Description

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.

The Staff Attorney is responsible for providing legal representation to clients served by St. Frances Cabrini Center for Legal Assistance in immigration matters. Legal representation of immigration clients for applications, petitions, other procedures, 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 legal assistants 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, clerks, and other Cabrini Center staff.

Qualifications

The Expertise We’re Looking For

• You have a Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D.) degree from an ABA-accredited law school
• You have 0-2 years of work experience as a licensed attorney
• You are a licensed attorney in Texas and is in good standing, or be eligible to take the next available Texas Bar, or be admitted as an out-of-state attorney within one-year of hiring

The Skills and Assets You Bring, and More

• The successful candidate will provide exceptional legal services to our immigration clients and will have exceptional organization, communication and legal analysis skills
• 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 manage 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
• You can work multi-cultural clientele
• You can handle and maintain confidential information

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

• You represent clients in immigration matters before the USCIS Service Center, Field Office, Asylum Office or Immigration Court on matters such as family petitions, waivers, removal of conditional status, adjustment of status, naturalization, asylum, removal defense, and any immigration proceedings
• You conduct legal intake, screening, and interviews with clients, affiants, witnesses, experts, and others who can provide information or statements in furtherance of the principle client’s immigration matters
• You draft, prepare and assemble relevant immigration petitions, applications, and waivers; marshal evidence, conduct legal research; write memorandums of law, motions or briefs in support of applications, petitions, waivers, appeals and more submitted to immigration agencies such as the USCIS Service Centers, Field Office, Asylum Office, Federal Courts, Board of Immigration Appeals, Administrative Appeals Office, EOIR, and other immigration agencies
• You prepare clients and witnesses for interviews and court hearings. Ensure exceptional case management and documentation including maintaining current and accurate physical and electronic files according to program and agency requirements, case notes, correspondence, filings, calendars, and dockets
• You maintain a case list and case service statistics for Cabrini Center and program funders. You participate in case reviews with Senior Attorney, Managing Attorney or Legal Director as applicable
• 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
• You comply with all reporting, audit, and compliance requirements. You provide data and statistical information for funding and other reporting purposes. You provide accurate and timely monthly data, time logs, and reports for internal use, funder use, and other entity use. You participate in trainings, meetings, calls, etc. as required by funders or to serve program needs
• You participate in outreach such as Charlas by presenting and performing legal consultations. You 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, evaluating immigration benefits and relief applicable, attending information sessions on immigration relief, waivers, bars to relief asylum, and deportation
• You provide supervision and direction to Legal Assistant and/or Paralegal on a full range of legal services provided by the program and 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.

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.