The California Bar Foundation is pleased to announce the pilot of our legal fellowship program. This one-year fellowship provides an opportunity for a diverse, committed, and motivated legal services attorney to help immigrant clients in rural California.
Hosted by the California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation (CRLAF), the California Bar Foundation Law Fellow (Fellow) will be primarily responsible for providing legal support to clients in the Central Valley seeking relief under President Barack Obama's June 15, 2012 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program and November 20, 2014 Executive Action expanding the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and creating the Deferred Action for the Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents (DAPA).
Currently, CRLAF is leading efforts in the northern Central Valley to provide legal assistance to youth seeking deferred action under the federal government's DACA program. The Fellow will work primarily with CRLAF's Immigrant Integration legal team in Sacramento and Fresno to expand this work deeper into the Central Valley and coordinate and conduct know-your-rights sessions, provide legal advice and counsel, and collaborate with organizations seeking information and advice about DACA and DAPA-related issues. The Fellow will also produce practice manuals, advisals, and general information brochures on DACA and DAPA-related issues.
*In light of the current injunction the DACA and DAPA programs are facing, the Fellow may work on immigration legal matters beyond DACA and DAPA.
Qualifications/Requirements:
- Membership and good standing in the California bar
- JD or LLM from ABA-accredited law school
- Advanced understanding of immigration and citizenship law and procedure, including family-based immigration, consular processing, waivers of grounds of inadmissibility, U visa and VAWA, T visa, adjustment of status, asylum, Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS), naturalization and DACA.
- Minimum of one year of direct immigration legal service experience including representing clients in the above subject areas before EOIR and USCIS
- Ability to serve clients from a variety of cultures
- Commitment to serving clients in rural California
- Spanish language proficiency
- High level of independent judgment
- Willingness to remain in regular communication with the California Bar Foundation about their work*
*This is a pilot fellowship program that the California Bar Foundation hopes to sustain for future years. The Foundation hopes to remain in close touch with the fellow over the course of the year with CRLAF, so that we can provide feedback and information about this program to our board of directors, stakeholders, and funders.
Salary/Benefits:
The fellow will earn a base salary between $46,000-$49,500 depending on experience. CRLAF provides fully paid benefits including health, dental, vision and life insurance. The fellow will also accrue sick leave and vacation time.
To apply, please submit the following:
- Thoughtful cover letter, no more than two pages in length, explaining why you hope to be the first-ever California Bar Foundation Law Fellow
- Resume detailing all relevant direct legal services and immigration experience
- Three references who can speak to your initiative, commitment and dedication to being a legal services attorney
Please email all materials to CRLAF Associate Director Kirsten Hill at
[email protected] by Wednesday, March 25. Only those selected for interviews will be contacted.
About The California Bar Foundation: The California Bar Foundation is dedicated to building a better justice system for all Californians. Through our scholarships for law students and grants for legal services agencies, we cultivate the next generation of diverse attorneys and activists who will reshape and redefine the legal profession.
About CRLAF: CRLAF is a statewide non-profit organization providing legal services and policy advocacy for California's rural poor. We focus on some of the most marginalized communities: the unrepresented, the unorganized and the undocumented. We seek to bring social justice to rural poor communities throughout California.
