Senior Staff Attorney - Housing & Homelessness Prevention Unit

About Public Law Center

Founded in 1981, The Public Law Center is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit providing free legal services to low-income residents and other nonprofits in Orange County. Every year, Public Law Center serves about 4,000 clients annually through staff and volunteers, providing tens of thousands of hours of legal services worth over $30 million. Our services include counseling, individual representation, community education and strategic policy advocacy and impact litigation to challenge societal injustices.

About The Role

The Public Law Center (PLC)’s Housing and Homelessness Prevention Unit seeks an energetic, passionate advocate to join our team in fighting for justice for low-income tenants and self-represented litigants in Orange County through innovative, collaborative, community-centered lawyering to address inequities and pursue access to affordable housing.

PLC’s Housing and Homelessness Prevention Unit provides high-quality, direct representation, in addition to coordinating and supervising pro bono representation, of tenants in cases involving evictions or unlawful detainers, discrimination, harassment, housing voucher disputes, affordable housing advocacy, and other issues related to housing.

The Unit also?participates?in community education, community-based clinics, and local and statewide advocacy.

PLC is seeking a highly skilled Senior Staff Attorney to support the Unit with ensuring the provision of quality legal services by handling their own direct services cases and other legal services, such as community outreach and education, legal advocacy and/or impact litigation and will also collaborate with attorneys, paralegals/administrative staff, clients, and external partners.

What You’ll Do

• Handle a diverse caseload on behalf of low-income tenants, including eviction defense, discrimination, habitability, subsidized housing cases, administrative hearings, impact cases, and other issues arising in landlord/tenant relationships and land use laws. In-court representation required. 

• Assist with impact litigation and/or policy advocacy.

• Monitor changes and ensure compliance with laws and regulations affecting housing legal services.

• Some training and mentoring of less-experienced staff, including through co-counseling on direct services cases and impact work.

• Participate in internal office initiatives and external events and activities. 

• Prepare and conduct trainings and community presentations and otherwise assist with or coordinate community outreach and education efforts.

• Full-time?position with occasional evening and weekend work?required.

• Other duties as assigned.

Supervisory Responsibilities

• Occasional supervision of volunteers, including undergraduate students, law clerks, pro bono attorneys, etc., through training, technical support, and interim direct supervision to ensure high-quality legal services are provided to PLC’s clients.

Qualifications

• Active membership in the California State Bar or eligibility to practice under State Bar Multijurisdictional Practice Program.

• A minimum of five years’ experience, with at least three years of state court litigation experience. Experience in housing and unlawful detainer cases preferred.

• Excellent written communication skills.

• Proficiency with everyday office software, including Microsoft Office Suite (Word, Excel, etc.), case management system (LegalServer), and others.

• Strong public speaking skills and ability to communicate with a variety of audiences, including community members, volunteer attorneys, court staff, and judges.

• Must be able to work from the office several days a week, and for request for partial remote work to be granted, must be able to work in a distraction-free and confidential environment. This position requires attendance at meetings, both remote and in person, in and outside the Public Law Center’s offices, and requires?being located in?Southern California. Must have ability to work at the organization’s offices in Santa Ana, CA, and travel to work sites?located?throughout Orange County, CA. In addition, travel to Los Angeles County and other neighboring counties may be?required.

• Must have reliable transportation.

Salary & Benefits

• Compensation is $91,000 to $101,000 annually dependent on experience and pursuant to PLC’s set Pay Scale.

• Health, Dental, Vision, Disability, and Life Insurance (100% of employee premium costs paid by PLC, and 50% of dependent health insurance premium costs paid by PLC)
• • Flexible Spending Account Program to help pay for medical expenses and childcare costs
  • 15 paid holidays per year 
  • Approximately 1 paid week off during office winter closure (between Christmas Day and New Year’s Day)
  • 21 paid sick/wellness days per year to promote mental wellness and general wellbeing 
  • 15 paid vacation days per year 
  • Birthday paid time off (2 hours of paid time off during birthday month)
  • 403b retirement plan (after 6 months of employment PLC provides a matching contribution equaling 100% of salary deferral up to a maximum of 3-4%, depending on length of employment)
  • Monthly $55 stipend for Wi-Fi and cell phone use
  • Monthly Bilingual Pay Premium upon successful completion of an oral and/or written test ($50 for oral premium and $50 for written premium) 
  • Opportunities for growth and advancement 

Public Law Center is dedicated to building a diverse team and fostering a fair and welcoming work environment. To view our complete DEI statement, please click here.

Public Law Center is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, ancestry, citizenship, color, family or medical care leave, gender identity or expression, genetic information, immigration status, marital status, medical condition, national origin, physical or mental disability, political affiliation, protected veteran or military status, race, ethnicity, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, or any other characteristic protected by applicable local laws, regulations and ordinances. If you need assistance and/or a reasonable accommodation due to a disability during the application process, please contact Public Law Center.

PLC will consider qualified applicants with criminal histories in a manner consistent with all legal requirements.

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PLC regrets that it is unable to sponsor employment Visas or consider individuals on time-limited Visa status for this position.