Managing Housing Attorney

About Us:“It always seems impossible until it’s done.” - Nelson Mandela

We believe that even the biggest problems can be broken down into small, achievable steps. Poverty and access to justice are part of the same problem. And to solve this, we just need to discover what the steps are.

At Open Door Legal (ODL), we’re pioneering the country’s first system of universal access to civil legal representation to dramatically reduce poverty and prove that the law really can belong to all of us.

To achieve this ambitious goal, we’ve created an award-winning and best-in-class legal aid organization full of passionate, motivated, gritty, thoughtful, and team-oriented people.

We believe that injustice is the heart of poverty and we're looking for someone to join us in having a systemic impact on how we, as a society, ensure justice for all.

Overview of Position:Housing has the attention of everyone in the country and especially the SF Bay Area. A safe and healthy home is a universal human need, yet it is consistently unrealized or threatened for those in poverty or those overlooked by our country’s racist systems. All San Francisco tenants have the rare right to receive free legal counsel to help ensure people who call this “cool gray city” home may continue to do so without constant fear of eviction, outrageous rent hikes, or unsafe living conditions. Open Door Legal provides holistic, trauma-informed housing services helping people access everything they need to feel safe and secure in their homes. Through our work we also deter bad actors who prioritize wealth from continuing to disenfranchise low-income San Franciscans.

Overall, this position is intended to be a challenging and rewarding experience for someone looking to grow in their substantive and strategic leadership and change lives along the way. This position is tasked with the overall leadership, management and direction of Open Door Legal’s highly-effective Housing team. You should approach problems with curiosity and enthusiasm. Your leadership is demonstrated in the quality of the people you’ve led AND the work you’ve produced together. Cultural humility is not just conceptual to you, you embody it and commit to growth. Success in this role requires grit, dynamism, teamwork, care, and passion (also our team’s five values). You will report directly to our Legal Services Director.

Responsibilities:

Manage the largest department at Open Door Legal to ensure that we are continually pursuing our mission of universal access to legal services with housing-related legal needs. This includes the day-to-day supervision and support of our highly-effective and passionate housing attorneys (currently 4).Drive and implement the strategic vision for Open Door Legal’s housing cases and growth as a department to eventually cover the housing needs of the entire city of San Francisco.Develop and maintain public relations with government agencies, decision-makers, and the community, especially in relation to the unlawful detainer (UD) cases that are funded under the San Francisco Tenant Right to Counsel (TRC) law. Lead the knowledge management of all areas of housing law for Open Door Legal. Drive the creation of uniform systems, checklists, and templates. Along with housing team members, bring and develop innovative solutions to tricky issues around case capacity concerns, intake distribution, case opening standards, verification of quality control, and onboarding new attorneys. Directly represent clients that may require court appearances. Ideally spending 25% of the time on billable casework. Litigate affirmative housing cases in San Francisco Superior Court both solo and with pro bono attorneys as co-counsel.Collaborate and work cross-functionally with the Legal Services Director and Development team to assist with program design, development, grant administration, and funding. Provide services and support to our low-income clients with sensitivity and awareness to cultural, socio-economic, and disability barriers to service and can skillfully navigate difficult or tense situations. Ensure that the housing department’s client feedback rating continues to be positive. Hiring, training, support, and performance management of all housing department staff, interns, and volunteers in collaboration with the Director of Talent and Culture.

Embrace and embody our values of teamwork, grit, caring, passion, and dynamism.

Requirements:

Membership in good standing with the California State Bar. Applicants without active California bar membership will not be considered. However, those without a license are encouraged to apply to volunteer with us at opendoorlegal.org/volunteer.Minimum of practicing law for six (6) years. Must show experience directly supervising paid staff attorneys, and able to provide references from attorneys supervised.California housing law and superior court civil procedure knowledge.Must genuinely enjoy and be motivated by working with low-income clients, many of whom are people of color, and be able to work effectively with clients impacted by trauma (emotional, mental, and physical). Strong time management skills to effectively supervise and perform legal work in a fast-paced environment and high-volume practice. Show enthusiasm for and commitment to self-learning and professional development.Excellent writing, editing, and proof-reading skills, with the ability to be detail-oriented. Excellent interpersonal and diplomacy skills to excel in providing constructive feedback to people you supervise, and in building relationships with other organizations and agencies as ODL's ambassador.High level of comfortability learning and using technology and case management systems. We use Salesforce, Dropbox, and Google Suite. Must be willing to make a minimum two-year commitment to the organization.

Bonus Points:

Experience practicing in San Francisco housing court representing tenants in unlawful detainer cases and filing affirmative housing cases in San Francisco. Jury trial experience. Experience representing clients living in subsidized housing (PHA, HUD, Housing Choice Vouchers). Experience working in a high-volume legal aid organization, public defender’s office, or similar environment.Having lived a significant period of your life in San Francisco proper.Bilingual in Spanish. Bilingual in Cantonese.

Benefits:

Loan Repayment Assistance - for staff pursuing 10-year public interest debt forgiveness, we will pay the minimum payment on all qualifying loans so that you don’t need to worry about student loan debt (this is a conditional benefit).Medical/Dental/Vision Plan offerings at 100% coverageGenerous paid time offFlexible work hoursGenerous paid parental leave401K/Retirement AccountWe believe everyone is always learning. We financially invest in individual learning plans for each staff member and provide many internal and external mentorships, coaching, and learning opportunities (conferences, workshops, etc.).We are a fun and hard-working office with best-in-class technology solutions for anyone who’s passionate about making a meaningful and measurable difference.

Open Door Legal is proud to be an Equal Opportunity employer. We do not discriminate based upon race, religion, color, national origin, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, gender expression, transgender status, sexual stereotypes, age, status as a protected veteran, status as an individual with a disability, or any other applicable legally protected characteristics. We also consider qualified applicants with criminal records, consistent with applicable federal, state, and local law.We are committed to providing reasonable accommodations for candidates with disabilities in our recruiting process. If you need any assistance or accommodations due to a disability, please let us know at whitney [at] opendoorlegal [dot] org. Black Lives Matter