About NYLAG

Founded in 1990, NYLAG is a leading civil legal services organization combatting economic, racial, and social injustice by advocating for people experiencing poverty or in crisis. Our services include comprehensive, free civil legal services, financial empowerment, impact litigation, policy advocacy, and community partnerships. NYLAG exists because wealth should not determine who has access to justice. We aim to disrupt systemic racism by serving individuals and families whose legal and financial crises are often rooted in racial inequality. NYLAG goes to where the need is, providing services in more than 150 community sites (e.g. courts, hospitals, libraries) and on our Mobile Legal Help Center. During COVID-19, most of our services are virtual to keep our community safe. NYLAG’s staff of 350 impacted the lives of nearly 113,000 people last year.

Job description

NYC’s Universal Access initiative has fully expanded the right to counsel to all New Yorkers  facing eviction who are at or below 200% of the federal poverty guideline. NYLAG’s Tenants’ Rights Unit (“TRU”) has an immediately available staff attorney position on its Queens Team. TRU is passionate about defending tenants in extremely challenging cases and using motion practice effectively to get outstanding results for clients. Some examples include getting a licensee holdover dismissed against a client who lost the home they owned through foreclosure, convincing a Housing Court judge to change his mind from ordering our client to be evicted to instead dismissing the case against our client, and getting another post-foreclosure holdover dismissed on the basis of landlord’s reliance on the wrong statutory provision to commence the proceeding.   

TRU is an integral part of NYC’s Right to Counsel Coalition, ensuring New Yorkers with low incomes who are at risk of eviction have the right to an attorney to represent them in Housing Court and certain administrative proceedings. TRU’s Queens team is looking for talented lawyers (or recent bar exam passers) who are passionate about public interest law and social justice and want to work closely with communities burdened by systemic socioeconomic barriers to prevent eviction and homelessness by advancing all possible legal arguments. In the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic and the rapidly increasing cost of living, which has disparately impacted the communities we represent, eviction prevention legal services are more critical now than ever. TRU’s Queens Team, which has an extremely committed, collegial, and hard-working team of supervisors, staff attorneys, and paralegals, is a great place to start or build your legal career and gain valuable litigation skills while combatting the threat of eviction and homelessness. 

Duties and Responsibilities

Handle a full caseload of full representation non-payment and holdover proceedings in Housing Court, which involves extensive communication with clients, intense negotiations with opposing counsel, frequent motion practice, discovery and depositions, and significant advocacy with outside agencies on behalf of clients. 
Handle litigation before administrative agencies as necessary, including NYCHA termination of tenancy proceedings, DHCR matters, and proceedings where clients’ Section 8 vouchers are being terminated. 
Participate in court-based intake and client and community outreach initiatives.
Other duties as assigned.

Qualifications

• Admission to New York Bar or passage of a recent NY Bar Exam or the UBE in a different state. 
• Demonstrated commitment to public interest law and social justice.
• Excellent legal research and writing skills. 

Plus factors

• Litigation experience, including experience gained in law school clinics, internships, and externships. 
• Fluency in another language prevalent in New York City, such as Spanish, Russian, Haitian Creole, Mandarin, or Bengali
• At least one year of experience representing tenants in NYC Housing Court.

NYLAG’s Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion

NYLAG is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. People of color, women, people with disabilities, immigrants, veterans, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people, and those with lived experiences in the communities we serve are strongly encouraged to apply.

Employment type: Full-time

Professional Level: Professional

Salary Range

NYLAG is a unionized workplace, and salaries are set pursuant to a collective bargaining agreement. The current salary range for this position is between $73,544 - $84,002 (increasing to $75,199 - $85,892 effective July 1, 2023).      

Benefits: Medical, dental, vision, 401k, life insurance, long term disability, commuter benefits, flexible spending accounts (FSA) for Medical and Dependent care.

Application Instructions: Please attach your cover letter and resume as a single PDF and name the file “Your Last Name, Your First Name NYLAG TRU Staff Attorney.”

Covid Vaccination Policy: Please note, to safeguard the health and well-being of our employees and clients, NYLAG requires all employees to be fully vaccinated for COVID-19, unless a medical or religious exemption is approved.

NYLAG is committed to a hybrid work policy for staff whose work does not require their full-time presence in the office. NYLAG’s current policy is that most staff are required to work in NYLAG’s offices or do other in-person work at least two days each week. This policy is subject to change.

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