Job Description

Located at the crossroads of Jamaica Plain and Roxbury in the City of Boston, the Legal Services Center is a community-based clinical law program of Harvard Law School. Our longstanding mission is to educate law students for practice and professional service while simultaneously meeting the critical needs of the community. Since 1979, we have engaged in cutting-edge litigation and legal strategies to improve the lives of individual clients, to seek systemic change for the communities we serve, and to provide law students with a singular opportunity to develop fundamental lawyering skills within a public interest law setting.

The Legal Services Center (LSC) of Harvard Law School seeks to hire a Staff Attorney to join our Housing Justice for Survivors Project (HJFS) within the Housing Clinic. HJFS represents tenants who are facing housing instability due to domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking. We represent survivors in evictions and housing authority hearings, advocate for survivors who need to flee their homes for safety reasons, develop affirmative impact litigation in federal and state court, train domestic violence and sexual assault advocates about tenant rights, and lead local, state, and federal law reform efforts aimed at improving the housing rights of survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault. The HJFS Staff Attorney will serve clients collaboratively with a Housing Advocate from Casa Myrna.

As a Staff Attorney you will:

• Litigate an active docket of eviction defense and tenancy termination cases on behalf of tenants who are survivors of gender-based violence.
• Screen cases for merit and help maintain and manage HJFS’ docket of housing cases that emerge from the partnership with Casa Myrna and other referral partners.
• Employ trauma-informed advocacy and client-centered lawyering practices.
• Collaborate with Casa Myrna through regular engagement, cross-training, program evaluation, and related efforts.
• Provide mentorship to clinical law students who are serving HJFS clients.
• Collaborate with the HJFS Director, law students and clients to develop and pursue strategic litigation and other advocacy to address systemic issues impacting survivor housing.

Qualifications

Basic Qualifications

Candidates must possess a J.D. and be admitted to the Massachusetts bar or eligible for temporary admission pursuant to Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Rule 3:04. Three years or more of related experience required.

Additional Qualifications and Skills

We are looking for people who have:

• Demonstrated commitment to social justice advocacy
• Meaningful experience in housing law
• Experience or demonstrated interest serving survivors of gender-based violence
• Dedication to interdisciplinary work and partnering with housing advocates
• Demonstrated commitment to diversity and an inclusive working environment