Staff Attorney

Position Title: Staff Attorney -  Rapid Response Attorney

Supervisory Relationship: State Director of Legal Defense

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.

Department Description:

The goal of TRP’s Immigrant Justice Department is to provide opportunities for authentic local immigrant leadership, to offer holistic community-based immigration legal services, and to work in coalitions to expand access to legal representation.

General Job Description

TRP seeks a passionate, collaborative, and innovative attorney to join our Immigrant Justice team to provide rapid response support to changes in immigration policy and priorities that impact our community members. The senior or staff attorney will collaborate with the State Director of Legal Defense as well as across TRP’s Immigrant Justice department to respond to the immediate needs of TRP clients and community members, particularly in response to federal law enforcement actions leading to increased detention or other detrimental effects upon the community.

Primary Job Duties and Responsibilities:

• Represent detained clients before EOIR on an emergency basis, such as, but not limited to, filing motions to reopen, stays of removal.
• Representing detained clients in federal district court by filing habeas petitions on emergency cases.
• Assist with triage of incoming detained referrals into the centralized referral system for screening and case placement internally and with external partners.
• On an as-needed, emergency basis, respond to ICE actions and other rapid response community needs, including quickly arriving on site to observe, learn, take notes, and provide community guidance during ICE or other government agency interactions with the community.
• Work with the State Director and IJ leadership to develop TRP responses to ICE or government agency actions against the community.
• Work with the IJ and communications teams to respond to media inquiries with accurate, concise information.
• Represent TRP at city and statewide meetings as instructed.
• Lead in material and system development to quickly respond to urgent actions, including intakes, triaging, community-facing materials, and trainings.
• Keep current on changes in immigration law and procedures through research and training.

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.
• Perform other duties as assigned.

Essential Qualifications and Skills:  

• Juris Doctorate degree required. Familiarity with removal defense and experience handling removal cases strongly preferred. 1-2 years of immigration experience required. Experience in detained removal and federal district court is a plus. Senior Staff Attorney position will be considered for candidates with 4 or more years of experience.
• Bilingual in English and Spanish required.
• Demonstrated ability to build relationships and work effectively with people from 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.

Special Working Conditions and Demands

• On-site work schedule: as needed, and no less than 3 days per week.  
• Willingness to work flexible hours; some evenings and weekends required.  
• Ability to quickly arrive on-site to respond to enforcement actions across Chicago.

Benefits:

• Medical HDHP, HMO, and PPO.
• Dental HMO and PPO
• Vision
• Life Insurance and ADD, Company Paid
• Short- and Long-Term Disability: Company Paid
• 403(B) retirement savings plans
• Flexible Spending account and Dependent care account
• Transit Benefit

Position Classification & Salary    

Salary: $70,000 - $80,000 – Staff Attorney or $80,000 - $90,000 – Senior Staff Attorney – Salary and title will be commensurate with experience.

Full-Time, Exempt

Statement of Equal Opportunity

The Resurrection Project is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate based on race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy), national origin, ancestry, age, marital status, sexual orientation (including gender identity), military status, disability, or language (any language use not related to job duties). In addition to federal law requirements, The Resurrection Project complies with applicable state and local laws governing nondiscrimination in employment in every location in which the company has facilities.

How To Apply

Interested parties should send a cover letter and resume to trpjobs@resurrectionproject.org. No phone calls, please.