Who We Are:

The Capital Area Immigrants’ Rights (CAIR) Coalition is the only non-profit organization in the Washington, D.C. area focused exclusively on providing legal assistance to adult and child immigrants detained by the government in the Capital Region.

Role Description:

A Managing Attorney in the Detained Adult Program focuses on ensuring that the program staff providing excellent and efficient services to clients, implementing long-term plans for the program, providing direct legal services to immigrant adults, and supervising junior staff with a focus on professional development.

General Duties and Responsibilities [1]:

Representation:

• Provides oversight and management of significant aspects of the program in coordination with the Program Director.
• Take on direct legal representation of detained clients in removal proceedings before the Arlington and/or Baltimore Immigration Courts. This includes representation types such as Asylum, Withholding of Removal, Protection under the Convention against Torture, Special Immigrant Juvenile Status, Board of Immigration Appeals, U-Visas, T-Visas, and Cancellation of Removal.
• Ensure that the program is kept abreast of new developments in the law and that junior staff are adequality trained on the law.
• Provide oversight and mentoring to staff attorneys on direct representation cases, including supervision and assistance of (i) case strategy, (ii) trial preparation, and (iii) case load management.
• Provide expert mentoring to outside attorneys representing detained immigrants on a pro bono basis.
• Manage a caseload of in-house direct representation case and pro bono mentorship cases to ensure timely completion and submission of all filings, forms, etc.
• Preparation of Post Release Plans and social service plans, in coordination with social services staff.
• Research, engage, and prepare experts on health, behavioral health, and country conditions.  

Detention Facility Services:

• Conduct oversight of visits to government detention facilities.
• Ensure that staff members in the program perform Know-Your-Rights presentations correctly and efficiently.
• Conduct individual intakes with immigrants at the detention facilities. Provide necessary follow-up after intakes to evaluate eligibility for relief, including performing research, securing criminal/juvenile delinquency records and obtaining additional information from family and community members.

Organizational Services:

• Work with program management to set long-term program plans.
• Interface with leadership with of other CAIR Coalition programs to ensure cross-program information and strategy sharing.
• Oversee the inputting and accuracy of data and case information into shared databases in a timely fashion for program staff.
• Assist other program staff in completion of their workload during high-work/low-bandwidth periods.
• Take part in stakeholder relationship activities, including in-person and telephonic meetings with community groups, governmental bodies and representatives, and other legal service providers.
• Oversee and conduct trainings and stakeholder meetings with detention center staff.
• Lead internal CAIR Coalition committees and working groups to lend a voice to the growth and strategy of the organization.
• Undertake own administrative functions, including for casework (e.g., preparation of all aspects of filings). CAIR Coalition attorneys do not have dedicated paralegals for assistance on cases and non-attorney staff time is dedicated to client-facing tasks (e.g, jail visits, pro se assistance).

Program-Specific Duties and Responsibilities:

Members of the Detained Adult program, in addition to the responsibilities above, also:

• Coordinate with all internal DAP Programs (e.g., LOP, NQRP, Safe Cities) to ensure all programs are kept abreast of developments and clients.
• Oversee pro se assistance by legal assistants.

 [1] This list is illustrative and not intended to be a complete classification of all job functions or tasks.  

Our Work Environment

CAIR Coalition’s Detained Adult Program is a highly collaborative work environment. Each team lead works directly with a focused team, but all colleagues are interconnected through, for example, case workshopping or staff-run committees such as Equity and Inclusion Committee.

DAP staff has been a source of expertise in the highly complex and ever-changing immigration system. They have persisted through administration changes, policy shifts, and attacks on the rights and freedoms of immigrants through project-focused cohorts that arise to address challenges or to brainstorm and implement affirmative strategies.

We center impacted people in our advocacy and media. We embrace the movement in our work while also staying focused on the practicalities we trained for, as well as where we are most useful in this movement. We grow our reach and skill set when resources permit and there is passion. We do not limit our push or dreams for this world based on the limits we know but try to imagine how to navigate around them.

We value our brain trust and are constantly finding ways to ensure that we maintain and grow, in ways that acknowledge those with expertise but also sets up new advocates for success.

What Else You Should Know:

Position Type:

Full-time, exempt

Supervisory Responsibility:

Responsible for directly supervising a limited number of staff on the NQRP team (senior staff and/or staff carrying out key program functions, may be attorneys, legal assistants or administrative staff) and providing overall team leadership and back up support to other supervisors on the team.

Reports To:

Deputy Program Director for the Detained Adults Program

Timeline:

Deadline to Apply: Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis.

Start Date: Spring 2023

Salary:

$79,500-$97,500 

Salary is commensurate with experience per CAIR Coalition’s salary scale.  

Location:

This position will be based from the Washington, D.C. Office. Due to business related travel expectations, it is recommended candidates live within 30-miles of their assigned primary office.

Telework:

All CAIR Coalition staff, interns, and volunteers whose positions are not fully remote are working a hybrid-work model in compliance with CAIR Coalition’s COVID-19 policies. Due to the duties and responsibilities of the NQRP Managing Attorney role, this position will follow a hybrid-work model and may be required to live within 30 miles of their assigned primary office. 

COVID-19 Vaccination:

All employees are required to be fully vaccinated and boosted against COVID-19. To be fully vaccinated means having completed the full dosages required for the type of vaccine obtained as designated by the CDC. If boosters are subsequently recommended by the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) then employees will be required to receive the booster within thirty (30) days of their eligibility to access the boosters. 

Benefits:

• CAIR coalition’s benefits package includes:
• Free gym access located in Washington, D.C.;
• Flexible working hours after successful completion of trainings and with approval of supervisor;
• Pre-tax commuter benefits for those living in the DMV;
• Subsidized health, dental insurance, and vision subsidized health, dental insurance, and vision insurance (CAIR Coalition pays a very high rate of the insurance package, for which we can provide additional information);
• An annual data reimbursement of $240
• life insurance valued at $50,000, as well as long and short term disability;
• the option to set up a Flexible Spending Account; and
• the option to set up a 403(b) account (the equivalent of a 401(k) account for non-profits) which the organization has the option, for all employees on an annual basis, to match at a certain percentage after one year of continuous employment.

Paid time off includes:

• 23 personal days per calendar year
• Up to 20 days of sick time per calendar year
• 7 hours of volunteer time
• Federal holidays
• Winter break closure
• 12 weeks of parental leave

How to Apply:

Submit your resume, a cover letter that explains your interest in this role, and a writing sample with your Paylocity application.

EEO Statement:

Capital Area Immigrants’ Rights (CAIR) Coalition is an equal opportunity employer. In accordance with anti-discrimination law, it is the purpose of this policy to effectuate these principles and mandates. CAIR Coalition prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type and affords equal employment opportunities to employees and applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, pregnancy, age, national origin, disability status, genetic information, protected veteran status, homeless status, or any other characteristic protected by law. CAIR Coalition conforms to the spirit as well as to the letter of all applicable laws and regulations.

Anti-Racism Statement:

https://www.caircoalition.org/cair-coalitions-statement-becoming-anti-racist-organization 

Competencies Required:

Legal Proficiency

The employee demonstrates a mastery of the law and legal procedure and can deploy innovative and thoughtful approaches to assisting clients. The employee stays abreast of developments in the law and ensures that their supervisees are trained in new developments. 

Client and Programmatic Proficiency

The employee proficiently helps to manage all of the program’s in-jail, client, and in-office programmatic obligations. The employee proficiently manages their caseloads and the caseloads of the staff they supervise. The employee skillfully supervises their staff and ensures that staff are in a position to grow professionally.

Administrative

The employee ensures that all administrative aspects of their position (and their staffs’ positions), attendant to the provision of services to clients, are carried out without managerial intervention, including timekeeping, file upkeep, database upkeep, etc.

Qualifications Required:

• JD and relevant experience in immigration law.
• Must be licensed to practice law in or be willing to sit for the next scheduled bar exam.
• Written and oral Spanish fluency strongly preferred.
• Driver’s license required