by Natasha B. | Jul 2, 2024 | Internships & Careers
JOB ANNOUNCEMENT
Staff Attorney, Employment Unit
Catholic Migration Services (“CMS”), an affiliated agency of Catholic Charities Brooklyn and Queens, provides high quality free legal services, community education, and advocacy for low-income immigrants residing in New York City, regardless of race, religion, ethnicity, national origin, or immigration status. CMS assists individuals with their immigration, housing, and employment legal needs. CMS is committed to “welcoming the stranger in our midst” by serving and working alongside underserved immigrant communities to advance equality and social justice in an ever-changing landscape.
Our Employment Unit seeks a full-time, highly motivated, and passionate employment attorney to join our team. This is for a full-time position in our Sunnyside, Queens office. The position is hybrid (three days per week in the office and two days remotely). The attorney will advise and represent low-wage workers with a variety of legal claims in New York state and federal courts and administrative agencies. The attorney will also conduct know-your-rights workshops at community-based organizations. The Employment Unit most commonly represents clients with wage-hour violations (unpaid wages, minimum wage and overtime violations), paid sick leave and family leave violations, discrimination and sexual harassment, and retaliation.
Essential Duties and Responsibilities:
- Advise and represent workers (individuals and groups) before state and federal courts, and administrative agencies;
- Counsel clients on their rights and resolve claims through negotiation when appropriate;
- Lead Know-Your-Rights type presentations at community sites;
- Participate in advocacy efforts – primarily at the local and state levels – to influence legislative or administrative bodies on matters impacting low-wage workers;
- Assist in outreach; and Other duties as assigned.
Qualifications:
- Admission to the New York State Bar;
- At least three years of relevant experience (i.e, clerkship, litigation, representing low wage workers)
- Demonstrated commitment to public interest work;
- Ability to coordinate and collaborate successfully with other groups and organizations;
- Excellent written, oral and analytical skills;
- Proficiency in languages other than English is strongly preferred but not required; Excellent organizational skills;
- Demonstrated ability to take initiative and work independently; and
- Ability and experience working with clients from diverse backgrounds and communities.
Diversity and Non-Discrimination Policy:
Catholic Migration Services values workplace diversity and welcomes applicants and employees of all backgrounds. CMS strives to create a positive, supportive, and inclusive work environment for all staff. CMS makes all employment decisions without regard to any applicant’s or employee’s protected characteristics, including their race, religion, color, national origin, immigration status, age, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, arrest conviction record, or marital status.
Salary and Benefits:
Salary is on a union scale based on years of experience. The salary range for an attorney with four to twenty-five years of experience is $76,975.03 to $110,636.14, depending on years of experience. CMS offers a very competitive benefits package that includes medical, dental and vision insurance coverage, transit benefits, Flexible Spending Account (FSA) and a 403(b) retirement plan including employer contribution. We offer generous leave policies, including four weeks paid vacation, four paid personal days, fourteen paid holidays and the week off between Christmas and New Year’s Days, inclusive.
Union Representation:
This is a bargaining unit position represented for collective bargaining purposes by the Association of Legal Aid Attorneys, UAW, Local 2325.
Application Instructions:
Applications will be accepted immediately and will be considered on a rolling basis. Interested applicants should send a cover letter, resume, and list of three professional references to: Magdalena Barbosa, Director of Legal Services, at mbarbosa@catholicmigration.org. Please include “Staff Attorney, Employment Unit” in the subject line.
View and download the job announcement as a PDF: Staff Attorney, Employment Unit
by Natasha B. | Oct 14, 2022 | Internships & Careers
2023 SPRING AND SUMMER LEGAL INTERNSHIPS
Catholic Migration Services (“CMS”) is currently accepting 2023 summer legal internship applications for our Tenant Advocacy, Immigration, and Workers Rights’ Programs. CMS is a nonprofit provider of legal services primarily serving low-income residents of Brooklyn and Queens and is an affiliated agency of Catholic Charities Brooklyn and Queens.
Interns will be responsible for legal research, drafting legal memoranda and other documents, factual investigation, assisting in hearing/trial preparation, development of educational and outreach materials, client interviewing, and a host of other needs that arise in CMS litigation and advocacy efforts. Interns also may have opportunities to observe CMS attorneys in court or administrative agency proceedings.
The Tenant Advocacy Program (“TAP”) at CMS assists tenants – primarily residents of Queens – with a wide array of housing-related legal services ranging from brief advice to full representation in court proceedings. TAP assists tenants with matters such as eviction defense, obtaining needed repairs, combatting landlord harassment and rent overcharges, obtaining renewal leases, and obtaining rent increase exemptions for seniors and persons with disabilities. We typically litigate cases in Queens Housing Court and at administrative agencies, and also periodically represent clients in Queens Supreme Court and the Second Department. Because TAP also has tenant organizers, our legal team and organizers collaborate to lead community education events and bring group cases.
The Immigration Program at CMS is comprised of three units: Removal Defense, Affirmative Filings, and Naturalization. Removal Defense represents immigrants who are before Immigration Court seeking forms of relief such as defensive asylum, Special Immigrant Juvenile Status, cancellation of removal for lawful permanent residents and non-lawful permanent residents, motions to reopen, and 212(C) waivers. The Removal Defense team also files affirmative asylum petitions, U visas, T visas and I-130 family based petitions associated with a removal case before United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”). The affirmative filings team files R visas, religious worker petitions, consular processing family petitions, Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) petitions, I-130 family petitions, inadmissibility waivers, I-90 green card renewals, and adjustment of status applications. The Naturalization team submits naturalization applications and N-600 (application for certificate of citizenship for people who derived or acquired US citizenship through their parents) applications before USCIS. We are seeking summer interns to assist with our removal defense and affirmative work.
The Workers’ Rights Program at CMS works towards strengthening the enforcement of workers’ rights through affirmative litigation, policy reform, individual representation, and community education. In collaboration with workers’ centers and community-based organizations citywide, the Workers’ Rights Program provides advice and representation to hundreds of low-income and immigrant workers each year facing a range of problems, including wage theft, entitlement to paid and unpaid leave (family leave, sick leave, etc…), discrimination, unemployment insurance, and other basic workplace rights. The Workers’ Rights Program represents clients at various city, state and federal enforcement agencies, as well as in state and federal courts.
General Information
Applicants should be currently enrolled in an ABA accredited law school. The internship is unpaid, however CMS will support the applicant’s effort to obtain funding from outside sources (e.g., their law school, Equal Justice America, etc.).
Application Instructions
Interested applicants should email a cover letter, resume, writing sample, and three references directly to the program to which they are applying:
For Immigration Internships (Please direct your application materials to the intended unit):
Lynn Neugebauer
Supervising Attorney, Removal Defense Project
Email: lneugebauer@catholicmigration.org
Christopher Holtz
Supervising Attorney, Affirmative Filings Unit
Email: choltz@catholicmigration.org
For Tenant Advocacy Internships:
Jonathan Cohen
Managing Attorney, Tenant Advocacy Program
Email: jcohen@catholicmigration.org
For Workers’ Rights Internships:
Alice Davis
Supervising Attorney, Workers’ Rights Program
Email: adavis@catholicmigration.org
