Who We Are

Children’s Law Center is a mission-driven organization focused on providing high-quality legal services to children and families in DC. As an organization, we envision a world in which all children have a strong foundation of family, health and education and are free from poverty, trauma, racism and other forms of oppression. Our mission is to do this work together with DC children and families, Children’s Law Center uses the law to solve children’s urgent problems today, improve the systems that will affect their lives tomorrow and strengthen our community so that change endures. A key part of our mission is to challenge and reduce ways in which racism and other biases – structural and interpersonal – prevent each of us, our organization and the systems in which we work from providing children a strong foundation from which to thrive.

Program Description

Healthy Together is a medical-legal partnership for DC’s children. Children’s Law Center partners with Children’s National Health System, Mary’s Center, and Unity Health Care to provide legal services to children and families who have health-harming legal needs. Through the partnership, Children’s Law Center advocates for landlords to adhere to the law and fix housing conditions that harm a child’s health; ensures school systems provide appropriate, quality educational programs to students with disabilities; and holds government agencies and health insurance providers accountable for providing medical necessary services to children. By focusing on critical social determinants of health and working side-by-side with the community, Healthy Together reduces the health inequities and racial disparities that many of our client families face.

Job Summary

The Healthy Together Supervising Attorneys help ensure Healthy Together fulfills its primary function of providing high quality legal representation to low-income parents and caregivers where legal solutions are required to address children’s health problems. The Supervising Attorneys are responsible for providing direct supervision of attorneys and providing project management and implementation support to allow CLC’s medical-legal partnership to thrive. The supervising attorney provides direct supervision for three to four attorneys and is responsible for the training, supervision, professional development, and evaluation of supervisees. The Supervising Attorney drives innovation within their areas of expertise and assists with building and solidifying organizational culture and adherence to CLC’s mission.

In addition to supervising attorneys, the supervisor will maintain a partial caseload, provide brief advice and services, mentor and train volunteer attorneys, build relationships with organizational partners, and lead specific projects as assigned by the Program Director or Legal Director.

Supervisory Responsibilities

Supervision: Quality Supervision Meetings

Conduct regular meetings with supervisees to brainstorm case strategies and ensure high-quality representation and services to clients and potential clients.
Meet regularly with the Healthy Together Director to discuss issues and develop strategies for their cases and those of their supervisees, review supervising tasks and techniques, and assess and plan for professional development and performance.
Ensure attorneys are spotting and referring cases to the Appellate Team in accordance with the Targeted Appellate Strategy Issue List.

Supervision: Formal Advocacy and Litigation

Accompany supervisees to court appearances and administrative hearings for the first three months of new staff attorneys’ employment, and thereafter at the supervisees’ request or as required in the supervisor’s judgment.
Review all written work prepared by new staff during their first six months of employment and as needed following that period.
Provide ongoing feedback on informal and formal advocacy, court appearances, and written material, including trial preparation.

Supervision: Program Activities

Help lead, facilitate, and attend Healthy Together staff meetings.
Take a leadership role in program activities as assigned, including trainings and materials.

Role Responsibilities

Case Handling

Maintain a partial caseload of approximately five to ten cases, providing high-quality direct representation in Healthy Together cases.
Support and handle program intakes as assigned, including provision of brief advice, brief service, and referrals.
Ensure timely and accurate input of case information into Legal Server and adhere to program logic model to achieve positive outcomes for clients.

Volunteer Support

Mentor volunteer attorneys handling special education, and housing conditions cases.
Develop and conduct volunteer attorney trainings and materials as assigned.
Provide guidance and support to other CLC mentors.

Healthy Together Medical Partner Site Management

Nurture and build relationships with Children’s National, Mary’s Center, Unity and other community health center staff to expand impact of Healthy Together.
Monitor deliverables pursuant to grant funding of site where Supervising Attorney is located or where supervisee is located.
Provide leadership and oversight of Healthy Together’s provision of consultation, training and technical assistance to healthcare partners in legal needs screening and substantive legal areas.
Lead the development of outreach programs geared to caregivers and patient families in client advocacy support and specific legal areas related to children’s health outcomes.

Overall Project Management/Support

Systems development for communication, case handling, etc. as assigned.
Evaluation process support.
Grant support as assigned.
Legal intake process support and participation in case assignment process.

Organizational and Program Leadership

Support the CLC management team in instilling a shared vision and shared values throughout CLC.
Together with the Program Director and Legal Director, develop and implement new approaches and legal strategy in Healthy Together and as appropriate, across all CLC programs.
Coordinate with the policy team and other in-house direct legal services program to maximize CLC’s impact.
Ensure Healthy Together’s expertise in special education, housing conditions, and access to health care law.
Help lead Healthy Together’s evaluation efforts.
Lead innovation in case work and trainings.

Systemic Work

Provide support to CLC’s Policy Team in areas of expertise to address the systemic needs of CLC’s clients.
Attend and participate in community advocate meetings.
Work with other legal service providers and other members of the special education and health advocacy communities to address issues relating to practice, collaboration, and systemic improvements.
Participate on court or other external committees as needed and requested by the Program Director.

Qualifications

1-2 years’ experience supervising attorneys preferred. Supervising experience can include formal and informal supervision and/or formal mentoring.
Willingness and ability to provide client-centered legal services, and supportive supervision.
A demonstrated commitment to social, economic, and racial justice.
Strong litigation, legal analysis, research, writing, and oral advocacy skills.
Strong organizational, analytic, oral, and written communication, and teaching skills.
Demonstrated capacity to work independently and collaboratively.
Exceptional interpersonal, communication, and relationship-building skills.
A combination of strong legal skills and knowledge, self-reflection, cultural humility, and leadership skills.
Demonstrated capacity to work independently and collaboratively.
Proactively identifies issues and works to find creative solutions in the face of obstacles.
Current knowledge of the law and legal system, especially in areas that affect low-income and marginalized communities.

Required Skills and Experience

JD degree.
DC Bar membership or eligibility for DC Bar membership based the transfer of a Uniform Bar Examination score attained in another jurisdiction or membership in good standing in the Bar of another jurisdiction for at least 3 years immediately prior to the application for admission.
Substantial experience (at least two years) in or with legal services, preferably with a background in community lawyering, special education, housing, family law, child welfare and/or other legal services matters.
Prior litigation experience.
A commitment to fostering inclusivity and equity, as well as humility when working with clients and colleagues at the intersection of multiple identities, including race, ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, immigration status, religion, physical and mental disability, and/or limited English proficiency.

Salary and Benefits

The salary for this position ranges from $82,000-$104,604 annually based on relevant experience. Children’s Law Center offers a generous benefits package that includes medical, dental, vision, and short- and long-term disability insurance; employer-provided retirement contributions; flexible spending plans; and vacation, sick, holiday, family and medical leave. You can find more details about Children’s Law Center’s comprehensive benefits package at https://childrenslawcenter.org/get-involved/careers/employee-benefits/.

Application Instructions

To apply, please submit a resume via CLC's careers page (https://childrenslawcenter.org/get-involved/careers/).