Staff Attorney - Welfare Law Unit (Boston, MA)

Staff Attorney - Welfare Law Unit

Greater Boston Legal Services (GBLS) is an Affirmative Action Equal Opportunity Accessible Employer and strives to ensure that our staff members reflect the diversity of the communities we serve.GBLS provides free legal services and representation to clients in the greater Boston area who cannot afford private legal representation.GBLS seeks applicants for a permanent attorney position the first year of which will be in our Welfare Law Unit (WLU) focused on advocacy for tax and other benefits to meet basic needs. (After the first year the attorney may be transferred to other work at GBLS based on need at that time.)The WLU handles advocacy work for certain tax guaranteed income issues welfare benefits and subsidized child care benefits through (1) direct representation of individual clients and their families (2) systemic administrative advocacy directed at targeted state and federal agencies (3) class action and other impact lawsuits and (4) legislative advocacy campaigns to expand improve defend and create income food and child care programs.Core Responsibilities for the Position in year one Outreach targeted to very low-income clients who did not receive the COVID 2020 and 2021 stimulus payments and or special 2021 Child Tax Credit Handle tax and collateral welfare cases for clients including representation with IRS and with Tax Court and or Fed. Dist. Court if needed. Provide high quality representation in all aspects of this work including o Interviewing and other communications with clients and 3rd parties to obtain initial informationo Determining the relevant questions and documents needed to assess and handle the caseo Obtaining additional information and documents from clients agencies and other 3rd partieso Preparing written communication (email letters updates case lists) for advocacy and other purposes tailored to the context and the person(s) it to which it is directedo Drafting memoranda of fact and law for administrative-level advocacy and appealso Documenting all case work in the client s case record in GBLS s case management system Support the WLU s systemic advocacy through information gleaned from working with clients and community and provider organizations.Qualifications Desire to work with clients with significant barriers to employment and navigating bureaucracies Ability to work effectively with diverse clients Strong written and oral communication skills Experience in legal or other advocacy or demonstrated relevant skills Ability to perform careful detailed work Demonstrated capacity to analyze and work with complex materials Admission to Bar Up to 5 years of experience A plus but not required fluency in Spanish or another language prevalent among our clients.GBLS offers a generous benefits package retirement contribution and generous paid-time-off. The position is covered by the collective bargaining agreement between GBLS and the Attorney Union which governs salary and benefits. Candidates should submit a letter of interest resume and writing sample to the Human Resources Team via e-mail at jobs(at)gbls.org. Please refer to Job Code WLU-ATTY when applying for this position. The deadline for applying is October 11 2022 or until the position is filled.GBLS values diversity and encourages applicants from a broad range of backgrounds.