Senior Staff Attorney

LOCATION

Bakersfield preferred, but Los Angeles, Riverside, or Orange County possible. This position requires the Attorney to spend significant time physically present in Kern County, and experience in/connections with the Kern community are preferred.[VL1] 

DEPARTMENT

Advocacy

DEADLINE DATE

Open until filled. 

The ACLU Foundation of Southern California (“ACLU SoCal”) seeks a Staff Attorney or Senior Staff Attorney for the Immigrants’ Rights project. The Attorney will develop and litigate, immigration, state and federal cases and engage in legislative and policy advocacy on issues relating to immigrants’ rights. The Attorney will also provide technical assistance to community groups, support movement building, and develop advocacy campaigns to protect the rights of people impacted by the immigration system.

Founded in 1923, ACLU SoCal has been at the forefront of many major efforts to protect civil liberties, civil rights, and equal justice in California. Principled and nonpartisan, ACLU SoCal has offices in Los Angeles, the Inland Empire (Riverside), and Kern County (Bakersfield). ACLU SoCal tackles a vast array of issues, including police practices, criminal justice, First Amendment rights, voting rights, gender equity, reproductive justice, LGBTQ rights, immigrants’ rights, education equity, and economic justice.

OVERVIEW

The Attorney will help to develop and litigate (or, if Senior, build and lead) state and federal cases; create, implement, and participate in innovative advocacy and campaigns; engage in public education; provide technical assistance on immigration-related issues to coalitions, community partners, government officials, and government bodies.

The Attorney will advocate on the full range of immigrants’ rights issues on which the ACLU SoCal engages in Kern County. Litigation, advocacy, and public education campaigns might include: addressing unlawful ICE and local law enforcement practices; reducing immigration detention and addressing detention conditions; improving indigent criminal defense of noncitizens; working to build a strong social safety net and protections for low-wage immigrant workers; and enhancing transparency, accountability, and responsiveness from elected officials’ offices. 

The Staff Attorney will be part of the dedicated staff of the ACLU SoCal’s Kern office and a member of the ACLU SoCal’s Immigrants’ Rights Team, as well as the California statewide Immigrants’ Rights teams. The Staff Attorney will also work with other attorneys, policy advocates and organizers from other ACLU SoCal Projects as needed. When intersectional issues arise, the Staff Attorney will work collaboratively with the Activist Engagement and Development team and Communications team on campaigns.

The Attorney will be supervised by a Senior Staff Attorney with the Immigrants’ Rights Team within the ACLU SoCal Advocacy Department.

Travel throughout the Southern California region and occasional trips to Sacramento may be required.

We recognize that ACLU SoCal’s integrated advocacy approach in which advocacy staff utilize diverse tactics to advance our goals, including litigating, drafting legislation, and lobbying elected officials, working in coalition with grassroots organizations, and engaging in public education campaigns including report writing and issue-based trainings, is not typical. While candidates must meet the minimum qualifications, we do not expect candidates to have experience performing the entire range of tasks that would comprise the job responsibilities for this position.  We encourage interested candidates to consider the transferrable skills that they have developed, particularly those related to written and oral communication, collective action, and advocacy on behalf of others—and assess whether they are willing to gain experience with new job functions—when applying to this position.

JOB RESPONSIBILITIES:
 ACLU SoCal’s “integrated advocacy” model unites legal advocacy, policy advocacy, organizing, and base building for maximum impact. In keeping with that approach, the Staff Attorney will work on cases, advocacy projects, public education, and campaigns. The Staff Attorney’s responsibilities will be the following:

• Conduct legal advocacy and investigate, develop and litigate high-impact cases at the trial and appellate level in federal state, and immigration courts. 
• Be part of litigation teams, serve as co-counsel, and work in conjunction with other staff within the ACLU SoCal, the other two California ACLU affiliates, and partner organizations. 
• Supervise the work of interns and more junior lawyers
• Serve as a policy expert and advocate on state and local immigrants’ rights issues in support of legislation and other campaigns
• Develop advocacy content
• Devise and present engaging presentations and do public speaking
• Build, facilitate, and participate in coalitions 
• Provide logistical support for meetings
• Establish and cultivate collaborative relationships with community partners, coalitions, stakeholders, and ACLU members.
• Provide technical support to community groups, advocates, and organizers in the region.
• Organize, lead, and participate in community education events and meetings
• Forge and maintain relationships with people impacted by the systems we are working to change to implement collaborative projects and foster positive, effective working relationships while focusing on a people power-based theory of change.
• Meaningfully incorporate people who have been impacted by the legal system we are working to change, helping to elevate and center their expertise and leadership whenever possible.
• Organize and attend lobbying visits with state and local officials, provide testimony to administrative agencies and governing bodies, and develop and cultivate relationships with lawmakers and decisionmakers to advance organizing and policy advocacy objectives.
• Collaborate with and provide support to people in other ACLU affiliates in California and the Sacramento legislative office, as well as colleagues at the national ACLU
• Occasional work evenings and weekends. 

RACIAL EQUITY COMPETENCIES

Understanding and Applying Racial Equity

• Demonstrate commitment to building or deepening understanding of racial equity:
  • Core terms and concepts such as structural racism, white privilege, and anti-Blackness.
  • The role that racial inequity has played and continues to play in our society.
  • How race impacts supervisory relationships, team dynamics, and organizational culture.
  • Personal/implicit/unconscious bias.

Working for Racial Equity

• Consistently assess structural implications and racially disproportionate impacts of policies, activities, and decisions within the context of their job responsibilities; race/ethnicity, intersection of race/ethnicity, gender, identity, and/or sexual orientation.
• Consistently adhere to organization’s racial equity policies and procedures, including those that relate to hiring, retention, and promotion.
• Consistently identify and disrupt ways in which bias plays out in work and/or team.

QUALIFICATIONS

The ACLU SoCal anticipates hiring an attorney with approximately 8-15 years of experience for this position and will consider all applicants with approximately that level of experience with a demonstrated commitment to civil and human rights, immigrants’ rights, racial justice, and strong advocacy and litigation skills. The ideal candidate will be a hard-working leader with a proven record of accomplishments working with, advocating with, and/or organizing with legal-system-involved and legal-system-impacted individual, other marginalized populations, and community-based organizations.

Required

• Excellent research, writing, analytic, and speaking skills.
• Ability to develop and litigate impact cases.
• Ability to work in diverse coalitions and develop and implement advocacy campaigns.
• Demonstrated ability to participate in, create, and sustain inclusive and engaging spaces for all.
• Demonstrated ability to lead projects, build strong relationships and work well in collaboration with others.
• A deep commitment to the cause of civil liberties and civil rights, including policing issues.
• Travel within Southern California, as well as occasionally to other parts of the state.
• Extremely strong project and time management skills, including a high level of organization, attention to detail and follow-through, while balancing and prioritizing multiple activities and responsibilities.
• Willingness to work occasional weekend and evening hours, as needed.
• Ability to supervise interns, or, if Senior, other attorneys.
• Admitted to practice law in the state of California or willingness to promptly take the California bar exam. 

Desired

• Familiarity working in the area of immigrants’ rights, civil rights, and/or social justice issues in Southern California. People with personal experience with the criminal legal system, including people who are formerly incarcerated or have a close family experience with incarceration, are encouraged to apply for this position.  
• A demonstrated commitment and track record of doing intersectional advocacy.
• Experience working effectively with coalitions and building coalitions.
• Experience planning and facilitating workshops, trainings, meetings, and other community events.
• Familiarity with Kern County, the Central Valley, or similar communities.
• Spanish language fluency. 

BENEFITS

The salary range for this position starts at $106,352 annually and is based on year of law school graduation. Attorneys with more than 10 years of litigation experience may be eligible for higher compensation based on year of law school graduation.

Benefits include medical, vision, and dental insurance for staff members and their eligible dependents; life and long-term, short-term disability insurance; 401(k) plan with employer match; ample vacation and sick leave and twenty-two paid holidays.

TO APPLY

Please upload your resume, cover letter, and writing sample to our Application Portal:

The ACLU of Southern California is committed to developing a culture of diversity, equity, respect, and inclusion and to strive to maintain a workforce that reflects the communities that we serve. The ACLU SoCal is an equal opportunity employer that does not unlawfully discriminate on the basis of any status or condition protected by applicable law. We encourage all qualified individuals to apply and value people of all races, genders (including gender identity or expression), sexual orientations, disabilities, citizenships, ages, religions, and national origins and who have different marital statuses, family caregiving responsibilities, lived experiences with the criminal justice systems, and genetic information. The ACLU SoCal does not tolerate discrimination or harassment on the basis of any of these characteristics.

The ACLU SoCal is committed to providing reasonable accommodation to individuals with disabilities. If you are a qualified individual with a disability and need assistance applying online, please e-mail hrsuppport@aclusocal.org. If you are selected for an interview, you will receive additional information regarding how to request an accommodation for the interview process.