Health Consumer Center 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.    

Health Consumer Center (HCC): The Health Consumer Center (HCC) team comprises attorneys focused on eliminating barriers to healthcare access across nine counties in the Bay Area: Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo (in collaboration with the Legal Aid Society of San Mateo County), Santa Clara, Solano, and Sonoma. The HCC is part of a network of ten community-based legal service nonprofit organizations throughout California, all dedicated to protecting consumers' healthcare rights and ensuring a stable healthcare delivery system for all individuals through advocacy and direct representation. 

The HCC engages in a wide range of advocacy efforts designed to assist low-income individuals and families to enhance healthcare accessibility. Its model is an innovative telephone hotline that provides immediate legal assistance to address callers’ legal inquiries related to healthcare services and coverage. 

Additionally, HCC attorneys actively participate in various stakeholder workgroups alongside state agencies and health advocacy organizations. The team also engages in advocacy by pursuing affirmative lawsuits to challenge unlawful administrative procedures and collaborating with government stakeholders to address coverage and enrollment issues affecting Californians. 

Position: BayLegal is seeking an attorney who demonstrates a strong commitment to public interest and social justice, with a particular focus on healthcare access. This role is based in our Oakland office and will serve clients across the Bay Area. Currently, staff within the Health Care Access team may primarily work remotely. Additional information regarding hybrid work arrangements is provided below. 

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.
• Represent individuals in all stages of administrative hearings and plan grievance proceedings related to healthcare services and coverage, including negotiating with plans and providers for coverage of services and/or access to treatment; 
• Answer calls during shifts on the health legal advice hotline to provide immediate access/ assistance and address client's needs;  
• Provide workshops and technical assistance to community partners and client community on health access issues and a broad range of civil legal issues; 
• Engage with, build and foster broad public-private partnerships, including with governmental agencies, courts, community-based organizations, and pro bono partners to ensure integrated services, client outreach and address systemic barriers facing BayLegal's client community. 
• Identify and employ impact advocacy strategies to remove systematic barriers to healthcare services and coverage for client populations, including particularly vulnerable groups such as people experiencing homelessness, people with disabilities, people suffering from chronic conditions, people who have limited English proficiency, older adults, children, low income people, and pregnant people.
• Engage in other tasks and projects that further the interest of fostering 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 preferred. Candidates who have recently passed the California Bar or will be taking the bar exam at the next sitting are welcome to apply. 
• Commitment to complying with all California Rules of Professional Conduct, BayLegal funding requirements, and firm standards, policies, and practices.
• Experience or demonstrated commitment to public interest law and social justice advocacy; 
• Demonstrated working knowledge of or willingness to learn health care related issues, including but not limited to Medicare, Covered California, Medi-Cal and its related programs such as In-Home Supportive Services, managed care plans, employer’s insurance and self-funded plans, among others;
• Language fluency and proficiency in one or more of these languages: Spanish, Tagalog, Korean, Vietnamese, Dari, Hindi, Punjabi, Mandarin, or Cantonese preferred (wage differential available upon passing test for fluency and written proficiency);
• Humility in working with colleagues, clients, and individuals of all identities, experiences, and perspectives.
• Current proficiency, and ability to improve proficiency, in technological equipment, hardware and software necessary to perform duties of the position.
• Must have received or be willing to receive the COVID-19 vaccination by date of hire to be considered. 
• Successfully clear a live scan background check required by funders given the position involves access to confidential information.
• Willing to be on-site at BayLegal’s office as needed to support the needs of clients and for periodic team meetings and training.
• Experience and skills maintaining organization of time, managing diverse activities, and meeting critical deadlines with minimal supervision.
• Excellent writing, editing, and proof-reading skills, with the ability to be detail oriented.
• Experience and commitment to working collaboratively with a dynamic team.
• Curious and self-directed with the ability to anticipate what needs to be done.
• Ability to simultaneously manage multiple projects while maintaining a firm grasp of individual project details.
• Sense of humor and proactive problem-solver. 

Hybrid Work Option: BayLegal is committed to the health and safety of our staff, clients, and community.  BayLegal employees are expected to work on-site and in-person at a designated 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.  BayLegal employees are expected to reside in California and at a distance allowing them to commute to their physical BayLegal base location during the standard work week.   

Employees whose primary job duties are on a BayLegal hotline, including Health Consumer Center (HCC),  are approved to work remotely on a full-time basis until March 31, 2026, with expectation of being in-person at a BayLegal office or advocacy site as needed to accommodate client needs, attend periodic team meetings and trainings. Employees must reside and perform all work 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 ranges from: $72,518 - $135,815 depending on years of experience and the salary scale can be found on our 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.  

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