LEGAL ASSISTANCE OF WESTERN NEW YORK, INC.

FULL-TIME Housing Project Intake Supervisor (Supervising Attorney)

Choice of Office - Western New York

Position Description

LawNY ® seeks to fill an immediate opening for a Housing Project Intake Supervisor to join a new organization-wide team of housing advocates, supervised by the Housing Project Managing Attorney. The Housing Project Intake Supervisor reports directly to the Housing Project Managing Attorney, and will be responsible for developing and overseeing a regional intake process to screen new housing matters, assign housing cases to advocates and provide legal information. The role provides supervision and direction to front line intake staff on housing matters.

In 2022, LawNY ® received funding for approximately forty new housing staff, including supervising attorneys, staff attorneys, paralegals, and administrative staff. Along with current housing staff, this project will represent approximately 40% of LawNY ® ’s 200 personn el, once fully staffed.

As a result, LawNY ® is currently in the process of centralizing our housing work under an organization-wide umbrella, including substantive practice, grants administration, supervision and training, priority setting, intake, and other projects. With this centralization, we hope to increase collaboration across our 14-county service area and streamline and standardize our intake processes to increase efficient access to services and reduce bias. We also expect that centralization will better position us to recognize and respond to widespread patterns and issues among our clients with regard to their housing. The Housing Project Intake Supervisor, in collaboration with the Housing Project Managing Attorney, the Housing Project Unit Supervisor, and the Housing Project Grants Administrator, will play an integral role in initiating this new centralized model in order to meet these goals.

The primary responsibility of this position is to manage LawNY’s housing intake processes, oversee the intake workers who handle incoming housing cases, and ensure prompt review and assignment of eligible cases to advocates. The intake supervisor will also ensure that callers receive accurate legal information and appropriate referrals through the front line intake team.

The applicant must have a strong foundational understanding of the root causes of poverty and the ways in which poverty and racism, sexism, and other forms of oppression are intertwined. The applicant should have an understanding of housing law, in particular, eviction prevention. The ideal candidate will have an understanding of the power and the limitations of the law in addressing systemic harms.

The person filling this role will supervise housing intake staff across the program. The candidate will collaborate with a wide range of LawNY ® staff and must have the skills to effectively supervise across lines of difference. Every supervisor at LawNY ® is expected to actively engage in learning and become increasingly skilled in supervision that supports diversity, equity, and inclusion.

This position reports to the Housing Project Managing Attorney.

Responsibilities: These are the most significant responsibilities and primary functions of the position.

• In collaboration with the Housing Project Managing Attorney, develop, standardize, and maintain a centralized housing intake process to screen new housing matters, assign cases to advocates, and provide legal information.
• Understand and provide guidance on case acceptance policies for housing intake staff.
• Provide substantive legal supervision and support to housing intake staff.
• At minimum, understand services for private landlord/tenant issues, eviction defense, subsidized and public housing issues, mobile home issues, rent-to-owns, and housing discrimination.
• Provide supervision for intake staff on eligibility for services, including evaluating conflicts of interest.
• Understand the major housing grants as they affect each of the fourteen counties/7 regional offices.
• Implement grant requirements and complete initial assignment of case funding source.
• Coordinate with local office managers and regional managers to continuously gauge staff capacity for new case assignments, and distribute cases equitably.
• Review and approve timesheets and leave requests for intake staff.
• Provide regular team training and/or coordinate external training for team members.
• Help identify appropriate opportunities for training and task force activities for supervised staff.
• Collaborate with other human services providers, non-profit organizations and communities, clients, and/or other advocacy groups to address problems of low-income people.
  

Qualifications: These are the traits, attributes, attitudes, and skills that speak to the candidate’s ability to succeed in the position. While no one candidate will possess all of the requirements listed, the ideal candidate will have many of the following qualifications . LawNY ® encourages each candidate to think about their own personal knowledge, skills, and experience, as well professional skills and experience, in relation to the list of qualifications.

• (Required) Minimum three years of legal experience as an attorney in the legal field and/or legal services.
• (Required) Admitted to practice and in good standing in New York State, eligible for admission without examination, or able to be admitted pro hac vice.
• Demonstrated leadership on critical issues facing low-income people.
• Demonstrated commitment to services to low-income people.
• Demonstrated ability to develop and undertake initiatives.
• Demonstrated ability to command the trust and respect of staff members, community groups, and the legal community.
• Commitment to engaging in learning and developing supervision skills that support diversity, equity, and inclusion.
• Experience related to serving individuals from historically oppressed populations.
• An understanding of the concepts of institutional and structural racism and their impact on underserved and underrepresented communities
• Incorporates an anti-racist and anti-oppressive lens into legal practice.
• An understanding of landlord/tenant housing issues and the ability to issue spot housing issues as presented by applicants for service
• Familiarity with town and village courts
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills, including a commitment to providing trauma-informed services.
• Experience and demonstrated skill in mentoring and training less-experienced attorneys, paralegals and/or other staff.
• Humility in working with colleagues and clients across the spectrum of diversity, including race, ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, immigrant status, religious identity, physical and mental disabilities, and/or limited English proficiency.
• Ability to triage incoming cases consistent with case acceptance priorities and staff capacity.
• Fluency in Spanish is a plus.
  

Organization Information

Legal Assistance of Western New York, Inc. (LawNY ® ) is a not-for-profit law firm providing civil legal services to low-income clients in a fourteen county area of western New York.

LawNY ® has been providing high quality legal represe ntation for 53 years. O ur 2021 cases were closed in the following practice areas: housing (31%); government benefits (26% ); family law (25.5%); health law (9.4%); miscellaneous benefits including wills and advance care directives (4.8%); consumer law (4.7%); employment law (1.8%); individual rights (0.8%); and education (1.3%).

LawNY ® is committed to equitable inclusion across race, gender, sexual orientation, gender

identity, age, ability, sex, religion, economic circumstances, ethnicity, national origin, and

culture. We are increasingly committed to creating a law firm where race equity, diversity and cultural competency are integral components of our work, from client advocacy to internal operations. We are actively seeking applicants whose work incorporates this perspective and whose lived and professional experience contributes to sustaining an environment that enables staff and clients to feel empowered, valued, respected, and safe.

Office Description

LawNY ® was created by a merger of three regional legal service programs in 2004, and today has over 170 e mployees, including attorneys, paralegals, and a legal support team who work closely across areas of specialization to bring a holistic approach to addressing legal issues affecting our clients and community. LawNY ® has seven fully staffed field offices in Bath, Elmira, Geneva, Ithaca, Jamestown, Olean and Rochester, several satellite offices across Western New York, and a business office in Rochester.

This position is program wide and will collaborate with all of the LawNY ® offices. This position can be located in any LawNY ® office with a preference for primary location in Bath, Elmira, Geneva, Geneseo, Jamestown, Ithaca, or Olean. Moreover, LawNY ® offers a hybrid work schedule of up to three remote days per week during an employee’s first six months, and up to fully remote thereafter, consistent with job responsibilities. This position will require periodic in-person appearances and some travel across the organization’s service area.

Salary:

Salary is set on a standardized organizational salary scale based on years of job experience.

The salary for a Supervising Attorney with three years of relevant experience is $68,000, as per the LawNY salary scale.

Benefits: We provide a superlative package of fringe benefits including:

• 94% employer paid health insurance, with significant HSA contributions to offset high deduction plans
• 100% employer paid dental and disability insurance
• $50,000 automatic life insurance
• Remote Work Policy: New staff are able to work from home up to 3 days per week during their 6 month probationary period with manager approval. This increases to 5 days per week once successfully finished with a probationary period with manager approval.
• LawNY is committed to providing a work-life balance to their employees. We encourage and support a 35 hour work week to ensure our employees have this balance.
  

We also provide a very generous leave package including, in the first year of employment, 20 days of vacation plus 13.5 holidays and two floating holidays. Employees also receive 12 sick days and five personal days per year. New parents receive 20 days of paid new parent leave.

LawNY ® staff may also qualify for public interest law school loan forgiveness programs.

Application Instructions:

To apply, submit your cover letter, resume, and three references through LawNY ® ’s BambooHR platform ( click here ). References will not be contacted until after any interview, and will not be contacted without your knowledge.

To promote social justice and achieve our mission, LawNY ® is committed to maintaining a diverse staff and creating an inclusive and respectful workplace. In your cover letter, please explain how you think your lived and/or professional experience or background has prepared you to contribute to support a strong commitment to diversity and inclusion in LawNY’s intake processes.

Applications for this position will close April 14, 2023 . Please apply before then for full consideration. The job will remain posted until filled. If not filled by this date, applications will be accepted on a rolling basis. You will receive a confirmation email when your application has been received on our HR platform. LawNY® will contact you to inform you whether you have been offered an interview.

Questions or Accommodations? Contact Sandra Coyne at scoyne@lawny.org

Legal Assistance of Western New York, Inc. (LawNY ® ) is an equal opportunity employer. LawNY ® strongly encourages applications from Black, Indigenous and People of Color, women, LGBTQIA+ individuals, people with disabilities, and persons from other underrepresented groups whose background may contribute to working in and sustaining an environment that enables staff and clients to feel empowered, valued, respected, and safe. LawNY ® welcomes applications regardless of race, color, religion, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, pregnancy, national origin, age, disability, genetic information or any other consideration protected by law.