Staff Attorney

Staff Attorney

Oakland, CA

Legal Services for Prisoners with Children (LSPC) is a nonprofit legal organization that fights for the human rights and liberation of incarcerated and formerly incarcerated people. We build community power through legal advocacy, policy advocacy, community organizing, and leadership development. Our work is grounded in an abolitionist framework and a commitment to racial and gender justice, and we follow the lead of those with lived experience of incarceration in all our work. Learn more at prisonerswithchildren.org.

About the Role

The Staff Attorney, reporting to the Supervising Attorney, will work with a team of attorneys, policy advocates, community organizers and directly impacted people and their families to directly advance civil legal services in California — in furtherance of LSPC's mission to:

• Release people from jails and prisons
• Restore civil and human rights
• Reunify families and communities impacted by mass incarceration

As an IOLTA-funded legal support center, LSPC's primary purpose is the advancement of civil legal services for indigent Californians. Our focus is on the civil rights and civil needs of currently and formerly incarcerated and convicted people, with a current focus on fair chance employment and occupational licensing, sentencing reform (adults and youth), ending predatory collection practices of court-ordered debt, protecting family unity and upending the family policing system, ending involuntary servitude, and advancing fair chance housing, disability justice, and climate justice for incarcerated people.

What You'll Do:

As an LSPC Staff Attorney, you bring passion and demonstrated commitment to expanding access to justice for communities impacted by policing and incarceration through developing deep expertise in civil legal issues impacting policed communities, individuals experiencing incarceration, reentry legal issues, and collateral legal impacts on the families of those subject to policing and incarceration.

• Develop and deliver legal trainings on issues related to the civil and human rights of incarcerated, formerly incarcerated, and convicted persons and their families.
• Conduct legal research and deliver legal technical assistance and consultation to civil legal service providers throughout California and nationally.
• Partner with LSPC policy advocates and organizers to provide policy advocacy support for civil legal services by serving on coalitions and task forces, conducting legislative and regulatory research, bill analysis and bill drafting, participating in strategy sessions and direct public policy advocacy with legislators, elected officials and other administrative officials and entities.
• Provide litigation support for civil legal services through participation in impact litigation which may include drafting and reviewing amicus briefs, fact investigation, legal research and analysis, and serving as co-counsel.
• Produce relevant legal resource materials covering a broad array of legal issues impacting incarcerated, formerly incarcerated, and convicted persons and their families.
• Actively network, engage and outreach to the civil legal aid community in California to learn about pressing legal issues and collaborate to develop strategic responses to help close the justice gap for incarcerated, formerly incarcerated, and convicted persons and their families.
• Review and respond to requests for legal information from incarcerated individuals and their family members.
• Train and supervise legal interns.
• Participate in and support LSPC's outreach, organizing and community building events.
• Work in conjunction with all LSPC staff members to determine strategic priorities.

What You Bring:

• Active membership in good standing in the California State Bar.
• 0-4 years of legal work
• Demonstrated commitment to advancing racial and gender justice.
• Initiative and Ingenuity: You leverage resources creatively to solve problems and dive right in to take a concept from idea to implementation. You often consult with others, but you can also propose solutions and get things rolling without much guidance.
• Relationship-Building Skills: You are skilled at connecting with people from many different backgrounds, working in coalitions with multiple stakeholders and partners towards a common goal, as well as developing connections and relationships with traditional legal professionals, bridging those perspectives to serve LSPC's mission.
• Strategist's Mind: You quickly grasp the subtleties of complex issues and identify patterns and recurrent challenges. You don't stop at diagnosing problems, though; you move to come up with insightful, pragmatic, equitable, and sustainable ways to produce positive change.
• Legal Knowledge and Skills: You work to develop deep legal knowledge and skills related to carceral systems and reentry legal needs, become an expert in a particular subject area or areas, and then use your legal knowledge and skills to support and develop the civil legal aid community for the benefit of incarcerated, formerly incarcerated, and convicted persons and their families.
• Attention to Detail: You are reliable and consistent, so the civil legal aid community comes to rely on you for availability and the quality of your work.
• Communication Skills: You are adept at translating complex legal issues into accessible language and formats for a wide range of audiences with a commitment to further legal and political education for those often shut out of traditional professionalized spaces and you lead with humility.

Compensation & Benefits:

• Salary: $85,000-$95,000 annually (full-time exempt)
• Health & Wellness: 100% employer-paid health, dental, and vision insurance (including dependents), plus acupuncture and chiropractic coverage
• Time Off: Generous vacation, sick leave, and paid holidays, including an office closure at the end of the year
• Professional Growth: Opportunities for professional development and leadership training within a supportive, justice-driven team

Our Commitment to Equity

LSPC is committed to building a diverse and inclusive workplace and welcomes applicants of all backgrounds and identities. We are an equal opportunity employer to all, regardless of age, ancestry, association with a member of a protected class, color, disability (physical, intellectual/developmental, or mental health/psychiatric), gender identity or expression, genetic information or characteristic, marital status, medical condition (cancer or genetic characteristic), military and veteran status, national origin, pregnancy, childbirth, lactation, or related medical conditions, race (includes hairstyle and hair texture), religious creed (includes dress and grooming practices), reproductive health decision making, sex/gender, sexual orientation, and use of protected leave. We strongly encourage those with the unique contribution of candidates with lived experience as a formerly incarcerated and/or system impacted person to apply.