Description:

The Heartland Center for Jobs and Freedom (HCJF) is a nonprofit legal organization that enforces housing and workplace rights for low-wage workers. We believe that working people of all races and backgrounds will have the power and influence to ensure that everyone can live a full life free of abuse, exploitation, and poverty. It is the mission of HCJF to create opportunities for tenants and workers to learn and exercise their rights, realize their collective power, and develop the leadership skills necessary to advocate for a racially and economically just society.

HCJF carries out this mission through five major programs: the Right to Counsel (RTC) Program, which handles 600 eviction cases each year; the Safe Homes for All Program, which works to eliminate unhealthy conditions in residential rental housing; the Stable Homes Program, which challenges private business attempts to unlawfully opt out of affordability requirements imposed by the federal government; the Worker Power Project, which protects workers' rights as they organize for unions and fight to regain stolen wages; and the Heartland Leadership and Action Committees, which collaborates with tenants and workers that served as our clients to lead grassroots and democratic mobilizations.

If you want to develop strong courtroom advocacy skills while doing deeply meaningful work, consider applying for this position. If hired, you will work with a talented team of housing rights advocates doing cutting edge legal work as a part of our Right to Counsel (RTC) Program. A brief overview of the position and duties is as follows:

Defend tenants against eviction lawsuits by asserting defenses (based on the warranty of habitability, reasonable accommodation, notice requirements, procedural defects, etc.) negotiating settlement agreements, and connecting tenants to resources that will keep them safe and housed.
Try cases in court, craft legal pleadings, work to establish pro-tenant legal precedents.
Collaborate with other legal aid organizations defending tenants and attend trainings to develop rigorous legal skills.
Collaborate with interns, volunteers and fellow staffers.

Attorney will need to be licensed in Missouri, be able to work with diverse populations in crisis, and manage a fast-moving caseload. This job requires grit, skill, ambition and tenacity, and is also very exciting and rewarding. The workplace is highly collaborative, friendly and supportive. Experience and/or a second language proficiency is a major plus but not required.

For more information about Kansas City's transformational Right to Counsel law, please see this KCUR article: https://www.kcur.org/housing-development-section/2022-10-03/in-three-months-kansas-citys-right-to-counsel-program-has-helped-nearly-400-tenants

For those unfamiliar with this area: Kansas City is an extremely diverse, liberal city with a lively art, theater, food and music scene. We have a rich history of worker and tenant organizing. Because the midwest and south play such an important role in determining the direction of our nation, this is also an extremely important and impactful place to do social justice work.

Work Location: In person

Job Type: Full-time, in person position at our office located in Midtown Kansas City (Westport area), with frequent travel throughout Kansas City, MO and occasional travel to Springfield, MO and other cities where HCJF has active litigation. This position is non-exempt.

HCJF is an equal opportunity employer and complies with all applicable laws prohibiting discrimination on the basis of race, color, ethnicity, religion, sex, national origin, age, ancestry, disability, status as a veteran, sexual orientation, marital or parental status, gender identity, or gender expression.