Cabrini | Temporary Lead Attorney

Catholic Charities is looking for the right people; people who wish to serve their community as a part of a family friendly organization doing good within the Houston-Galveston area. We attract and retain the best talent by investing in our employees. People of all faiths helping people in need.

The Lead Attorney, Unaccompanied Minor Program, is a part of the Cabrini Center leadership and provides training and mentorship within his or her team in addition to providing representation and legal assistance for both released and detained unaccompanied children. She or he is responsible for mentoring, training, and case review for legal team members in the provision of immigration legal services to clients served by St. Frances Cabrini Center for Immigrant Legal Assistance Unaccompanied Minor Program. Legal services include assistance for detained children, legal education, legal workshops, legal intake, legal research and individual legal representation. The Lead Attorney will develop expertise in the immigration law as well as stay up-to-date on immigration law and policies and to provide oversight, guidance, and mentorship to attorneys, paralegals, administrative clerks and/or law student interns. The Senior Attorney will contribute to identifying issues for impact advocacy and litigation to be undertaken by Cabrini Center and/or other partners to advance immigrant rights and to make systemic changes.

What you Deliver

• Direct Representation: Provide direct representation to immigrant clients before the USCIS, Asylum Office or Immigration Court as well as state courts on a range of immigration matters, including affirmative asylum and removal defense. Direct representation encompasses the following tasks: conduct legal intake and screening; interview clients, affiants, witness, experts, case managers, and others who can provide information or statement in furtherance of the principal client’s immigration matters; draft, prepare and assemble relevant immigration petitions; conduct legal research; write memoranda of law, motions or briefs in support of applications and petitions filed before USCIS, Asylum office, State, Immigration and Federal Courts, board of Immigration Appeals, Administrative Appeals Office, EOIR and other immigration agencies; prepare client for interviews and court hearings.
• Case Management: Maintain client physical and electronic files according to program requirements, including case notes, correspondence, filings, calendars, and dockets. Maintain a case status list and case service statistics for Cabrini Center and program funders. Participate in case reviews with attorney staff and support staff, and/or Managing Attorney/Legal Director, as applicable. Maintain a minimum of 30-40 active cases.
• Meetings: Attendance and participation in mandatory unit and Cabrini staff meetings, and other agency meetings. Participate on calls and meetings organized by funders, city-wide advocacy groups, local service providers and national support centers when appropriate and helpful.
• Contract and Agency Compliance: Comply with all contract requirements. Provide data and statistical information for grant, contract and other reporting purposes. Provide accurate and timely monthly data, time logs, and reports for internal use, funder use, and other entity use. Participate in trainings, meetings, calls, etc. as required by funders or to serve program needs.
• Outreaches: Participate in charlas by presenting and performing legal consultations. Participate in program and agency community legal education and outreach efforts, particularly as they relate to issues of immigration law, providing direct information to prospective clients, attending information sessions on asylum, deportation and other immigration relief, and conduct legal workshops and engage pro bono counsel in the provision of legal services.
• Personnel: Provide day-to-day leadership for the legal team comprising staff attorneys, law fellows, paralegals, administrative clerks, and interns under the supervision and mentorship of the Senior Attorney. Leadership includes but is not limited to mentoring and training team members, monitor and provide detailed review of assigned team members’ cases and files, oversee data and reporting for team members and provide written progress notes for team members being mentored.
• Substantive Expertise: Identify specialty areas of expertise and develop training and mentorship materials and presentations for the specialty area. Continue to develop expertise in general immigration law, including but not limited to Special Immigrant Juvenile Status, asylum, U visa, T visa, adjustment of status and other immigration relief available to Unaccompanied Minors, as well as naturalization, family immigration, DACA and Temporary Protected Status.
• Advocacy: Identify policy issues and coordinate with other units within Cabrini Center and the immigration bar in advancing advocacy agenda to promote immigrant rights.
• Meeting Funder Requirements and Data Needs: Organize and oversee funder contract requirements for representation, data collection, training, legal assistance for detained children and program management. Evaluate program efficacy and engage in priority setting in line with client and funder needs.
• Shelter Team: Oversee the staffing and operation of the assigned shelter team, to provide back-up support to facilitate detained children work as necessary; conduct regular team meeting to organize shelter schedule, allocate staffing resources and manage stakeholder relationships.
• Perform other duties as assigned.

The Expertise We're Looking For

• Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D.) degree from an ABA accredited law school
• Licensed by the Supreme Court of Texas and membership in the State Bar of Texas; or take the earliest available bar exam and obtain license no later than one (1) year of employment date.
• Bilingual in Spanish in English.

The Skills and Assets You Bring, and More

• Excellent legal research and writing skills
• Excellent verbal and written communication and negotiation skills
• Ability to handle a high-volume caseload, multiple deadlines, and other tasks simultaneously
• Intermediate proficiency in Microsoft Office
• Experience working with immigrant community an asset
• Demonstrated multi-cultural understanding and experience

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Catholic Charities is an equal opportunity employer.  We actively foster an environment that is free of racism, discrimination, bias, and harassment where all individuals are treated with dignity, safety, and respect.  Successful applicant must comply with federal contractor vaccine mandate requirements.

The work you do will help us advocate for the vulnerable among us, a network of support services to people of all ages and from all walks of life and religious backgrounds.