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African Communities Together · 2 weeks ago

Director of Immigration Legal Services

New York, NY

Full-time

Hybrid

Director/Executive

6+ years exp

African Communities Together (ACT) is an organization of African immigrants fighting for civil rights and opportunity. They are seeking a Director of Immigration Legal Services to lead their immigration legal service provision and manage a team of immigration legal professionals, ensuring the program aligns with organizational goals and delivers justice for low-income African immigrants.

Civic & Social Organization

Responsibilities

Lead and manage the immigration legal services program. Working with the legal team and other ACT senior leadership, the Director will be responsible for developing, implementing, and executing the strategy, plans, and goals of ACT’s immigration legal services program. The Director will be responsible for knowing and managing the program’s government contracts and foundation grants, including their required deliverables, and aligning the program’s activities with ACT’s organizational goals, capacity, structure, policies, and culture

Supervise and manage immigration attorneys, paralegals, and legal support staff. Initially, the Director will supervise immigration legal teams in ACT’s New York office and DC/MD/VA office. As the legal program grows and ACT expands to new geographic areas, it is anticipated that the Director will supervise legal staff in ACT’s Philadelphia/PA office, in new chapter locations, or national staff positions. The Director will primarily supervise full-time employees, but on occasion may be required to supervise contract attorneys. This will include, at a minimum:

Managing assignment and distribution of workload, maintaining familiarity with individual and team dockets, contract timelines, etc., and adjusting as needed

Communicating about and advocating for the department’s priorities and needs with the Executive Director and other ACT senior leadership

Holding regular (weekly or biweekly) one-on-one meetings with legal staff and immigration legal team meetings

Providing legal supervision and review of legal work performed by legal staff, ensuring accuracy, timeliness, and compliance with the law and professional ethics

Ensuring accurate, timely, and thorough electronic notekeeping and digital data collection

Providing mentorship and professional development to legal staff that enables them to grow as legal professionals

Addressing issues of communication, support, training, etc. as they impact team performance

Review and develop legal team work systems, such as intake management, and coordinate information sharing across local offices

Monitoring and utilization of electronic data systems used to track intakes, casework, and outcomes and maintain digital case records

Collaborate with other ACT departments and staff to improve efficiency and integration of the legal program. The immigration legal services program both supports the work of ACT and requires support from other teams to be successful. The Director plays an integral role in ensuring that the department is integrated and aligned with the rest of the organization, including working with Chapter Directors to ensure that immigration legal services are integrated with Chapter operations, working with the Deputy ED of Programs to conduct program evaluation and improvement for ACT’s immigration legal service delivery model, and working with the Organizing Team to integrate legal clients into ACT membership and provide legal services to ACT members

Supervise, review, and perform reporting and proposal development for immigration legal services. Working with the legal team, Chapter Directors, the Contract and Compliance Manager, and the Finance Director, the Director will develop proposals for provision of immigration legal services to government and private funding agencies, track progress toward achievement of goals and deliverables, and prepare and submit timely and accurate reports–whether monthly, quarterly, annual, etc.-- to funding agencies

Manage and maintain Department of Justice recognition for ACT and accreditation for individual representatives

Provide direct legal services and representation to clients as required

Qualification

Licensed attorneyImmigration legal practicePeople managementFluency in African languageElectronic case managementContinuous improvementCollaborationDetail-oriented

Required

Demonstrated passion and commitment to ACT's mission and constituency

Licensed attorney in good standing and eligible to practice immigration law

At least 6 years of experience with immigration legal practice, preferably with immigrants from African countries

Proven people management skills to lead an experienced, diverse, and geographically dispersed team

An inclusive management style that places deep value on diverse perspectives and emphasizes the development and growth of team members and encourages learning and continued improvement

A natural orientation towards collaboration and a commitment to personal and professional continuous improvement

A leader who is disciplined, focused, and detail-oriented, and who has experience with creating and putting in place systems for organizing and managing legal casework, while also being agile and adaptive

The ability to succeed in a startup/growth environment, including accountability to goals, willingness to work across organizational silos and take on multiple roles, and ability to prioritize

Familiarity with electronic case management systems and experience with reporting outcomes