Pro Bono Managing Attorney

NMILC has an immediate opening for a Pro Bono Managing Attorney. The Pro Bono Managing Attorney is responsible for leading and overseeing the Pro Bono work and Family Law Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS) Predicate Order cases within our Children’s Program, as well as creating and implementing a strategy for the team that includes an assessment of the current pro bono outreach opportunities and recommendations with input from the Deputy Director and the Children’s Managing Attorney for new initiatives, expansion of recruitment efforts, and outreach activities.   

  

The Pro Bono Managing Attorney is accountable for casework and oversight of the day-to-day administration of services, which includes supervising staff members devoted to SIJS Predicate Orders, and providing excellent and responsive mentoring service to Pro Bono lawyers handling NMILC cases.  The Pro Bono Managing Attorney reports to the Children's Program Managing Attorney. 

 

This position is meant for an attorney with experience practicing family and immigration law with deep expertise in Special Immigrant Juvenile Status cases who is exceptionally organized and efficient, who is passionate about providing equal access to all. excited to bring new pro bono partners into NMILC’s work, and who is a systems thinker who is proactive, collaborative, and can work very independently.  

 

Candidate Profile(s) and Requirements 

 

This is an ideal position for someone who matches one of these career profiles: 

• An attorney with immigration law experience, specifically with unaccompanied children, Special Immigrant Juvenile Status, and removal defense who is looking to take a step back from full-time direct representation; 

• An attorney with family law experience in Kinship Guardianship, Sole Custody, and other custody determination postures with predicate orders for Special Immigrant Juvenile Status, who might be looking for a meaningful way to use their skills and expertise; 

• A law firm pro bono coordinator or director with Special Immigrant Juvenile Status expertise who is looking to shift to the nonprofit sector. 

 

Because the essence of this role is developing and nurturing relationships with attorneys and law firms and managing staff on the Children's Program, a candidate with the following skills and experiences will be most successful: 

• Has a strong base of substantive legal knowledge of family and immigration law representing Special Immigrant Juvenile Status cases and demonstrates a strong commitment to immigrant justice – this person knows the SIJS predicate order process in state court for children and youth up to age 21, and is passionate about NMILC’s work and mission; 

• Interested and skilled at working closely with law firms and individual pro bono partners to expand access to legal representation – this person has experience working with medium- to large-sized law firms and attorneys in private practice and is able to evaluate and prioritize requests from this sector while balancing capacity constraints to communicate effectively with stakeholders at NMILC, other nonprofits, and law firms. This person understands the private sector culture and perspective, easily builds trust and rapport with law firm partners and pro bono colleagues, exhibits excellent problem-solving abilities to shift internal systems to meet law firm needs. They also understand the dynamics of pro bono representation and where attorneys may need mentoring and support. 

• Responsive and dependable – this person has their own internal rule about responding to emails and calls in a timely manner (another way they nurture relationships) and can be counted on to follow through. 

• Customer service mindset – this is someone who extends a genuine welcome, who seeks to understand others’ needs, and takes action to meet those needs and quickly solve problems, while maintaining a positive attitude.  

• Skilled at building relationships and bringing new pro bono and judiciary partners to NMILC’s work – this person acts with courtesy, patience and poise, is excited to share NMILC’s work with others, is confident providing trainings, CLEs, speaking to groups, and is a natural salesperson. 
• Skilled trainer, educator, mentor and supervisor – this person can respond to pro bono volunteers quickly, is skilled at time management, is able to triage to meet time-sensitive priorities and enjoys supervision and managing staff

• A people person– this person is often thinking about how to cast a wide net to bring more people to the table and loves getting out and meeting new people and expanding their networks. 

• Team player—this is someone who thrives in a collaborative setting, anticipating others’ needs.  

• Not afraid of a long to-do list—this person is not easily overwhelmed, and excellent at prioritizing and handling multiple projects simultaneously. 
• Systems-minded person who finds and creates efficiencies – this person naturally conceptualizes workflow through a systems approach, thrives on innovating to make tasks more streamlined, and works quickly and accurately. 
  
• Experience working and communicating in a remote environment

 

Qualifications

• J.D. or equivalent experience and license to practice law in New Mexico; 

• Proficiency in Spanish 
• Minimum of five years combined practicing family law and immigration law, significant experience with state court predicate orders for Special Immigrant Juvenile Status as well as immigration humanitarian relief and removal defense/

• A minimum of 2 years demonstrating proven legal expertise or exemplary skills in managing complex legal projects.

Salary and Benefits

This is a full-time exempt position. Salary is competitive for our field and geographic area and is commensurate with experience.   Salary range is $100,360-$125,320. NMILC currently offers a generous benefits package, including:

 

NMILC currently offers a generous benefits package, including:

• 100% of Individual Employee Health, Dental and Vision Premium paid by NMILC for the Base Plan and 50% for dependents. Buy-up health plan also available.

• Access to Traditional and Roth 401(K) options and discretionary employer match up to 10% of base salary upon meeting eligibility requirements (determined each fiscal year based on funding projections).
• Pre-tax flexible spending account (FSA) for both medical and dependent care.
• Employer-paid life insurance and accidental death and dismemberment insurance.
• Employer-paid short and long-term disability insurance.

Benefits may be subject to change at any time based on the organization’s budget.

NMILC also recognizes the value of creating an environment of positive work/life balance, acknowledging that investing in staff’s ability to take care of themselves and their families enables them to do their best work. Our paid holiday schedule is exceptional and contributes to each of us enjoying a good work/life balance. The plan currently includes:

• Company-paid federal holidays in addition to 2 weeks of winter break, 1 week for spring break, and 1 week for summer break, and other days as established in coordination with the local public school schedule.
• Three week paid vacation days annually;
• 1 earned sick leave hour for every 30 hours worked;
• Access to an Employee Assistance Program (EAP)
• Hybrid work options

Salary

• $100,360 - $125,320