Managing Attorney, Detained Adult Program

Thank you for your interest in applying for a position. We are receiving applications for the managing attorney position with the Detained Adult Program (DAP), but we are not actively recruiting at this time. If there is an opening available for the position that matches your qualifications and interests, we will contact you directly. We appreciate your patience and understanding during this period.

Please note that by submitting your application to our organization, you are giving us permission to contact you in the future should a suitable opportunity arise. Your personal information will be treated with the utmost confidentiality and used only for the purpose of evaluating your application and considering you for future roles.

If you have further questions or need assistance with the application process, please email HR@amicacenter.org. Thank you again for considering our organization as a potential employer.

The Capital Area Immigrants’ Rights (CAIR) Coalition is now Amica Center for Immigrant Rights (“Amica Center” for short). Click here to learn more about our new name. Since our founding in 1999, we have grown significantly and added new services to support immigrants in detention. Recently, CAIR Coalition has outgrown our name, expanding  beyond our initial services and  geographic boundaries.

“Amica” is the Latin word for “friend,” and that echoes the way we approach what we do. Just as friends stand with one another, Amica Center stands with our clients to achieve the safety, stability, and opportunity we all deserve.

The Detained Adult Program (DAP) works with hundreds of adults who are detained by ICE each year, providing information, support, and legal representation. We provide trauma-sensitive, person-centered services, and deeply value the autonomy of the people we work with in detention as they navigate the fundamentally inhumane immigration system. DAP is a highly collaborative work environment. Each team lead works directly with a focused team, but all colleagues are interconnected through, for example, case workshops or staff-run committees.

DAP staff is a source of expertise in the highly complex and ever-changing immigration system. They have persisted through administration changes, policy shifts, and attacks on the rights and freedoms of immigrants through project-focused cohorts that arise to address challenges or to brainstorm and implement affirmative strategies.

A Direct Representation Managing Attorney in the Detained Adult Program focuses on ensuring that program staff provide excellent and efficient services to clients, implementing long-term plans for the program, providing direct legal services to immigrant adults, and supervising junior staff with a focus on professional development.

Representation:

• Provide oversight and management of significant aspects of the program in coordination with the program directors and other managers.
• Take on direct legal representation of detained clients in removal proceedings before immigration courts in Maryland, Virginia and remote locations (virtually or in-person), USCIS, ICE and local federal or state courts. This includes representation in cases such as: Bond, Asylum, Withholding of Removal, Protection under the Convention Against Torture, Special Immigrant Juvenile Status, U-Visas, T-Visas, and Cancellation of Removal, as well as appeals and other corollary litigation.
• Ensure that the program is kept abreast of new developments in the law and that junior staff are adequality trained on the law.
• Provide oversight and mentoring to staff and senior attorneys and paralegals on direct representation cases, including supervision and assistance of (i) case strategy, (ii) trial preparation, and (iii) case load management.
• Provide expert mentoring to outside attorneys representing detained immigrants on a pro bono basis.
• Manage a caseload of in-house direct representation and pro bono mentorship cases to ensure timely completion and submission of all filings, forms, etc.
• Prepare Post Release Plans and social service plans, in coordination with social services staff.
• Research, engage, and prepare experts on health, behavioral health, and country conditions.

Detention Facility Visits: 

• Conduct oversight of visits to government detention facilities.
• Conduct individual intakes and client meetings, including trial preparation, with immigrants at the detention facilities, and support and supervise junior staff in the same. Provide and supervise junior staff in providing necessary follow-up after intakes to evaluate eligibility for relief, including performing research, securing criminal/juvenile delinquency records and obtaining additional information from family and community members.

Organizational Services: 

• Work with program management to set long-term program plans.
• Coordinate with all internal DAP Programs (e.g., LOP, social services) to ensure all programs are kept abreast of developments and clients.
• Interface with leadership of other Amica Center programs to ensure cross-program information and strategy sharing.
• Oversee the inputting and accuracy of data and case information into shared databases in a timely fashion for program staff.
• Assist other program staff in completion of their workload during high-work/low-bandwidth periods.
• Take part in stakeholder relationship activities, including in-person and remote meetings with community groups, governmental bodies and representatives, detention center staff, and other legal service providers.
• Lead internal Amica Center committees and working groups to lend a voice to the growth and strategy of the organization.
• Undertake own administrative functions, including for casework (e.g., preparation of all aspects of filings). Amica Center attorneys do not have dedicated paralegals for assistance on all cases and non-attorney staff time is also dedicated to other programmatic responsibilities.

Position Type

Full-time, Exempt

Reports To

Deputy Program Director for the Detained Adult Program

Supervisory Responsibility

Responsible for directly supervising a limited number of staff on a direct representation team (generally senior staff and/or staff carrying out key program functions, may be attorneys, paralegals or administrative staff) and providing overall team leadership and back up support to other supervisors on the team.

Hiring Timeline

Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis.

Salary [2]

$81,000 – $109,800

[2] In 2018 Amica Center implemented a compensation framework to be more straightforward, transparent, and provide assurance of internal equity. The compensation model we use is based on an individual’s position and years of relevant work experience to avoid salary discrepancies and to reduce the risk of racial, gender, or other forms of bias affecting a candidate’s salary.

Location and/or Travel Requirements

This position will be based at the Washington, D.C. or Baltimore, M.D. Office. Due to business related travel expectations, it is recommended candidates live within 30-miles of their assigned primary office.

Telework

Amica Center operates a hybrid work environment. Most staff are required to work at least one day per week in-office, but some roles require more office/on-site attendance or travel.

COVID-19 Vaccination: 

All employees are required to be fully vaccinated and boosted against COVID-19. To be fully vaccinated means having completed the full dosages required for the type of vaccine obtained as designated by the CDC. If boosters are subsequently recommended by the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) then employees will be required to receive the booster within thirty (30) days of their eligibility to access the boosters.

Amica Center benefits package includes:

• Free gym access located in Washington, D.C or Baltimore, MD (dependent on employee’s primary office).
• Flexible working hours after successful completion of trainings and with approval of supervisor.
• Pre-tax commuter benefits for those living in the DMV.
• Subsidized health, dental insurance, and vision insurance (Amica Center pays a very high rate of the insurance package, for which we can provide additional information).
• An annual data reimbursement of $300.
• Life insurance valued at $50,000, as well as long and short term disability.
• The option to set up a Flexible Spending Account.
• High Deductible Health Plan (HDHP) with a one-time employer contribution of $350 to the Health Savings Account (HSA).
• The option to set up a 403(b) account (the equivalent of a 401(k) account for non-profits) which the organization has the option, for all employees on an annual basis, to match at a certain percentage after one year of continuous employment.

Paid time off includes:

• 23 personal days per calendar year
• Up to 20 days of sick time per calendar year
• 7 hours of volunteer time off
• Federal holidays
• Winter break closure
• 12 weeks of parental leave

Legal Proficiency 

The employee demonstrates a mastery of immigration law and legal procedure and can deploy innovative and thoughtful approaches to assisting clients. The employee stays abreast of developments in the law and ensures that their supervisees are trained in new developments.

Client and Programmatic Proficiency

The employee proficiently helps to manage all programmatic obligations. The employee proficiently manages their caseloads and the caseloads of the staff they supervise. The employee skillfully supervises their staff and ensures that staff are in a position to grow professionally.

Administrative

The employee ensures that all administrative aspects of their position (and their supervisees’ positions), attendant to the provision of services to clients, are carried out without managerial intervention, including timekeeping, file upkeep, database upkeep, etc.

• JD and active license to practice law;
• Relevant experience in immigration law, including removal defense;
• Written and oral Spanish proficiency strongly preferred;
• Relevant experience in supervision and project management.
• It is expected that the candidate will need to travel for work-related business. As a result, the candidate must possess a valid driver’s license and be comfortable operating a vehicle upon hiring. This role requires travel, but qualified individuals with disabilities may be accommodated in a reasonable manner under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).