Housing Staff Attorney

Bay Area Legal Aid (BayLegal) is a non-profit law firm. Our staff provide free civil legal services to individuals and families living in poverty throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. Our community-based service model includes a wide range of access points, including legal hotlines, six physical offices, and community-based advocacy clinics and intake points. We practice in multiple inter-related legal substantive areas to prevent and stop homelessness, increase economic stability, protect low-income consumers, expand access to healthcare, and enhance safety for survivors of interpersonal violence. Our clients include the working poor, families with children, foster youth, seniors, immigrants, veterans, individuals impacted by the criminal and juvenile legal systems, and persons with disabilities. The core of our community-based practice is working alongside our individual clients to protect their legal rights, resolve immediate crises and remove legal barriers to long-term stability and escaping poverty. BayLegal is also uniquely positioned to identify patterns of illegal practices and engage in opportunities to protect the legal rights of low-income communities and increase efficiency and effectiveness of public services through broader advocacy and impact litigation.    

San Francisco Housing Practice Team focuses on preserving housing for low-income tenants in San Francisco. As part of San Francisco's Tenant Right to Counsel Initiative, the team provides full-scope legal representation to tenants in unlawful detainer proceedings, and advocates for tenants living in federally subsidized housing on a range of housing-related issues. 
 
Position: BayLegal seeks an attorney with a strong commitment to public interest and social justice to join our Housing Law practice group in San Francisco. This position is based in our San Francisco office and involves traveling throughout the county and potentially the Bay Area as necessary to best serve our low-income clients. 
 
Key Responsibilities:  

• Learn and advocate for the diverse legal needs of undeserved and vulnerable communities in San Francisco and the broader Bay Area to reduce homelessness, enhance stability, and address social justice.
• Provide full-scope legal representation to low-income tenants in unlawful detainer proceedings, including propounding and responding to discovery, conducting depositions, attending mandatory settlement conferences, pre/post-trial motions, and trials;
• Represent tenants in administrative proceedings before the San Francisco Housing Authority and other agencies;
• Advocate for tenants on issues of fair housing, substandard conditions, and VAWA;
• Identify systemic problems that affect our clients’ housing rights and address these challenges through policy work and other advocacy;
• Collaborate with the local and national tenant advocacy community;
• Provide workshops and technical assistance to community partners and our client community on housing law, tenants' rights, and a broad range of civil legal issues;
• Develop relationships and engage in collaboration with a range of public and private community partners, including governmental agencies, courts, and community-based organizations, to ensure integrative services and address systemic barriers facing BayLegal's client community;
• Engage in other tasks and projects that further BayLegal's mission and operations as a non-profit. 

Required Qualifications:  

• Member of CA Bar in good standing or admitted to practice in another state and eligible to practice in California for 3 years under the California State Bar rules for the Registered Legal Services Attorney Program. 
• Commitment to complying with all California Rules of Professional Conduct, BayLegal funding requirements, and firm standards, policies, and practices.
• Current proficiency, and ability to improve proficiency, in technological equipment, hardware and software necessary to perform duties of the position.
• Humility in working with colleagues, clients, and individuals of all identities, experiences, and perspectives.
• Experience in housing law as a practicing attorney preferred.
• Experience providing direct legal services, including court room experience preferred.
• Multi-lingual in languages commonly spoken by our client communities preferred.
• Experience organizing time, managing diverse activities, and meeting critical deadlines with minimal supervision. 
• Excellent writing, editing, and proof-reading skills, with ability to be detail-oriented.
• Sense of humor, curious and self-directed.  

Hybrid Work Option: BayLegal is committed to the health and safety of our staff, clients, and community.  Being accessible to our client communities and reducing barriers for them to access our services is integral to our mission and commitment as a direct services community-based law firm.  BayLegal employees are expected to work on-site and in-person at a BayLegal office or  community-based advocacy site at least three (3) days per week and may work remotely from home on a part-time basis.  Employees are expected to reside in California and at a distance allowing them to commute to their physical BayLegal base location, and to other service delivery locations as needed, during the standard work week. 
 
Compensation and Benefits: We offer a family friendly environment, and compensation based on competitive public interest salaries along with a generous benefits package.   

BayLegal's benefits package includes 100% employer covered medical, dental, and life insurance for employees and up to 60% for dependents; BayLegal student debt reimbursement program; long term disability insurance; employee assistance program; wage differentials for multi-lingual employees whose non-English language skills are regularly used in the provision of tasks and pass a request test of fluency and/or proficiency; dependent childcare employer contribution program; employer paid CA Bar license and/or social work license fees; and 401k retirement plan with BayLegal contribution following first year.  BayLegal has a generous paid leave policy which includes 15 holidays each year; vacation (starting at 13 days and increasing with additional years of employment); 3 floating holidays each year (days chosen by employee); sick leave; and parental leave.   

This is a union position (Bay Area Legal Aid Workers, “BALAW”), and the salary for this year ranges from : $80,719 - 132,815 depending on years of experience based on the BayLegal union positions salary scale for 2022-2026. 
 
Work Environment and Physical Demands:   

Work Environment: This position is primarily sedentary. When in office, the applicant can expect to be working at a desk in a temperature-controlled office, in a modular space or individual office. The noise level in the work environment is usually moderate. Regular in-person appearance in court and some travel to client housing is required.   

Physical Demands: While performing duties of job, employee is occasionally required to stand; walk; sit; use hands to finger, handle, or feel objects, tools, or controls; reach with hands and arms; talk and hear. Employee must occasionally lift and/or move up to 20 pounds. Specific vision abilities required by the job include close vision, distance vision, color vision, peripheral vision, depth perception, and the ability to adjust focus.  

Applications: BayLegal is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Recruitment, placement and promotions are conducted without regard to an individual's race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability status, veteran status or sexual orientation, or any other classification protected by Federal, State, and local laws & ordinances. We will consider qualified candidates with a criminal history in a manner consistent with the requirements of all Federal, state and local laws. All qualified applicants are encouraged to apply. Reasonable accommodations are available upon request. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis until the position is filled.