Staff Attorney

📋 Description

• • Lead the fight for justice as a Staff Attorney at Kids In Need of Defense (KIND), where you will serve as the primary legal advocate for unaccompanied and separated children in New York City who have endured forced displacement, violence, and trauma. Your caseload will span asylum, Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS), U visas, and T visas, each case demanding meticulous preparation, strategic litigation, and unwavering compassion.
• • Conduct weekly visits to local immigration detention facilities, personally performing or supervising trauma-informed intakes and Know-Your-Rights orientations. You will be the first friendly face many children see after harrowing journeys, translating complex legal concepts into age-appropriate language and ensuring every child leaves the room with a clear understanding of their rights and potential paths to safety.
• • Rapidly review and approve legal screenings completed by paralegals, applying sharp analytical skills to identify preliminary eligibility for relief within minutes. You will triage urgent cases—such as children approaching 18th birthdays or facing expedited removal—and craft immediate action plans that may include bond motions, requests for continuances, or emergency motions to reopen.
• • Make “friend-of-the-court” appearances on the juvenile detained docket in Immigration Court, arguing for release to suitable sponsors, alternative placements, or critical continuances. Your advocacy will prevent children from aging out of ORR custody into adult detention and will secure time necessary to build robust cases for permanent protection.
• • Manage a focused docket of detained cases where reunification with family is impossible, ensuring these especially vulnerable children receive continuous representation. You will coordinate with social-service providers, mental-health clinicians, and child-welfare agencies to craft holistic release plans that prioritize safety and stability.
• • Upon release, seamlessly transition into direct representation in removal proceedings and affirmative applications. You will draft detailed asylum declarations, compile country-condition evidence, prepare clients for grueling USCIS interviews, and litigate cases before Immigration Judges—always centering the child’s narrative and safeguarding their mental health.
• • Cultivate and steward relationships with elite law firms, bar associations, and Fortune 500 legal departments to place overflow cases with pro bono counsel. You will match each child with an attorney whose skills align with case complexity, then provide cradle-to-grave support that includes sample pleadings, strategy memos, and 24-hour crisis consultation.
• • Design and deliver dynamic training curriculum alongside KIND’s Training & Technical Assistance Team. You will create CLE-eligible workshops, bilingual toolkits, and mock hearing scripts that empower hundreds of pro bono attorneys to deliver representation that meets KIND’s gold standard.
• • Supervise Senior Paralegals, Paralegals, interns, and administrative staff through structured onboarding, weekly case rounds, skills clinics, and quarterly performance evaluations. Your mentorship will build a resilient team capable of handling high-volume, high-stakes casework without compromising quality or wellness.
• • Maintain meticulous case records in Salesforce and LegalServer, ensuring data integrity for grant reporting, outcome measurement, and continuous program improvement. You will generate real-time dashboards that inform leadership decisions and demonstrate KIND’s impact to donors, policymakers, and the media.
• • Participate in field-office and organization-wide strategic initiatives, lending your expertise to policy advocacy campaigns, amicus briefs, and media interviews that amplify the voices of unaccompanied children and push for systemic reforms in immigration law.
• • Champion KIND’s wellness culture by modeling healthy boundaries, utilizing mindfulness resources, and facilitating peer-support circles. You will help build a workplace where staff exposed to secondary trauma can thrive, innovate, and sustain long-term careers in public-interest law.