Regional Directing Attorney

WHO WE ARE: Founded in 1966, CRLAs mission is to fight for justice and individual rights alongside the most exploited communities of our society. Through a network of field offices and cross-cutting programs, CRLA provides legal services to tens of thousands of low-income people annually. Our work impacts farmworkers, indigenous populations, individuals with disabilities, immigrant populations, LGBTQ+ communities, women, children, and low-income families in rural areas.

• Position: Regional Directing Attorney (AWP)
• Experience: 3+ years
• Application Deadline: Open until filled
• Location: Fresno
• Term of Employment: Regular, Full-Time
• Other: FLSA Exempt, Non-Union Position

Position Description

Reporting to the AWP Legal Director, the Regional Directing Attorney will lead a dynamic 7-person team of staff attorneys, community workers, and support staff located in up to three offices to develop and implement creative advocacy strategies to address community-identified issues affecting agricultural workers in various areas of the Central Valley. The Regional Directing Attorney is responsible for developing the region’s advocacy vision and tone and leading the office teams in delivering high-quality legal services commensurate with that vision. The Regional Directing Attorney should have substantive experience in a legal area that affects agricultural workers and is responsible for maintaining a reduced caseload in addition to their leadership role.

The Agricultural Worker Program utilizes a community lawyering model to address the specific, discrete, and systemic issues facing agricultural workers statewide. The model calls for creative, innovative advocacy that uses a multipronged approach to address the issues and their systemic roots. Approaches such as community leadership development and advocacy around policies are as important to the work as traditional legal advocacy.

The Agricultural Worker Program (AWP) covers a wide array of legal areas ranging from wage and hour violations to unsafe industry-wide working conditions. AWP’s clients are low-wage agricultural workers, including farmworkers and people who work in: dairies, packing houses, plant and flower nurseries, and meat and animal product processing operations such as meat and egg packing.

Essential Responsibilities

Supervision of Office Staff and Advocacy

• Develop the region’s advocacy vision and guide and supervise staff’s advocacy work, including assessing the community’s legal needs, to fulfill that vision.
• Ensure that case handling complies with CRLA policies, Legal Services Corporation regulations, the ABA Standards for the Provision of Civil Legal Services, and ethical obligations.
• Conduct weekly case review meetings with staff to assess new intakes’ eligibility, determine the level of service to be provided, and ensure all cases progress with the provision of quality legal services.
• Guide staff development, including evaluating staff and developing and implementing professional development plans.

Advocacy

• Maintain an active caseload.
• Litigate impact cases as lead or co-counsel and/or work on systemic advocacy.
• Oversee the planning of community education and outreach activities to raise awareness of diverse advocacy areas in local communities.
• Raise awareness of the specific issues facing agricultural workers and CRLA’s work through media, participation in conferences, and collaboration with other organizations, agencies, and issue- and community-based coalitions.

Office Management

• Develop and implement the annual office work plan that serves as a blueprint for systemic advocacy and sets out a results-oriented vision that blends various advocacy approaches to impact change locally, nationally, and statewide.
• As needed, work with the Development and Finance teams to evaluate grant opportunities.
• Understand, monitor, and deliver grant deliverables and necessary outcomes, including timekeeping and other LSC requirements.

Organizational Responsibilities

• Collaborate with other CRLA supervisors to improve CRLA’s organizational effectiveness and capacity.
• Support the establishment of policies and programs that promote a desirable organizational culture and vision.
• Model appropriate leadership behavior and take swift action to mitigate behavior that compromises CRLA values. In collaboration with Human Resources, ensure a culture of knowledge sharing and continued learning.

Qualifications

Required Qualifications:

• Minimum of three (3) years of experience practicing law, preferably with a social justice focus in the areas of agricultural communities, farmworker rights, employment law, language access, or civil rights.
• Ability to organize and supervise the casework and advocacy of team members.
• Knowledge and commitment to community lawyering principles.
• Demonstrated ability to interact constructively and maintain positive relations with diverse populations and team members.
• Demonstrated commitment to working with low-income, marginalized and diverse populations.
• Admitted to the California Bar, or any other State Bar and willingness to take the next California Bar Exam.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience in a non-profit legal services environment.
• Experience supervising a team.
• Experience in obtaining grants and managing them through to completion.
• Fluency in another language, preferably Spanish or an Indigenous Language from Mexico.

Compensation & Benefits:

CRLA offers a diverse, family-friendly environment and compensation based on competitive public interest salaries; the expected pay range for this position is $92,000 to $115,000 per annum. CRLA provides pay ranges representing its good faith estimate of what is reasonably expected to pay for a position. The pay offered to a selected candidate will be determined based on factors such as (but not limited to) the scope and responsibilities of the position, the qualifications of the selected candidate, the program’s budget availability, internal equity, and external market pay for comparable jobs. Generous benefits package includes 100% employer-covered Medical, Dental, Vision, Life, and Short & Long-Term Disability Insurance for employees and up to 50% for dependents coverage; and a 401K Retirement plan with CRLA contribution matching effective immediately. Generous paid leave policy includes 15 days of sick leave, 15 holidays each year, and 15 vacation days (accrue 15 days for the first year of service and 20 days after one year of service at CRLA). Some professional dues are paid by CRLA (Bar Fees) and, if qualified, up to $8,000 annually for the law school Loan Reimbursement Assistance Program (LRAP) through CRLA.

CRLA requires that all employees be Fully Vaccinated, defined as a CDC-approved COVID vaccination and one booster shot. This offer is contingent on meeting this requirement. The complete vaccination policy, including the process for reasonable allowable accommodations, is available for your review upon request.

APPLICATION:

CRLA invites all applicants to include in their cover letter a statement about how your unique background and/or experiences might contribute to the diversity, cultural vitality, and perspective of our staff and legal services practice.

California Rural Legal Assistance thrives on our diversity and we are proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to building a culturally diverse workplace and strongly encourage women, persons of color, LGBTQ+ individuals, veterans, persons with disabilities, and persons from other underrepresented groups to apply.