Legal Director, Civil Rights & Racial Justice Program (Criminal Justice Focus)

Description

About the Position
Legal Aid Justice Center seeks a strategic, collaborative legal advocate to lead a creative and passionate team of attorneys and organizers as CRRJ Legal Director. Reporting to the Deputy Director for Advocacy, the Legal Director provides strategic vision for and guidance over CRRJ’s advocacy campaigns.
Launched in 2017, CRRJ has already made its mark at the state and local level. In the 2021 state legislative session, CRRJ and its partners celebrated key victories that will: establish a system of automatic criminal record sealing; create a first-of-its-kind, publicly accessible
statewide pre-trial data aggregation system; and reform the use of fines and fees in Virginia’s court system. Additional successes include: supporting community leaders’ efforts to secure the release of policing data in Richmond that revealed widespread racial disparities in departmental interaction with city residents; ending the law requiring the suspension of driver’s licenses for unpaid court debt; cementing civilian oversight of law enforcement in Charlottesville in the wake of deadly, unchecked white supremacist violence; and successfully challenging as unconstitutional Virginia’s “habitual drunkard” law for criminalizing people experiencing homelessness and substance use disorders.

Job Duties

Responsibilities
• Devise strategic advocacy campaigns using the variety of tools employed by LAJC’s programs, including impact litigation (and individual representation in limited instances), organizing, policy advocacy, and community education and technical assistance.
• Mentor and directly supervise staff, including attorneys, organizers, interns/fellows and volunteers.
• Build relationships with directly impacted community members, members of the bench and bar, agency heads and elected officials.
• Work in coalition with other legal, non-profit and community-based advocacy organizations.
• LAJC also hosts the University of Virginia Law School’s Civil Rights Clinic, and, if interested, the Legal Director may work with other staff to provide supervision and instruction to clinic students.
• Serve as a member of LAJC’s management team, which advises the Executive Director as she decides organizational priorities for all programmatic work and provides stewardship of organizational resources.

Skills Required

Required Qualifications
While no one candidate will possess all of the requirements listed below, the ideal candidate will have many of the following qualifications:
• Minimum 5 years’ membership in any state bar; if not admitted in Virginia, must be eligible to waive in or to sit for the Virginia Bar. (Note, the Virginia Supreme Court will be considering a rule change that would make it easier for legal aid employees licensed in other states to waive into the Virginia Bar.)
• Mission-aligned experience (work or lived) partnering with and advocating in low-wealth communities and communities of color
• Sincere and demonstrated commitment to racial equity, inclusion, and justice
• Familiarity with criminal legal policy/system (from work or lived experience)
• Ability to work and communicate effectively across lines of identity and difference
• Ability to effectively supervise across lines of identity and difference
• Ability to work effectively both independently and collaboratively
• Strong oral advocacy, research and writing skills
• Willingness to work a flexible schedule that may include evening and weekend events, as well as occasional travel
• Strong commitment to social, economic, and racial justice

Preferred Qualifications
• Federal civil rights litigation experience
• Policy advocacy at the agency and legislative level
• Familiarity with organizing campaigns and/or community or movement lawyering
• Prior advocacy experience (work or lived) using an explicit race equity lens
• Minimum 3 years’ prior supervisory experience (in official capacity as supervisor or substantially similar work without official title)
• Comfort with technology and data review

Additional Info

Location
Richmond or Charlottesville, Virginia but statewide travel is necessary.
*Currently, all offices are closed to the public. This position will operate remotely until our offices resume in-person operation. The new Legal Director will have 6 months from the date we return to in-person work to relocate.*

Start Date
Applications will start being reviewed immediately and on a rolling basis.

Salary

Salary range is $80,000 to $105,000 based on experience and LAJC’s salary scale.

Benefits
• Generous leave
• Excellent family health, dental, and optical insurance
• 403(b) retirement plan
• Personal professional development budget

Application
Instructions
Email a cover letter, resume, three references, and a writing sample to Elaine Poon, Deputy Director for Advocacy, at hiring@justice4all.org . If you’re able, please submit your application as a single PDF titled “[date submitted in yyyy.mm.dd format][last name][first name][position sought].” Please include “CRRJ Legal Director” in the email subject.
The cover letter should highlight any experience (lived or worked) advocating for justice for people who experience marginalization because of their race or economic status and/or specialized skills, such as data analysis, technology skills, or language fluency.
Questions? Contact Nareen Scott at nareen@justice4all.org