Assistant Managing Attorney - Criminal Appeals Bureau

Assistant Managing Attorney - Criminal Appeals Bureau
Apr 26, 2024

The Criminal Appeals Bureau (CAB) of The Legal Aid Society is the largest post-conviction public defender in New York City, annually providing holistic, client-centered representation to over 1,000 people with misdemeanor, felony, and homicide convictions.

The Criminal Appeals Bureau (CAB) of The Legal Aid Society has an opening for an Assistant Managing Attorney to help in the management of the Bureau. The Managing Attorney's Office (MAO) is responsible for handling the procedural aspects of the appellate practice. This includes receiving case assignments from the courts, obtaining the record on appeal, distributing cases to the staff attorneys, and generally helping to ensuring the smooth administration of the Bureau. MAO also oversees CAB support staff and supports all CAB clients before they are assigned to a staff attorney.

The Assistant Managing Attorney will help oversee the daily operations of MAO, supervising MAO staff, liaising with court personnel, ensuring our case progress efficiently, and troubleshooting issues. The Assistant Managing Attorney exercises significant discretion and judgment in resolving non-routine matters. The position involves a constant balancing of competing needs to ensure that our clients' rights are protected.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES/RESPONSIBILITIES

• Trains and supervises MAO paralegal and support staff, including reviewing and revising motions and correspondence and helping address issues from clients and other people caught up in the criminal legal system
• Oversees the process of receiving case assignments from the courts and obtaining the record on appeal
• Liaises with court personnel about case assignments, court records and minutes, filing commitments and deadlines, and how best to resolve issues that arise
• Assists CAB attorneys with procedural problems, including interceding with court personnel to resolve issues
• Handles telephone inquiries from clients and their families as well as from other individuals who have questions about the process and assist paralegals with more complicated inquiries
• Uses discretion and sound judgment to help troubleshoot problems and resolve non-routine matters
• Engages in strategic planning to help CAB handle cases efficiently and effectively, including monitoring case assignments and filing numbers, helping to report monthly and quarterly statistics to funders, and preparing reports analyzing CAB's caseload and work distribution
• Other responsibilities may include:
• Overseeing filing, including supervising filing paralegals and liaising with courts and our adversaries to troubleshoot issues
• Supervising the Notice of Appeal project, including training and supervising paralegals responsible for filing notices of appeal and requests for assignment of counsel
• Reviewing correspondence handled by the MAO staff and personally responding to more complicated letters
• Overseeing SORA hearing assignments
• Other responsibilities as assigned

Manhattan - Legal Aid Society Headquarters

• Admitted to practice in New York State or ability to waive in from another jurisdiction
• At least five years' experience practicing law preferred
• Knowledge of criminal law and New York State appellate procedure preferred
• Excellent administrative and organizational abilities
• Excellent communication skills, including ability to communicate with clients, judges, court administration, and legal practitioners
• Excellent writing skills
• An aptitude for motivating, training, and managing non-attorney staff

SALARY TRANSPARENCY

The posting reflects the range of potential salaries for the role. The specific salary offers will be dependent on candidate qualifications, including collectively bargained salary steps for unionized roles.

Salary Range/ Salary: $110,000 to $125,000

SALARY AND BENEFITS

The leadership of The Legal Aid Society believes in attracting and retaining exceptional talent committed to serving our clients. We offer a generous benefits package including health insurance, paid vacation, disability, and life insurance, and more. Salaries for our unionized jobs are governed by our Collective Bargaining Agreement. Please visit our Careers page for additional information. Salary and benefits information will be available to applicants, when and if an offer is made.

HIGHER EDUCATION AND LOAN FORGIVENESS

The Legal Aid Society is a qualified employer for the purposes of the Public Service Loan Forgiveness. This position allows an employee to take advantage of PSLF and other State and Federal loan forgiveness programs.

Additionally, employees who are New York residents may be eligible for assistance from New York state to assist with loan repayments, depending on years of practice.To learn more, click the links below.

OUR COMMITMENT TO DIVERSITY, EQUITY, AND INCLUSION

The leadership of The Legal Aid Society is committed to a work culture of zealous advocacy, respect, diversity and inclusion, client-oriented defense, access to justice and excellent representation. We are dedicated to building a strong professional relationship with each of our clients, to understanding their diverse circumstances, and to meeting their needs. Our ability to achieve these goals depends on the efforts of all of us.

WORK AUTHORIZATION

All applicants must be legally authorized to work in the United States for any employer without sponsorship for a work visa or permit. We are currently unable to sponsor employment visas or permits. (However, for citizens of Canada and Mexico, LAS will provide a letter documenting employment status that is needed to obtain a TN visa.)

HOW TO APPLY

All applications must be completed online. We do not accept paper submissions. Please visit our Careers Page to review all current job postings, and instructions on the application process. For technical difficulties or questions regarding this posting, please email .

As an Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) Employer, The Legal Aid Society prohibits discriminatory employment actions against and treatment of its employees and applicants for employment based on actual or perceived race or color, size (including bone structure, body size, height, shape, and weight), religion or creed, alienage or citizenship status, sex (including pregnancy), national origin, age, sexual orientation, gender identity (one's internal deeply-held sense of one's gender which may be the same or different from one's sex assigned at birth); gender expression (the representation of gender as expressed through, for example, one's name, choice of pronouns, clothing, haircut, behavior, voice, or body characteristics; gender expression may not conform to traditional gender-based stereotypes assigned to specific gender identities), disability, marital status, relationship and family structure (including domestic partnerships, polyamorous families and individuals, chosen family, platonic co-parents, and multigenerational families), genetic information or predisposing genetic characteristics, military status, domestic violence victim status, arrest or pre-employment conviction record, credit history, unemployment status, caregiver status, salary history, or any other characteristic protected by law.

Please submit these documents as a single combined PDF when you apply via the LAS (Legal Aid Society) Recruitment Portal.

• Cover Letter
• Resume
• Writing Sample