About our Catholic Charities Family

We seek compassionate, talented individuals with a heart for helping others and making a positive impact on the lives of men, women, and children across our large region. People of faith helping people in need achieve self-sufficiency and live with dignity.

Job Description

St. Frances Center for Immigrant Legal Assistance is the legal services arm of Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston. It is one of the largest non-profit immigration legal services programs in the region. We provide free to low-cost immigration legal assistance to immigrants and refugees in Southeast Texas.

The Staff Attorney is responsible for providing direct legal representation to clients served by St. Frances Cabrini Center for Legal Assistance in immigration matters. Legal representation includes entering an appearance as the attorney of record on matters and in proceedings before the USCIS, Asylum Office, State, federal and immigration courts, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, agencies within the Department of Homeland Security, Department of State, as well as appellate agencies such as the Administrative Appeals Office and Board of Immigration Appeals. The Staff Attorney also provides legal services in the form of community outreach and legal education, legal workshops, legal intake, legal research, individual legal representation as well as supervising caseworkers and/or law student interns. The Staff Attorney works under the direct supervision of the Senior Attorney and/or Managing Attorney. The Staff Attorney works as a team with the Legal Assistant/Paralegal and other Cabrini Center staff.

The Expertise We’re Looking For

• You have a Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D.) degree from an ABA-accredited law school is required

The Skills and Assets You Bring, and More

• A successful candidate will be detail-oriented and organized, with excellent time management and collaboration skills
• You have 0-2 years of work experience as a licensed attorney in the State of Texas, or a recent graduate from an ABA-accredited law school taking the next available Texas Bar Examination and be admitted to the State Bar of Texas within twelve months of hire, or has an active license from another U.S. jurisdiction and is eligible to waive into the State Bar of Texas within 12 months of hire
• It is preferred that you are fully bilingual in Spanish and English (read, write and speak)
• You have excellent legal research and legal writing skills
• You have excellent verbal and written communication and negotiation skills
• You can handle a high-volume caseload, multiple deadlines, and other tasks simultaneously
• You have knowledge and proficiency in basic typing skills and computer applications such as MS Office, Adobe and other databases
• You have demonstrated multi-cultural skills and sensitivity
• You can handle and maintain confidential information
• It is strongly desirable that you have experience working with low-income immigrant community
• You have strong analytical, conceptual, problem-solving and decision-making skills

The Value You Deliver

You join Catholic Charities and help people in southeast Texas by providing caring, compassionate services and advocating for social justice in collaboration with parishes and communities.

What you Deliver

• Citizenship Workshop: You develop and implement pro se citizenship workshops by recruiting pro bono attorneys and volunteers to staff the workshops, organize and conduct pre-workshop CLE training for volunteers, review legal screening to assess suitability for workshop placement, manage workflow at the workshop and collaborate with other NAC partners in organizing mega-regional citizenship workshops.
• Direct Representation: You provide direct representation to immigrant clients before the USCIS. Asylum Office or Immigration Court on matters such as family petition, removal of conditional status, adjustment of status, naturalization, asylum, removal defense, and any immigration proceedings. Direct representation encompasses the following tasks: conduct legal intake and screening, interview with clients, affiants, witness, experts, case managers, and others who can provide information or statement in furtherance of the principle client's immigration matters; draft, prepare and assemble relevant immigration petitions; conduct legal research; write a memorandum of law, motions or briefs in support of applications and petitions filed before USCIS. Asylum Office. State, Immigration and federal Courts, Board of Immigration Appeals, Administrative Appeals Office, EOIR, and other immigration agencies; prepare clients for interviews or court hearings. Maintain a minimum of 30-40 active cases.
• Case Management: You maintain client physical and electronic files according to program requirements, including case notes, correspondence, filings, calendars, and dockets. Maintain a case status list and case service statistics for Cabrini Center and program funders. Participate in case reviews with Senior Attorney, Managing Attorney or Legal Director as applicable.
• Meetings: You attend and participate in mandatory unit and Cabrini staff meetings, and other agency meetings. You participate in calls and meetings organized by funders, city-wide advocacy groups, local service providers, and national support centers when appropriate and helpful.
• Supervision: You provide supervision and direction to Legal Assistant and/or Paralegal on a full range of legal services provided by the program.
• Contract and Agency Compliance: You comply with all contract requirements. You provide data and statistical information for grants, contracts, and other reporting purposes. Provide accurate and timely monthly data, time logs, and reports for internal use, funder use, and other entity use. Participate in trainings, meetings, calls, etc. as required by funders or to serve program needs.
• Outreaches: You participate in Charlas by presenting and performing legal consultations. Participate in program and agency community legal education and outreach efforts (Spanish and English), particularly as they relate to issues of immigration law, providing direct information to prospective clients, attending information sessions on asylum, deportation, and other immigration relief.
• You perform other duties as assigned by the Legal Director and supervisors, such as assisting and training staff in legal and regulatory changes, participating in coalition activities, participating in staff retreats, United Way activities, agency fairs, speaking engagements, assisting with special organization projects/events, etc.

Additional Expertise and Requirements

• Adhere to Texas Family Code {261.101}, Texas Mandated Child Abuse Reporter: As a mandated reporter, you are required by law {Texas Family Code (261.101} to report all reasonable suspicions or knowledge of child abuse, neglect, or child sexual abuse to proper authorities. You are required to follow all agency policies and procedures related to the reporting of abuse and neglect, as well as immediately report such events to the Texas Abuse Hotline (1-800-252-5400), your Program Director or VP and the Catholic Charities Director of Quality & Compliance.
• Understands and supports a trauma-informed system of care and committed to providing quality, trauma-informed treatment supportive services as per program guidelines and services.
• Must have reliable transportation, valid Texas driver’s license and valid vehicle insurance
• Position requires/may require driving in your personal vehicle on freeways and highways to satellite offices, job fairs, and offsite meetings and events, throughout the 10-county service area of Catholic Charities
• Must be able to work on a flexible schedule as caseload demands to meet work, program, and project deadlines.
• Requires contact by telephone, written communication, and face-to-face contact with other staff, clients, funders, financial institutions, other stakeholders, and/or volunteers.
• Ability to lift twenty pounds; stooping, climbing, and bending.
• Regularly required to speak and listen.

How Your Work Impacts our Organization

The work you do will help us advocate for the vulnerable among us, a network of support services to people of all ages and from all walks of life and religious backgrounds.

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