Description:
Overview:Join our dedicated team as a Fair Housing Staff Attorney, where you will play a vital role in promoting equitable housing practices and defending the rights of individuals facing housing discrimination. This full-time, paid position offers an exciting opportunity to leverage your legal expertise to advocate for fair housing policies and provide impactful legal support to underserved communities. Your work will directly contribute to fostering inclusive communities and ensuring compliance with federal, state, and local fair housing laws. We are looking for a passionate, detail-oriented attorney committed to social justice and legal advocacy.
The Agency
Since 1976, Project Sentinel, a non-profit civil rights agency, has sought to develop and promote fairness of housing for all people. Through our main office in Santa Clara and our field offices in Fremont, Gilroy, Modesto, Redwood City, and Sacramento, we serve almost 6 million people across Northern California. For more information about Project Sentinel, please visit our website at www.housing.org or check out our Facebook page.
Project Sentinel is an equal opportunity employer, and candidates must be flexible and have a desire to work and interact with, as well as demonstrate respect for, individuals and groups without regard to race, religion, sex, color, national origin, familial status, or disability.
The Position:
We are looking for a full-time Staff Attorney to work throughout our jurisdictions. We are currently operating with a hybrid work schedule that involves a mix of office work and working from home, as negotiated by the employee and supervisor, and in line with the agency's needs. The Staff Attorney provides counseling, conducts investigations of allegations of housing discrimination, and provides limited representation of clients and the agency itself in both administrative and court-based enforcement actions. That Staff Attorney also conducts education and outreach on fair housing issues to a variety of audiences, represents the agency in our interactions with local government agencies, and works on other projects in furtherance of the agency's mission and consistent with the attorney's experience and interests. This is a challenging, rewarding position that offers a real opportunity to make a difference in people's lives and make our community a better and more diverse place to live. You will join a diverse and highly qualified team, doing collaborative and interesting work that involves both direct services, community education and policy development work. This is an excellent opportunity for someone looking to transition into nonprofit or public interest work and is an excellent entry-level or higher experience for anyone who would like to build a career in public interest law. Membership in the California Bar is required. Fluency in Spanish or another language common to our service area is also highly desirable but not required.
Duties & Responsibilities:
- Conduct fair housing investigations, including interviewing witnesses, collecting and analyzing documents, compiling case records and tester reports, researching public records, researching and analyzing legal issues, and referring cases to government agencies or attorneys for enforcement action.
- Provide limited scope representation to victims of housing discrimination, including advice, counseling, and advocacy.
- Represent clients in mediation and administrative agency proceedings and provide support to private counsel litigating cases investigated and developed by the agency, including representing the agency in mediations and negotiating case resolutions.
- Engage in community outreach and education on fair housing issues and act as the agency liaison with government officials and other organizations.
- Contribute to program development and administration and work collaboratively with other agency personnel, funding sources, and other nonprofit agencies in the community.
- Assist in other projects as assigned to further the interests and mission of the agency.
- Active Membership in the California State Bar.
- Candidate must have a demonstrated capacity to work to further civil rights protections, and a capacity to work and interact with, as well as demonstrate respect for, diverse individuals and groups without regard to race, religion, sex, color, national origin, familial status, or disability.
- Extensive knowledge of fair housing statutes along with related legal fields including landlord-tenant law, employment law, family law, and procedural law.
- Proven experience in legal research using tools like LexisNexis and Westlaw to support case development.
- Strong legal drafting skills for motions, pleadings, contracts, and settlement agreements.
- Skilled in negotiation tactics to resolve disputes efficiently while protecting client interests.
- Experience preparing for court depositions and conducting trial preparation with attention to detail.
- Excellent communication skills for client counseling and community engagement initiatives.
- Familiarity with litigation processes across general & commercial litigation contexts; ability to handle complex cases involving statutory legal research and legal advocacy.
- Must be willing and able to travel as needed to investigate housing discrimination & engage in outreach/education.
- Capacity to work and think independently, proactively, and without close supervision.
- Ability to handle an active caseload and manage short timelines.
- Strong analytical thinking and organizational skills.
- Highly motivated and capable of working in a busy and occasionally stressful environment.
- Ability to pay close attention to detail and maintain accurate records.
- Ability to travel to various Project Sentinel offices, training, and outreach events, as needed.
Ideal Candidate:
- Experience working in a non-profit and/or civil rights environment.
- Experience working with diverse communities.
- Creative problem-solving skills and a strong desire to help people.
- Fluency in Spanish or other languages
