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The Legal Aid Society · 10 hours ago

Temporary Paralegal Casehandler, Law Reform Unit

New York, NY

Full-time

Onsite

Mid Level

$62K/yr - $96K/yr

4+ years exp

The Legal Aid Society is a prominent organization dedicated to providing legal assistance to low-income individuals. They are seeking a Temporary Paralegal Casehandler for their Law Reform Unit, focusing on systemic reforms related to housing discrimination and supportive housing issues.

ConsultingFamilyGovernmentLegalNon Profit

No H1B

Responsibilities

Conduct intake/client interviews, provide advice and direct assistance, and assess requests for services related to housing discrimination with a focus on source of income discrimination

Contact landlords and brokers in real time to prevent the loss of a housing opportunity

Report discrimination to the pre-complaint intervention units at the NYC Commission on Human Rights and NYS Division on Human Rights (Section 8 only)

Advocate to public housing authorities (NYCHA, HPD, etc) to prevent the loss of Section 8 benefits, particularly clients face housing discrimination

Liaise with housing specialists, homebase, DHS, NYCHA, HPD, HCR Section 8, and HRA to assist clients attempting to "lease up" with a housing voucher

Support fair housing litigation aimed at curtailing the discriminatory practices of large landlords and brokerages

Support affirmative fair housing litigation to preserve and/or restore Section 8 benefits for existing Legal Aid clients facing eviction

Assist in administering settlements with large housing providers, including referring clients to "set aside apartments" (units that are offered to clients with voucher for a first look as part of a settlement)

Other duties as assigned

Qualification

Paralegal certificateLegal work experienceWritten advocacyOral advocacyOrganizational skillsMulti-taskingAdvocacy commitmentCrisis assistanceLanguage proficiencyTeamworkCollaboration

Required

Eligible candidates must have at least one of the following: A bachelor's degree (strongly preferred), A paralegal certificate from an ABA accredited paralegal program, At minimum a high school diploma / GED and 4+ years of legal work experience, 4+ years of combined higher education and legal work experience

Excellent written, oral advocacy, and computer skills

Excellent organizational skills with ability to multi-task and manage a large workload

Ability to work independently as well as in a team

Ability to coordinate and collaborate successfully with other groups and organizations

Commitment to advocacy on behalf of low-income people and immigrants

Preferred

Experience assisting people in crisis is desirable, but not required

In Queens, proficiency in languages other than English, especially Spanish, Mandarin, French Creole, Russian and/or Bengali is desirable, but not required