About the Legal Aid Justice Center:

The Legal Aid Justice Center is a nationally recognized, non-profit organization that partners with low-income clients and communities of color in Virginia to fight for racial, social, and economic justice. We understand that the harms our clients endure are inextricably linked to overarching systems of injustice. Together we are dismantling those systems through a combination of community organizing, litigation, policy advocacy, public relations, and individual legal services.

Founded in 1967, LAJC has offices in Charlottesville, Richmond, Petersburg, and Falls Church and provides services under six key program areas: Civil Rights & Racial Justice (focuses on the criminal legal system), Housing & Consumer Justice, Youth Justice, Health Justice & Public Benefits, Immigrant Justice, and Worker Justice. As examples of LAJCs recent work, our lawsuit and organizing against the state forced reform of Virginias unemployment insurance system, including advocacy that resulted in the distribution of over $1 billion in illegally withheld payments to over 160,000 Virginians. During the pandemic, we demanded and secured a statewide eviction moratorium and emergency pandemic protections that helped hundreds of families avoid eviction. We reduced incarceration across the state, including reducing the population of a local immigration detention center down to historically low levels through a coordinated effort of organizing paired with impact and individual litigation. Our staff are on the front lines of some of the most important anti-poverty fights happening today.

With a staff of over 90, the past few years have been a time of exciting growth and opportunity for the organization. In addition to the growth of programmatic efforts including increased organizing capacity, LAJC has expanded its operations and administrative capacity, created new opportunities for professional growth and leadership among staff, engaged in ongoing race equity work, and explored changes to organizational structure to deepen its efforts to create long-term, sustainable, community-driven change.

LAJCs latest strategic plan is available athttps://www.justice4all.org/lajc-strategic-plan-2022-2026/#area%20d.

For more information about LAJCs work and programs, visitwww.justice4all.org.

About the Position:

The Legal Aid Justice Center seeks an Attorney who specializes in education or juvenile court system, advocacy for its Youth Justice Program in our Petersburg or Norfolk office. Although the Legal Aid Justice Center has multiple office locations, this position is based exclusively in our Petersburg or Norfolk offices. This role will be cross-posted, and applicants need apply to only one job requisition. A brief questionnaire is included to indicate your preferred office location (Petersburg or Norfolk).

The Attorney will work closely with Organizers, families, community members, local organizations, statewide partners, and other LAJC advocates to identify and track systemic problems affecting our communities. The Attorney is expected to assist in addressing these problems through a combination of individual advice and representation, as well as impact litigation, community outreach, engagement and education, and state and local policy advocacy. The exact mix of duties will depend on the skills and interests of the person hired, as well as the needs of the program at that time.

The position will maintain a practice that primarily involves advising, representing, and advocating for families and youth on issues related to education access and equity, discrimination in schools, and juvenile court involvement. Additionally, the position has the potential to include cross program work and may also involve in advocacy related to mental health and disability law, housing instability, immigration, and family preservation as intersectional and holistic components of our work. Depending on experience and capacity, the Attorney may also be expected to work to build capacity for client representation and advice through coordinating pro bono attorneys, volunteers, and referral network, as well as building self-advocacy capacity through resource development.

Job Duties:

• Provide advice and counsel to system-involved youth and their families and/or to individuals and community groups on education issues (including special education, school discipline, enrollment, and school-based discrimination).
• Represent youth in individual cases in administrative proceedings, school discipline hearings, and before state and federal courts.
• Work alongside organizers and community members to build and implement impact advocacy campaigns in alignment with the Youth Justice Program’s core priorities.
• Advocate for legislation, regulations, and policies that support young people, especially youth of color, those from under-resourced communities, and students with disabilities.
• Participate in various work groups, coalitions, etc., and attend community events.
• As needed, produce publications including fact sheets, issue briefs, reports, and op-eds.
• Assist with advocacy communications efforts, e.g., drafting press releases, responding to media inquiries, and drafting content for social media.
• When appropriate, support and/or lead impact litigation in state and federal court.
• Provide subject matter expertise and technical assistance as needed to internal policy advocates and organizers, and community partners.
• Assist with the coordination of cases for pro-bono partners.
  • Racial Equity: Promote racial equity across all dimensions, including withing LAJC, by doing the following: Helping to recruit, retain, and support both staff and leadership that reflect the racial composition of our community;
  • Cultivating respect for the work of and expanding resources for non-attorney staff that are disproportionately people of color;
  • Creating spaces for staff to discuss issues of racial, gender, and all other issues of marginalization; and
  • Pushing for institutional and cultural changes by management, the board, and staff to further promote racial equity.

Required Qualifications:

• Strong commitment to social, economic, and racial justice.
• Relevant experience working in education, juvenile court, or other child-serving areas of law.
• Professional or lived experience advocating in under-resourced communities.
• Outstanding oral advocacy, research, writing, and leadership skills.
• Ability to work effectively across multiple teams.
• Ability to communicate effectively across multiple teams.
• Willingness to travel statewide occasionally.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Membership in the Virginia State Bar, or eligibility and willingness to become a member of the VSB promptly either by passing the bar exam, or meeting requirements to waive into bar membership without taking the bar exam. (Note: this position may be eligible for the newly enacted<…