Organization General Description

The Resurrection Project (TRP) builds trusting relationships to educate and propel individuals, immigrants, and families to achieve their social and economic aspirations, stable homes, and equitable participation in their community. TRP is a leading provider of affordable housing, financial education, and immigration services on Chicago’s Southwest side.

During the past three decades TRP, has worked to improve the lives of individuals and families by creating wealth, building assets, and engaging residents to be catalysts for change. Rooted in the Pilsen community, TRP’s impact now extends across the City of Chicago and through the State of Illinois; we are making steady progress towards leveraging and preserving more than $1 billion in community wealth by 2025.

General Job Description:

TRP seeks a passionate, collaborative, and innovative attorney to work on removal cases, both detained and non-detained, in TRP’s Immigrant Justice Legal Clinic. The senior staff attorney will maintain their own caseload, supervise casework of legal representatives (Full DOJs and staff attorneys) and removal defense paralegals as well as collaborate with the managing attorney on cases received via the Immigrant Justice Legal Clinic and the Midwest Immigration Defenders Alliance (MIDA), which is a collaborative with other organizations as part of a universal representation program to represent detained Illinois residents. The senior staff attorney is an integral part of supervision and development for team members who are new to detained removal defense practice

Job Duties and Responsibilities:

Direct Services, Case Management, and Data Collection:

Provide expert consultation and representation to clients and potential clients including case preparation and follow-up.

Handle a caseload that includes removal defense for detained and non-detained clients including, but not limited to, bond hearings, representation in immigration court (EOIR) and before the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA).

Keep current on changes in immigration law and procedures through research and trainings.

Make appropriate referrals as necessary for immigration legal services beyond the scope of the program.

Maintain comprehensive up-to-date notes of client contact, indicating date, subject matter, and resolution in the client file, and all applicable reporting or case management systems, per TRP’s Immigrant Justice Legal Clinic procedures, and notify client of all activity regarding their case in a timely manner.

Actively participate in case review and other meetings needed to effectively provide excellent quality service to all clients.

Recruit, Train, and Mentor Staff:

Directly supervise a small team of staff, including staff attorney(s) or DOJ accredited representative (s) and paralegal(s).
Provide supervision, training, and guidance to legal representatives and paralegals working on removal defense cases
Identify, recruit, train, support, develop, and evaluate a talented, high-performing team of staff to implement effective and responsive programming;
Ensure that the responsibilities, authority, and accountability of all direct team members are defined and understood; and
Intentionally check-in with staff on any development opportunities & performance feedback.

Additional Responsibilities:

Maintain required job skills and core professional competencies;
Maintain open and ongoing communication;
Attend and participate in required educational programs and staff meetings; and

Perform other duties as assigned

Essential Knowledge and Skills :

Juris Doctorate degree and three or more years practicing immigration law required. Experience handling bond, asylum, removal defense, and detained representation required.

Bilingual in English and Spanish required.
Previous supervisory experience strongly preferred.

Demonstrated ability to build relationships and work effectively with people of diverse social, faith, economic and racial/ethnic backgrounds.

Ability to succeed in a fast-paced community nonprofit.

Excellent verbal, analytical, writing, and organization skills.

Proficient knowledge of MS Office and case management software.

Highly motivated and demonstrated ability to work independently as well as part of a team.

Strong attention to detail.

The Resurrection Project

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Senior Staff Attorney, Removal