Immigration Legal Director

Position Description

The Bronx Defenders (BxD) – an innovative, progressive, holistic indigent defense office in the South Bronx – seeks an experienced attorney with a commitment to social justice to fill a position as Legal Director of the Immigration Practice.

Founded in 1997, The Bronx Defenders is a public defender nonprofit that has developed a nationally recognized model of representation called holistic defense, which provides people with teams of lawyers, social workers, and advocates to defend them zealously in court as well as to address the underlying drivers and enmeshed penalties of legal system involvement.

Since opening our doors, we have grown into an organization of more than 400 staff members defending nearly 20,000 New Yorkers each year in criminal, family, civil, and immigration proceedings who face incarceration, family separation, eviction, and deportation, among other devastating consequences.

Today we are reimagining the role of public defense even further, using community organizing and engagement, legislative advocacy, and impact litigation to partner with the communities we represent to bring about long-lasting systemic change.

We also share our model and lessons learned with current and future public defenders. We run two legal clinics at NYC law schools and train public defenders from one end of the country to the next on how to move to a holistic model of representation.

Immigration Practice

Nearly a third of the residents of the Bronx were born outside the United States, and many face the unprecedented threat of detention and deportation by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Our attorneys help people facing criminal, family, and civil proceedings make informed and strategic decisions to protect their rights. We are also one of the three public defender organizations leading the nation’s first-ever universal representation program for detained immigrants facing deportation.

Legal Department

The Immigration Practice’s Legal Department leads our federal habeas and appellate litigation and provides strategic advice and resources on legal issues to the Practice. The department is currently staffed by one Legal Counsel and is in an exciting period of growth. With resources already secured for several additional roles, the incoming Legal Director will have the opportunity to immediately help shape and build out the legal team to support the practice’s expanding needs.

Responsibilities

Reporting to the Managing Director (MD) of the Immigration Practice, the Immigration Legal Director will be responsible for:

Client Representation

Represent a reduced caseload of clients, in primarily federal court matters

Legal Strategies

• Provide strategic advice and support on legal issues to the Immigration Practice
• Host Practice Case Rounds to support the exchange of legal knowledge and case strategy advice among staff
• Be an available and approachable resource to attorneys/advocates for legal questions as they arise in their cases
• Develop innovative projects and resources to meet the changing needs of the practice and people we represent
• Collaborate with the Immigration MD and the Immigration Policy Director to develop strategic and coordinated litigation and policy strategies to advance the interests of the people we represent
• In consultation with the Immigration MD and our Impact Litigation Practice, develop affirmative litigation strategies to advance the law and address systemic problems
• Together with the Immigration MD, collaborate with and work as liaison to the Impact Litigation Practice
  
  

Supervision of Federal Work

• Supervise and mentor a team of legal counsel on federal court matters and other duties related to providing legal support to the Immigration Practice
• Collaborate with legal counsel to monitor and assess cases in the pipeline for potential habeas petitions or petitions for review at the circuit level
• Collaborate with BxD’s Pro Bono Director to expand the department’s capacity and oversee the department’s pro bono partnerships
• Support and mentor immigration practice staff attorneys on litigation projects and practices, in collaboration with supervisors
• Provide back-up supervision as requested and needed
• Provide equitable, culturally conscious supervision, and support marginalized supervisees in navigating experiences of oppression in their work
  
  

Programmatic Responsibilities

• In collaboration with legal counsel, monitor relevant cases and new laws, and keep the practice informed of developments relevant to their practice
• Collaborate with the Training Director to plan, implement and carry out training for staff on immigration law and practice
• Develop and maintain tools for sharing best practices and preserving institutional knowledge in conjunction with the Deputy Director and legal counsels
• Create office-wide legal guides and practice advisories
  
  

Leadership & External Relationships

• Participate as a member of the immigration practice’s leadership team to help in decision making regarding the function of the practice
• Promote information sharing and strategic coordination across the immigration legal community to advance legal developments beneficial to the people we represent
• Assist the Immigration MD and Immigration Policy Director in developing policy responses and increasing the Immigration Practice’s capacity to influence local and national policy
• Participate in local, regional and federal coalitions and working groups pertinent to the work of the Immigration Practice
• Oversee the development of external-facing resources