Her Justice is a nonprofit organization that stands with women living in poverty in New York City. We recruit and mentor volunteer lawyers to provide free legal help in the areas of immigration, family, and matrimonial law to address individual and systemic legal barriers.
100% of our clients are women living in poverty in the five boroughs of New York City. In FY2024, 92% of our clients were women of color, 85% were survivors of intimate partner violence, 70% were mothers, and 49% spoke a primary language other than English.
Since 1993, we've provided life-changing free legal help to over 45,000 women and children and we've pursued policies that have bettered the experiences and outcomes for thousands more. Her Justice is committed to creating a more fair and functional civil justice system for women in New York City, so they can build safer, freer futures for themselves, their families, and their communities. |
SUMMARY
Her Justice has received funding from the Eugene M. Lang Foundation to support our Civil Justice for Incarcerated Women Project. The Incarcerated Women Project aims to support incarcerated and formerly incarcerated women in achieving personal freedom and stability by providing free civil legal services in the areas of family and matrimonial law, helping them to lead healthy and productive lives after their release. With this funding, we seek a Senior Staff Attorney to join our team, providing free legal services in the areas of matrimonial and family law, through our Pro Bono first model. This position will focus on providing legal information and direct services to women who are currently incarcerated, facing incarceration, and/or recently released. This position will focus on providing legal information and direct services to women who are currently incarcerated, facing incarceration, and/or recently released. The Attorney will also enhance Her Justice’s partnerships with community-based organizations to ensure we are providing holistic and culturally competent services to this marginalized and underserved population.
From 1980 to 2019, the number of incarcerated women in the United States increased by over 700%. Women of color are disproportionately represented in this number, as Black women are almost twice as likely to be incarcerated as white women, and Hispanic women are 1.3 times as likely to be incarcerated as white women. People living in poverty are three times more likely to be arrested than those who aren’t, and 72% of incarcerated women were in poverty prior to being arrested. Because many incarcerated women were living in poverty, it’s common for them to have unmet civil legal needs unrelated to and in addition to the reason for their incarceration. They are both uniquely isolated from resources and have unique legal needs, usually related to children and marriage. For incarcerated individuals, access to the civil court system is significantly limited, and yet, these civil legal issues have a dramatic impact on the lives of women as they prepare for reentry.
RESPONSIBILITIES
SKILLSET AND QUALITIES
We seek a self-motivated and self-directed team-player who possesses outstanding organizational, interpersonal, communication, writing, and computer skills. We value experience representing indigent clients, survivors of domestic violence, and clients from diverse backgrounds and communities. We value the demonstrated ability to effectively communicate with clients who have experienced trauma. We also value experience in policy/advocacy work, and a demonstrated commitment to systems reform on issues affecting women living in poverty or incarcerated women.
QUALIFICATIONS
WORK ENVIRONMENT
Hybrid with one day a week in office (subject to change based on business needs).
SALARY: The salary for this position is in the range of $78,950 to $98,687, depending on experience. Her Justice also offers excellent benefits, including 26 days of PTO, a 401k plan, commuter benefits, half-day summer Fridays, and employer-sponsored medical, dental, and vision benefits.
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