Description:

Overview of Position:
Immigrants are the lifeblood of our city. With almost 40% of San Francisco's residents being foreign-born, San Francisco would literally not function without immigrants. Since studies have found that immigrants are more likely to obtain legal status when represented, we believe that the only way to create the best-case scenario for our immigrant neighbors is to ensure that everyone who qualifies for immigration relief is able to obtain legal representation. Legal representation has become even more important during these challenging times. It can protect our neighbors and reduce poverty in our city by dramatically improving each immigrant's earning potential.

We are hiring an Immigration Law Attorney II to help ensure that everyone who lives in Open Door Legal's service area who needs immigration legal assistance can access timely, competent representation. We are looking for a passionate attorney to represent clients before USCIS and EOIR. Currently, we handle only affirmative immigration benefits and, in limited cases, represent existing clients in removal proceedings. We are looking to expand our removal defense practice and continue helping clients with affirmative immigration benefits.

Because we are a full-service legal aid organization representing clients in nearly every area of civil law, we can and do frequently collaborate across teams to provide comprehensive legal assistance to clients in every area of need, including Family Law, Housing Law, and Employment Law.

Overall, this position is intended to be a challenging and rewarding experience. Cultural humility is not just conceptual to you; you embody it and commit to growth. Success in this role requires grit, dynamism, teamwork, care, and passion (our team's five values). You will report directly to our Managing Immigration Attorney.

Responsibilities:

Directly represent clients in every type of affirmative immigration petition, as well as removal defense cases.
Provide support to our low-income clients with sensitivity and awareness to various cultural, socio-economic, and disability barriers to service and skillfully navigate difficult or tense situations. Deliver a consistently positive client feedback rating for the Immigration Law Department.
Own a full caseload and be responsible for making sure the clients' goals are met.
Perform immigration law intakes in-person and virtually across multiple physical Open Door Legal locations.
Appear in court and USCIS, representing clients as needed.
Gain and maintain the skills and knowledge needed to competently represent clients before the relevant government agencies and components, including but not limited to VAWA, asylum, removal defense, U-visas, T-visas, TPS, DACA, Family-based applications, SIJS, and Consular processing.
Stay abreast of changes in law, regulations, and policies affecting our clients and apply your knowledge to serve them in a rapidly changing immigration legal landscape.
Empower immigration law clients to know their rights, navigate the immigration system, protect themselves and their loved ones, and resolve their immigration law issues.
Efficiently utilize Salesforce, our client management system (CMS), to document case activities, maintain accurate client records, and ensure timely record updates.
Embrace and embody our values of teamwork, grit, caring, passion, and dynamism.

Requirements:

A minimum of two (3) years of experience in affirmative forms of immigration relief, including family-based applications, U-nonimmigrant, T-nonimmigrant, SIJS, naturalization, VAWA, and removal defense.
Advanced Spanish proficiency (speaking, reading, and writing) strongly preferred.
Membership in good standing with the California State Bar; licensed in good standing in any state bar may also be considered. However, those without a license are encouraged to apply to volunteer with us at opendoorlegal.org/volunteer.
Must genuinely enjoy and be motivated by working with low-income clients, the vast majority of whom are people of color, and be able to work effectively with clients impacted by trauma (emotional, mental, and physical).
Knowledge of USCIS and immigration court procedures and best practices, as well as enthusiasm for professional growth and learning, High level of comfort in learning and using technology and cloud-based case management systems. We use Salesforce, Dropbox, and the Google Suite.
Willingness to make a minimum two-year commitment to the organization.

Bonus points:

Comfort translating and interpreting legal information from English to Spanish without assistance.
Experience working with low-income and vulnerable populations.
Experience working in a high-volume legal aid or similar environment.
Knowledge of other local non-profit organizations and tools for assisting low-income, underserved communities.
Having lived a significant period of your life in San Francisco proper.
Starting compensation is $89,500 - $105,500 per year based on experience.