Housing Attorney
Mental Health Project

The Mental Health Project (MHP) of the Urban Justice Center seeks a staff attorney to assist its clients to secure and maintain adequate housing. The staff attorney will represent low-income New Yorkers with psychiatric disabilities in landlord and tenant matters, primarily in housing court. The attorney may also represent clients occasionally at administrative hearings and article 78 proceedings involving NYCHA, DCHR, and HPD, as needed, to help support clients’ housing cases. The staff attorney will participate in various legal clinics, engage in outreach to the mental health community, and work collaboratively with MHP social work and advocacy staff to ensure clients receive the highest level of services and resources. This position is a one-year position, made possible by MHP’s receipt of a one-year grant, which has allowed us to reallocate other funding for this position.

MHP’s mission is to advance and enforce the rights of low-income individuals with mental illness through direct legal advocacy, community education and impact litigation. MHP’s focus areas include disability rights, public benefits, eviction prevention, and discharge planning advocacy. MHP has an initiative serving and protecting the civil rights of individuals with mental illness in the criminal justice system. MHP provides direct services to hundreds of New Yorkers each year, and its innovative class action lawsuits have advanced the rights of tens of thousands of individuals, both in New York and across the nation.

The ideal candidate will be an attorney with:

• litigation experience in housing court;
• familiarity with public assistance, Social Security, and other benefits to which our clients are entitled;
• familiarity with grants management, especially with grant reporting requirements;
• excellent advocacy skills, and superior legal research and writing ability;
• experience in working with social workers and an understanding of the importance of interdisciplinary work; and
• a passionate commitment to fighting for low-income people with psychiatric disabilities.

Requirements include:

• J.D. and admission to practice law in New York State
• Housing court experience
• Excellent written and oral communication skills
• Excellent organization skills and attention to detail
• Demonstrated commitment to social justice

Ability to speak Spanish is a plus.

To apply, please send a cover letter, resume, brief writing sample, and contact information for three references to Mary Beth Anderson, Project Director, Mental Health Project, Urban Justice Center, at mhp@urbanjustice.org with “Housing Attorney” in the subject line. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis, so applicants are encouraged to apply as soon as possible. We will contact only those applicants we wish to interview.

Legal Advocate
Veteran Advocacy Project

The Urban Justice Center seeks an advocate to be a part of the Veteran Advocacy Project (VAP). Responsibilities will range from direct client services to administrative work. Military experience or prior work with veterans is a plus. No J.D. applicants please.

Responsibilities

• Interact with and advocate on behalf of clients: intake, follow up interviews, assistance with paperwork (forms, releases, etc.), representation at hearings;
• Research legal issues, with a focus on public benefits, VA benefits, and housing law;
• Conduct outreach on college campuses and in shelters across New York City;
• Obtain and copy court files;
• Provide thorough referrals to connect clients with other services;
• Perform administrative tasks, including: cover the intake phone line, enter client information into our database, copying & faxing, etc.

Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree
• Demonstrated proficiency in legal research;
• Excellent analytical and critical thinking skills;
• Efficient and meticulous attention to detail;
• Communication skills, including the ability to maintain confidentiality and to work with people living with mental illness;
• Ability to work independently, to manage a high client load, to meet deadlines, and to be flexible;
• Demonstrated commitment to social justice and/or veterans’ issues

Salary is dependent on experience and includes a generous benefits package. This is a bargaining unit position represented for collective bargaining purposes by the National Organization of Legal Services Workers, UAW, Local 2230.

A resume and cover letter may be submitted to veterans@urbanjustice.org with "Advocate 2013" in the subject line. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis. We regret that, due to high volume, we are unable to respond to inquiries and will contact only those candidates selected for further consideration.

Internships/Externships
Sex Workers Project

The Sex Workers Project provides client-centered legal and social services to individuals who engage in sex work, regardless of whether they do so by choice, circumstance, or coercion. One of the first programs in the nation to assist survivors of human trafficking, the Sex Workers Project has pioneered an approach to service grounded in human rights, harm reduction and in the real life experiences of our clients. Our professional service providers are multi-lingual, non-judgmental and bring more than ten years of experience. As the only US organization meeting the needs of both sex workers and trafficking victims, the Sex Workers Project serves a marginalized community that few others reach. We engage in policy and media advocacy, community education and human rights documentation, working to create a world that is safe for sex workers and where human trafficking does not exist.

About the Internships/Externships

The Sex Workers Project is looking for highly motivated problem‐solvers committed to advancing the rights of sex workers and survivors of trafficking.

Legal Interns will work closely with staff attorneys on a wide range of cases, which may include applications for special visas for trafficking survivors, assisting clients in criminal court, and researching novel legal topics facing sex workers. Summer Legal Interns are expected to work full time for 10 weeks. Applicants should have excellent writing, research, and interpersonal skills and an awareness of the systemic barriers facing our diverse client and constituent populations. Semester Legal Interns are expected to work a minimum of 12 hours per week for 10 weeks.

Research, Policy, and Administrative Interns are open to those in undergraduate or graduate studies, or not in school. These interns are expected to work a minimum of 12 hours per week for 10 weeks. Research interns assist with our human rights documentation projects, and policy interns work directly on our campaigns for reform at the local or federal level. Administrative interns help us maintain files and systems, work on fundraising, and generally support our work and clients.

The Sex Workers Project also hires Social Work Interns through Columbia and Hunter Social Work programs only – if interested, please contact your internship coordinator.

To Apply: Email a cover letter, resume, writing sample and two references (names and phone numbers/emails) to Sienna Baskin at sbaskin@urbanjustice.org. Apply early – internships are filled on a rolling basis. People of color, transgender people, people with disabilities, and people with experience in the sex industry are strongly encouraged to apply.

Applying for Interships

The UJC always welcomes internships. If you are interested, please review our website to determine which project you would like to apply for, and write to:

Urban Justice Center
Attn: Director, Project Name
123 William Street 16th Floor
New York, NY, 10038

We cannot respond to telephone calls, emails, or other inquiries concerning applications.