Closing Date: 22nd October, 2025
Description:
The Center for Family Representation Inc. (CFR) is an award-winning, innovative law and policy organization that serves primarily Black and Brown families and youth in Queens, Staten Island, Manhattan, and the Bronx with an interdisciplinary legal defense model that serves more than 2400 clients every year. CFR was originally founded in 2002 to dramatically change the trajectory of indigent parents being prosecuted by the City's Administration for Children's Services (ACS). Our goal is to defend and protect our clients' rights, reduce the harm of family separation and prevent or minimize the time any child spends in the foster system.CFR provides interdisciplinary family defense with a model that was unique at our founding and that is now replicated nationally: we assign every client an attorney and a social work staff member, and teams have the support of parent advocates, who are parents with direct personal experience of being investigated and prosecuted by ACS. CFR was the first agency in the country to integrate parents with lived experience into legal teams and now has seven parent advocates working in all three of our family defense locations. CFR's Community Advocacy Project represents parents during a child protective investigation (to avoid court involvement where possible) and assists parents in clearing their names from state maltreatment records.
As an agency committed to securing justice for families, we built the Youth Defense practice (YDP) to defend youth at risk of family separation through incarceration. YDP uses the same interdisciplinary model to represent youth in Queens and Manhattan in Supreme Court Youth Parts, during Probation Adjustment and in Delinquency proceedings in Family Court. CFR's Home for Good program provides legal and social work services to clients in immigration, civil legal services and criminal defense matters, to afford clients an efficient and well-coordinated one-stop solution to a range of issues that threaten family stability.
Recognized as experts in our fields, we annually train over 500 practitioners in the city, state and around the country on strategies to promote family preservation and interdisciplinary representation, and we provide community based “Know Your Rights” presentations to parents, youth and service providers. We advocate at the city, state and national level for policies that reduce the harm of family separation, and promote parent engagement and justice for youth and families.
Current Opening: The Attorney-in Charge of Special Projects and Legal Operations will supervise the paralegal and investigator department as well as lead and consult on several internal and external facing special projects. This dynamic role is designed to provide support to all of CFR's boroughs and practice areas, with a goal of supporting an aggressive litigation practice and ensuring alignment with CFR's mission, purpose and core values. They will coordinate intra-office practice and provide back-up supervisor support to Directors as needed. They will lead CFR's participation in the Fordham Family Defense Clinic and run the Legal Externship/Internship program and Fellow recruitment. They will also support the Managing Director of Litigation in maintaining CFR's pro bono relationships.
Responsibilities could include but are not limited to:
- Externship, fellowship, and pro bono relationships
- Manage recruitment, training, and supervision of law student externs in all boroughs in which CFR practices;
- Coordinate fellow recruitment, in collaboration with Directors, Practice Leaders, Managing Directors, and COO.;
- Support Managing Director of Litigation in managing pro bono projects, cultivating relationships with outside counsel and attending external networking events as necessary;
- Manage CFR's Focused Externship program with Fordham University School of Law
- Special Projects & Practice Stewardship: Provide supervisory and management support across the office and on special projects in consultation with the Senior Leadership Team, Practice Directors, and other practice leaders. Examples may include but are not limited to:
- Work with Development and Senior Leadership to strategically and thoughtfully build out CFR's impact litigation work in line with CFR's mission;
- Collaborate on office-wide policies and best practices in light of the needs of the clients and the impact of racial and class disparities in the systems in which CFR provides representation;
- Collaborate with IT department on policies on emerging issues including AI
- Develop and maintain case closure practices and protocols, including digitization of physical files, followed by archival, storage, and/or disposal of such files;
- Guide the process of reorganizing CFR's legal motion bank in collaboration with internal stakeholders including the Senior Leadership Team and Director of IT;
- Offer supervisory/management support to Directors in any borough, subject to availability and bandwidth, including acting as an additional resource in developing, monitoring, and troubleshooting office and courthouse office routines to ensure consistency and best practices;
- Paralegal and Investigator Supervision: Provide oversight and guidance to paralegal leadership and supervise the investigation department. Responsibilities may include but are not limited to:
- Train and supervise the paralegal and investigation departments. Provide backup support to paralegal leadership in managing the department in line with internal guidance and procedures;
- Work in collaboration with other department managers, Training Supervisors, Practice Directors and leaders, and Managing Directors to facilitate ongoing training for paralegal and investigation staff;
- Lead the strategic expansion of the department, including determining staffing needs, in line with overall organization priorities
- Administrative Responsibilities
- Standardize procedures among CFR's offices while creating efficiencies;
- Attend regular internal meetings with other members of management as necessary;
- Ensure proper procedures are in place regarding file retention and storage;
- Participate in CFR's case management committee and other internal committees that further the overall functionality of CFR as identified by the Managing Director of Litigation. Follow up, where necessary and appropriate, to promote objectives developed by the CMS committee, deliverables on government contracts;
- Maintaining CFR's yearly practice report to the Appellate Division First Department pursuant to 22 N.Y.C.R.R. 608.1 and the Student Practice Orders from the First and Second Departments
- A J.D. and admitted to practice law in New York State
- Demonstrated commitment to CFR's mission and core values
- Minimum of 5 years of experience in Article 10/TPR family court proceedings or in one of CFR's other practice areas including criminal defense, immigration, youth defense, and civil legal services
- Strong understanding of the CPLR including the Rules of Discovery
- Experience conducting training on issues related to one of CFR's practice areas
- Strong interpersonal communication skills, demonstrated sensitivity to DEIB issues, teamwork skills and an aptitude for problem solving and management of staff.
Ideal candidates will also have:
- Effective time management skills and ability to delegate
- Strong organizational ability to manage multiple, complex matters
- Experience in Article 10/TPR family court proceedings
- At least three years of supervisory experience, or a combination of educational and supervisory experience may be considered including the supervision of interns/externs.
- Familiarity with the ILS Caseload Guidelines and Investigation Standards
- A demonstrated interest in strategic planning and administrative efficiency
- Clear understanding of the disparities within the family policing system and movement to dismantle the family policing and/or other carceral systems
- A demonstrated commitment to building community and institutional partnerships
- Familiarity with relevant NYC and NYS stakeholders in the public defense space
Location: CFR is a primarily in-person workforce. This role is not based in any one office. With approval of the Managing Director of Litigation and COO, the individual may be seated in any of CFR's offices, subject to office hoteling policy. CFR has a generous telecommuting policy that allows staff the flexibility to work remotely when there are no in-person client or organizational obligations. However, the Attorney-in-Charge of Special Projects and Legal Operations should expect to be in person frequently as the practice grows.
Annualized Salary: 118,600 (L6) -142,600 (L16)
Travel: The Attorney-in-Charge of Special Projects and Legal Operations is a cross borough position. They may be asked to provide temporary support to any borough in which CFR operates if the organizational need arises. Travel to conferences and work events may also be required. This individual should expect to travel to Fordham Law School as needed for purposes of managing CFR's involvement in the family defense Focused Externship..
