deadlines strategically in a fast-paced and changing environment.
Excellent interpersonal skills demonstrated by the ability to communicate effectively, both orally and in writing, in a variety of settings.
Proficiency using Microsoft Office suite of applications, specifically Word, Outlook, PowerPoint and Excel, with the ability to learn new software applications.
Fluency in Spanish with the ability to provide services to and communicate (both verbally and in writing) with clients in both English and Spanish.

Nice To Haves

A demonstrated commitment to social, economic and racial justice.
Ability to work independently and collaboratively with others.
Excellent professional judgment and ability to maintain confidential information.
Experience interviewing others and/or in customer service.
Experience with project management.
Excellent time management skills with the ability to work independently and collaboratively on multiple projects.
Strong editing and research (legal and factual) skills.
Paralegal certificate or degree from an ABA-approved program preferred.
Experience with community organizing or outreach is a plus.
Experience working with court rules, court operating procedures and electronic filing systems a plus.

Responsibilities

Gather information about potential clients in systemic litigation through interviews, research and analysis of documents.
Working with attorneys to analyze and synthesize information in support of case development.
Assist with canvassing at buildings or other community outreach sites in DC.
Assist with client outreach, including texts, emails and distribution of gift cards after client events.
Assist with development of client-facing educational and/or informational materials, including translation of materials.
Communicate with systemic clients about ongoing case matters.
Review files for individual clients in systemic litigation matters to assess trends in systemic litigation.
Conduct intakes and assess clients for suitability for impact litigation.
Interview declarants and draft declarations.
Maintain files for systemic cases the case management system and in SharePoint or other shared file systems with co-counsel.
Work with organizers and other community advocates in systemic litigation.
Attend relevant meetings to take notes to support litigation.
Support filings for case through checking citations, proofreading and assistance with filing.
Support with scheduling and coordination with pro bono attorneys as needed.
Support program development by assisting in creating and documenting processes and systems.
Assess information and data to assist with development of impact litigation cases.
Assist with FOIA requests related to impact litigation.
Work with program leadership on developing project management system for cases.
Process and manage requests from the media.
Support Brief Service Attorneys through assistance with drafting educational evaluation requests, ghostwritten demand letters or other similar client assistance letters in the areas of housing, education, family law and public benefits.
Support Brief Service Attorneys through other client assistance tasks, such as records requests, calls to the Social Security Administration, follow up with government agencies or other similar tasks to assist clients in solving essential problems.
Other duties as assigned.