CLP Staff Attorney – Bread For The City – Washington, DC

Mission:

The mission of Bread for the City is to help Washington, D.C. residents living with low income to develop the power to determine the future of their own communities. We provide food, clothing, medical care, and legal and social services to reduce the burden of poverty. We seek justice through community organizing and public advocacy. We work to uproot racism, a major cause of poverty. We are committed to treating our clients with the dignity and respect that all people deserve.

Bread for the City’s Legal Clinic works to ensure access to justice for individuals in our nation’s capital. The Legal Clinic provides front-line civil legal services primarily in the areas of housing, family, immigration, and public benefits law. The Community Lawyering Project (CLP) uses legal advocacy and organizing to help achieve solutions to community-identified issues in ways that develop local leadership and lasting institutions that can continue to exert power to effect systemic change. CLP does this work in collaboration with community members in coalition with other legal services organizations and advocacy groups in a way that is strategic, while still being responsive to a community’s vision and the political landscape.

Position Description:

Bread for the City seeks a dedicated lawyer with 1-3 years of post J.D. experience to fill a new position funded by a 3-year grant. The CLP Staff Attorney will provide legal services to tenants and/or tenant associations and assists in the daily operation of Bread for the City’s CLP practice and the Legal Clinic. The majority of the legal work is transactional in nature. In addition, the CLP Staff Attorney will help support housing-related advocacy and policy reform efforts in the District through participation in various stakeholder groups, legislative reform efforts and outreach/tenant education events. Work may include but is not limited to:

• Helping tenants fight unlawful or unreasonable rent increases;
• Helping challenge subsidy opt-outs by owners;
• Helping tenants exercise their Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act rights and enforcing tenants’ rights to building improvements;
• Ensuring equitable redevelopment of public housing properties;
• Conducting intakes and providing legal advice and brief service;
• Supporting staffing of the courthouse office; and
• Handling a small caseload of individual landlord-tenant and related housing cases, including complex legal matters.

Requirements:

• 1-3 years legal experience;
• Transactional housing/real estate experience preferred but not required;
• Member of the D.C. Bar or eligible to practice under D.C. Court of Appeals Rule 49(c)(9);
• Prior experience in a legal services or other public interest setting;
• Demonstrated ability to communicate, engage with, and represent clients across cultures, ethnic backgrounds, socio-economic backgrounds, and varying levels of differing abilities;
• Ability to work with other staff and interact with a wide variety of people, including volunteers, in a professional and collaborative manner;
• Demonstrated commitment to social, economic, and racial justice and/or willingness to learn and carry out Bread for the City’s commitments in these areas;
• Excellent interpersonal skills;
• Excellent organizational, analytical, and research skills;
• Ability to communicate effectively in oral and written communication;
• Excellent negotiation skills;
• High degree of flexibility;
• Sense of humor, seriously;
• Comfortable working in an open work environment, with no private offices for staff (once remote work ends);
• Familiarity with Google Organization & Productivity tools (Gmail, Google Docs, Calendar) and/or ability to learn new technology systems; and
• Bilingual (Spanish/English) skills preferred but not required.

Compensation:

Bread for the City offers a starting staff attorney salary of $58,000 ($59,000 with Spanish proficiency). That starting salary may increase commensurate with up to 3 years of certain previous post J.D. legal work. We also offer a generous benefits package, which can be reviewed at https://breadforthecity.org/work-with-us/. Also, the D.C. Bar Foundation offers a Loan Repayment Assistance Program to qualified Bread for the City attorneys, providing renewable one-year, interest-free, forgivable loans, of up to $12,000 per year. For more information, see https://dcbarfoundation.org/lrap/.

Bread for the City is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, pregnancy, national origin, ancestry, age, marital status, sexual orientation, family responsibility, physical or mental disability, medical condition, status as a veteran, or any other category protected by applicable federal, state, or local law, except where a bona fide occupational qualification applies.

To apply:

You must complete an application through Bread for the City’s ADP portal. Go to www.breadforthecity.org/work and click on the “CLP Staff Attorney” position. Then select “apply” at the top right hand corner to register for a login and apply for the position. Please upload a resume and cover letter through this online application process. Only those candidates selected for interviews will be contacted. No phone calls or emails, please.