The Organization: Founded in 1969 and located in Oakland, California, Centro Legal de la Raza (Centro Legal) is a comprehensive legal services agency focused on strengthening low-income, immigrant, and Latino individuals and families by providing bilingual and culturally competent legal representation, education, and advocacy. The mission of Centro Legal is to protect and expand the rights of low-income people, particularly monolingual Spanish-speaking immigrants.
Centro Legal’s immigration practice is focused on serving the needs of our most vulnerable community members, including families living in poverty, women, children, victims of violent crimes, survivors of domestic and sexual violence, and detained individuals in removal proceedings. We offer comprehensive, full-service direct representation to our clients as well as providing legal rights education and client intake through our various immigration clinics. We specialize in detained and non-detained removal defense, affirmative asylum applications, family-based visa petitions, U visas for victims of violent crime, and naturalization.
The Position: Centro Legal has received funding from Equal Justice Works to hire an immigration paralegal to work with us for two years on providing high-quality, high-volume legal services to immigrants seeking relief under the Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents (DAPA) and expanded Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA)
The immigration paralegal will provide direct support to our Immigration Program Director and DACA/DAPA Attorney Fellow. Duties will include:
Assist DACA/DAPA Attorney Fellow, Immigration Senior Staff Attorney, and Immigration Program Director in all aspects of immigration legal representation for qualified individuals.
Respond to intake calls, emails, and letters from individuals seeking assistance.
Meet with clients to gather documents, complete immigration forms, interview clients, and draft client statements for attorney review.
Translate letters and other documents.
Occasionally deliver legal documents to various courts and government agencies in San Francisco.
Write letters to companies, institutions, and government agencies to assist the client in obtaining police reports, court records, medical records, and school records.
After training, the paralegal may prepare various legal papers, such as pleading caption pages, list of exhibits, etc.
Help DACA/DAPA Attorney Fellow conduct community outreach events as well as any other appropriate community education events.
Manage and coordinate databases, case files, attorneys’ correspondence files, etc.
Research and analyze issues where appropriate such as researching social and economic conditions and human rights conditions in the client’s home country.
Perform other special projects and other duties as assigned by DACA/DAPA Attorney Fellow and/or Immigration Program Director.
Qualifications: First and foremost, the applicant must profoundly share Centro Legal’s mission and vision of social justice. Below are additional qualifications.
A Bachelor’s degree required.
Fluency in Spanish required.
Excellent word-processing and computer skills, including knowledge of Microsoft Word and Excel.
Must be well organized, efficient, highly motivated, able to handle multiple tasks at once, work well under pressure, and take initiative.
Must have outstanding written, verbal and interpersonal skills, superb attention to detail, and excellent phone manner.
Ability to work independently as well as within a team.
Willingness to conduct training and outreach activities in the community.
Experience working with low-income, immigrant, and monolingual Spanish-speaking communities.
Strong commitment to serving low-income and underserved communities, with an ability to relate to and communicate with a broad range of clients and colleagues.
Duration of Position: Position will start September 2015 and end August 2017.
How to apply
Review of applications will begin immediately and continue until the end of July. Candidate will be selected by mid-August. Applicants are encouraged to apply as soon as possible. Submit via email only: 1) detailed cover letter describing desire to work with low-income, monolingual Spanish-speaking community, 2) resume, and 3) a list of three professional references to jobs@centrolegal.org. Place these words in the subject line “Immigration Paralegal.”
Centro Legal de la Raza is an equal opportunity employer that does not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, disability, gender, nationality, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or any other prohibited category. Centro Legal de la Raza is an affirmative action employer and strongly encourages women, people of color, immigrants, LGBTQ, older persons, persons with disabilities, and all qualified persons to apply.