Staff Attorney - Rural Health Advocacy

Description:

Description:
Staff Attorney

Rural Health Advocacy

(May be based in Wausau, Green Bay, Oshkosh, or La Crosse)

Full-time

September 15, 2026

Introduction: LAW is seeking applications for two Rural Health Advocacy Attorneys for a new health insurance program to reach rural health care consumers. The mission of this new program is to support patients in using health insurance and coverage to gain timely, effective, and accessible health care in rural Wisconsin communities.

Legal Action of Wisconsin, Inc. (“Legal Action”) is a non-profit law firm, funded by the federal Legal Services Corporation, the Wisconsin Trust Account Foundation, and many other sources and supporters. Legal Action provides free civil legal aid to low-income persons in Wisconsin with offices in Milwaukee, Madison, Racine, Oshkosh, Green Bay, La Crosse and Wausau. Legal Action attorneys and paralegals have expertise in a range of substantive areas, but most of our direct representation is in the areas of housing, public benefits, removing barriers to employment, consumer law, and family law.

Mission Statement: Legal Action's mission is to deliver exceptional civil legal services and structural change advocacy, free of cost, to those most in need. Our core values (equity, advocacy, client-centered, integrity and community) guide our work and actions. Please see our website for a description of the core values and vision that guides our work.

Office Location: This position may be based in our Wausau (preferred), Green Bay, Oshkosh, or La Crosse Offices.

Governance: Legal Action's personnel policies govern this position.

Position Description: The attorney will provide legal and advocacy services to qualifying clients to support access to health care. The services will assist rural Wisconsin consumers with prior authorization processes and appeals, claim denial appeals, and other complex insurance protocols that consumers must navigate to get coverage for their care. It will also include filing of grievances and complaints to state and federal regulators. The position will contribute to intake and triage services, assist with program quality assurance and reporting, contribute to program development, track trends, and collaborate on system-level advocacy.

Key Responsibilities: The Rural Health Advocacy attorney will provide high quality legal and advocacy services, including advice and full representation to clients regarding health insurance and self-funded plans. Key responsibilities include:

• Perform all duties associated with such representation as defined by our attorney performance standards.
• Support statewide intake and provide both brief intervention and intensive advocacy services
• Promote continuous improvement through reporting, participation in internal and external meetings and convenings, and implement and incorporate best practices and new learnings
• Keep abreast of changing laws, regulations, and practices related to health coverage
• Serve on at least one of the Legal Action Priority Committees. Priority committees are comprised of Legal Action advocates practicing in specific areas of law. They meet quarterly to discuss trends, strategy and priorities.
• Other duties as assigned

Required Qualifications:

• J.D. is required from an accredited law school. Must be admitted to the State Bar of Wisconsin within 6 months of starting the position.
• Demonstrated experience in legal research and writing, in areas relevant to the position such as insurance, regulatory matters, or administrative law, particularly as it relates to health care;
• Knowledge of benefit plan grievance and appeal processes
• Demonstrated understanding of, and some experience with, civil legal processes in areas relevant to the position, such as regulatory administrative or enforcement proceedings or related to claim disputes or consumer protection.
• Knowledge of Wisconsin's health care and health insurance landscape and federal and state health care delivery systems and health insurance programs
• Project and time management skills, including the ability to manage competing deadlines and priorities

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience working with clients facing substantial life challenges, training in trauma-informed lawyering, or a willingness to learn
• Experience with exporting and analyzing data from client databases and/or reporting
• Experience working with rural communities
• Experience tracking casework in a client management database

Salary/Compensation: Legal Action's salaries are not negotiable. Our salary scales are based solely on years of experience with each step on the scale equivalent to one full year of experience. We strongly encourage applicants to include detail in their resume about the duties they performed and the months they worked at each employer and in each position so that we can accurately calculate experience and salary. If we make an offer to an applicant, we depend on the resume that the applicant submitted, and we do not allow for revisions after submission. The salary steps for this position range from:

• Step 0 = $65,000 (Tier 1)/Not applicable for Tier 2
• Step 5 = $76,000 (Tier 1)/$80,763 (Tier 2)
• Step 10 = $86,000 (Tier 1)/$91,888 (Tier 2)
• Step 20 = $104,000 (Tier 1)/$111,275 (Tier 2)
• Step 30 = $114,000 (Tier 1)/$122,025 (Tier 2)
• Step 36 = $120,720 (Tier 1)/$129,227 (Tier 2)
• Step = years of experience.

Tier 1 and tier 2 staff attorney description & scope of authority: All staff attorneys are required to utilize and follow Legal Action's attorney performance standards in performing their duties.

Tier 1 Staff Attorneys are:

• Relatively new to providing legal services to low-income clients.
• Closely supervised and practices law under close control and structure.
• Closely adhering to Legal Action's guidelines, rules, policies, and procedures and have little or no authority to deviate from them without supervisor's approval.

Tier 2 Staff Attorneys have:

• At least 3 years of post-J.D. experience that includes work relevant to the skills required for staff attorneys and;
• Skills and abilities to: consistently perform most Tier 1 Staff Attorney duties with minimal assistance or direction, a high level of efficiency and/or independent initiative, and less immediate, regular supervision than a Tier 1 Staff Attorney;
• consistently carry a caseload of substantial size and complexity suitable to an experienced attorney;
• consistently adhere to Legal Action administrative and programmatic procedures such as, but not limited to contemporaneous timekeeping and accurate completion of administrative and client service forms; and
• Demonstrated initiative and ability to undertake the additional duties that the Tier 2 Staff Attorney level requires such as, but not limited to mentoring, training, and otherwise supporting Tier 1 staff attorneys and others. (Tier 2 Staff Attorneys do not have the authority to discipline others and are not confidential management positions.)

Legal Action's organizational structure allows for additional career advancement opportunities, such as: Attorney Managers; Managing Attorneys; Project Managers; Supervising Attorneys; and Priority Coordinators. Legal Action posts these opportunities as they become available.

Fringe Benefits: All Legal Action employees receive a full package of fringe benefits. It currently includes: employer-paid health and dental insurance for employee, spouse, and family with a Health Reimbursement Account (HRA), employer-paid life and long-term disability insurance; employee-paid income protection benefits; a profit-sharing plan; generous sick leave accrual; and at least four weeks of vacation leave and four personal holidays per year. (Legal Action policies require employees with a spouse to contribute $200/month to the health insurance premium if the spouse has other health insurance available to them.)

Spanish or Hmong Language Frequency Premium: Legal Action's Salary Administration Plan includes additional pay of either $2,400 annually or $4,800 annually to those employees who are fluent in Spanish or Hmong.

Flex Work: Legal Action supports flexible work arrangements that meet the goals of the organization and the employee. All employees are eligible to request flexible work, including flextime, compressed work week, and remote work.

Supervision: This position is supervised by the Chief Strategy Officer (CSO) or the Green Bay/Oshkosh Offices Managing Attorney.

Probationary Period: 6 months

How to Apply: Applicants must submit the following application materials via Legal Action of Wisconsin's online applicant portal:
https://secure2.entertimeonline.com/ta/7988.careers?ApplyToJob=889326618&full_apply=&jobid=889326618

• Cover letter
• Resume
• Names and contact information for three professional references
• Writ

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