Director of Immigrant Justice

Legal Services NYC (LSNYC) fights poverty and seeks racial, social and economic justice for low-income New Yorkers. For over 50 years, we have challenged systemic injustices that trap people in poverty and provided legal services that help our clients meet basic needs for housing, income and economic security, family and immigration stability, education, and health care. LSNYC is the largest civil legal services provider in the country; our staff of more than 600 people in neighborhood-based offices and outreach sites across all five boroughs helps hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers annually. We partner with scores of community-based and client-run organizations, elected officials, public agencies, pro bono lawyers, and the courts to maximize our effectiveness. Our work fights discrimination and helps to achieve equity for all low-income New Yorkers.

LSNYC employees have numerous opportunities for growth and professional development, including access to our internal Justice Learning Center, which provides opportunities to earn free CLEs and gain experience as a trainer. Further, LSNYC prides itself on its Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging (DEIB) efforts and aims to create a work environment where everyone can bring their full selves to the work.

Director of Immigrant Justice

We are looking to hire a visionary and strategic leader with a wide breadth of immigration practice and a strong commitment to LSNYC’s mission and values. Particularly during this time of extreme uncertainty and volatility in national immigration policy, we are looking for someone to provide strategic vision and leadership, provide up-to-date immigration technical expertise, engage in insightful and strategic litigation and advocacy, and help steer our priority setting to ensure that we remain at all times client and community centered. The ideal candidate will  be someone who can speak forcefully and persuasively about the injustices facing our immigrant clients throughout Legal Services NYC, and do so for a wide variety of stakeholders, including press, funders, clients, community groups, coalition partners, and policymakers, as well as our internal stakeholders. Similarly, the ideal candidate will be adept at communicating with and supporting our diverse internal network of advocates. 

The Opportunity:

The Citywide Immigrant Justice Director will report to the Chief of Litigation and Advocacy and provide leadership, expertise, and practice support to our citywide immigration practice of approximately 50 people.  The citywide practice is divided into five borough-based offices and a pro bono practice, each of which is managed by a passionate and knowledgeable borough Immigration Director. The citywide Director will work closely and collaboratively with this team of managers to develop and shape a citywide vision for our immigration practice that is rooted in community and client needs, responsive to our clients' real world needs, and ensures that we are able to use our limited resources to meet the moment.

The Citywide Director will provide crucial information and updates to the citywide immigration team about changes in policies and laws, as well as offering technical immigration legal assistance on difficult cases. ,.  The Citywide Director will represent LSNYC in citywide coalitions with other providers, practitioners, and advocates and will take the lead in developing and advancing LSNYC’s litigation and policy priorities for our immigrant clients. This may include engaging with local elected officials on policy advocacy, upon request, as well as working with our deep bench of citywide Litigation Directors to engage in impact and systems change litigation.

The Citywide Director will be the voice of LSNYC’s clients to external stakeholders, including the press, funders, elected, and coalitions. This position will also work closely with our immigration advocates across the city to develop and sustain relationships with the larger immigrant justice community in New York City, including with community groups, charities, faith-based organizations, and other immigration legal services advocates; and to ensure that the services we provide are meeting the changing needs of immigrant New Yorkers.

The Citywide Director will work with the Chief of Litigation and Advocacy, the Director of Development, the Communications Director, and the Director of Grants and Contracts to engage in applying for, reporting on, and managing contracts and other fundraising for the immigration practice, as well as identifying new funding streams and grant opportunities.

The Citywide Director will help lead our diverse, passionate, and dedicated team of advocates to serve our client communities at a time of extreme uncertainty and turmoil. This is an exciting and dynamic leadership opportunity for someone who thrives under pressure and wants to use their experience and expertise to think creatively and engage in rapid-response decision making and priority setting to help protect one of the most vulnerable populations in New York City.   

Job Responsibilities:

The Citywide Immigrant Justice Director’s duties will include:

• Serving as LSNYC’s primary spokesperson, internally and externally, on immigrant justice and immigration legal issues;
• Promoting, developing, and implementing a cohesive and strategic citywide practice, in collaboration with our borough-based Immigration Directors and our Pro Bono Director & Deputy Directors;
• Providing expertise, mentorship, and support to LSNYC advocates on a wide array of immigration law and practice issues, including providing direct supervisory assistance on particularly novel or complex cases;
• Developing and leading complex and/or strategic litigation and advocacy in collaboration with our citywide Litigation Directors and the larger immigration practice, ;
• Leading the annual setting of LSNYC’s strategic immigration litigation and advocacy goals and priority setting;
• In collaboration with borough-based managers, develop the expertise and skill of our staff, including by leading and/or coordinating trainings (in partnership with our Justice Learning Center);
• Managing, reporting, and applying for grants and contracts, in collaboration with borough-based immigration managers and our citywide grants and contracts staff; 
• Working with the Chief of Litigation and Advocacy, as well as our Development and Communications teams, to identify and pursue novel funding streams and opportunities; 
• Engaging in policy advocacy and strategic communications to help ensure that our clients' voices and needs are heard and centered in local and national political and media conversations; 
• Working closely with other immigration managers and our Pro Bono Deputy Directors to think creatively about ways to meet the ever-growing need for services in the immigrant community, and thinking through different service delivery models, pro bono projects, pro se plus assistance clinics, more efficient approaches to training, outreach, and know your rights work, and more; 
• Engaging with community groups throughout New York City to ensure that we are understanding and meeting the civil legal services needs of the low-income immigrant community, and looking for opportunities to support the work community groups are already doing; and
• Supporting immigrant justice advocacy outside of immigration law, including advocating for language justice for LEP and disabled immigrant communities, both inside and outside of LSNYC, as well as advocating for the basic human rights of immigrants, including shelter rights.

We seek a candidate with the following:

• Seven + years of experience practicing immigration law across a variety of areas, including complex removal defense, BIA appeals, and AAO appeals; experience with federal litigation and appeals and representation of detained clients a plus;
• At least three years of experience managing other attorneys;
• Demonstrated ability to lead a diverse team across multiple projects as well as leading a large team on a single project;
• Clear and compelling vision of a what a citywide, community-lead immigration practice can do to advance justice for NYC’s low-income immigrant community, keeping in mind our limited resources and the vast and expanding need;
• Demonstrated ability to engage in high quality collaborative work despite a volatile and stressful landscape for immigrants and immigration law;
• Excellent communication skills, including oral and written advocacy, both planned and extemporaneous;
• Demonstrated skills in collaboration and persuasion-based leadership;
• Fluency in a non-English language spoken by a significant percentage of our clients strongly preferred;
• The ability to think strategically and to take both a nitty-gritty and big-picture view of a large direct services legal practice;
• Experience engaging in coalition work and/or policy advocacy;
• Ability and desire to work with people of different backgrounds and experience levels and a dedication to mentoring and building skills for staff and advocates of all levels;
• A deep understanding of the systemic conditions that create and sustain poverty and racial inequality in New York City;
• A deep understanding and appreciation for the role (and the limits of the role) of legal services providers in broader community-driven movements and coalitions for social and racial justice and equity; and
• A dedication to promoting a diverse, equitable, and inclusive workplace and providing and modeling leadership around Diversity Equity Inclusion and Belonging.

The salary range for this position is $138,707–$221,296, based on years of relevant experience, among other factors. We expect very few applicants, if any, to be eligible for compensation near the top of the salary range.  We offer a hybrid workplace and have best in class benefits, including an employer contribution of 7% of salary to 403(b) retirement plan after one year of employment.

To Apply: Fill out the form below and upload your email, cover letter, and writing sample.

Inclusion Statement: LSNYC is an equal opportunity workplace and we encourage interested candidates of all backgrounds to apply. Studies have shown that women and people of color are more hesitant than others to apply for jobs where they fear they may not fully meet every single qualification listed. While this list of qualifications represents the qualities that we are looking for in an applicant, we are looking for the overall best candidate for the job. If you are interested in this position and have substantial relevant experience, we encourage you to apply even if you do not fully meet every criterion listed above.

All employees are strongly encouraged to continue to receive and maintain up-to-date COVID vaccinations unless they are unable to for medical or religious reasons.

All employees are strongly encouraged to continue to receive and maintain up-to-date COVID vaccinations unless they are unable to for medical or religious reasons.

Legal Services NYC is an equal opportunity employer. People of color, women, people with disabilities, people over 40, and gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people are strongly encouraged to apply.