Junior Associate

Avalos Family Trial Attorneys; Houston (TX); On-site; USD 90,000 - 135,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

401(k) with company match

Relocation assistance

CLE reimbursement and lodging for San 

Bar dues reimbursed

Quarterly bonus opportunities

Job summary

Avalos Family Trial Attorneys is seeking a first-year attorney in Texas to handle custody and child-related matters in a trial-focused environment. You will draft pleadings, take client calls, and appear in court under mentorship, growing toward a senior associate role.

Expect structured feedback on drafting, strategy, and hearings, plus relocation assistance and a path to leadership within the firm. Bilingual Spanish is a plus as you serve a diverse client base.

Qualifications

• Licensed to practice in Texas.
• 1–4 years of practice, including family law internships counted.
• Desire to focus on custody work.
• Genuine care for clients, many mothers navigating tough moments.
• Ability to remain composed in high-conflict settings.
• Coachable with openness to feedback.

Responsibilities

• Carry your own caseload focused on custody and child-related matters.
• Draft pleadings, take client calls, and appear in court.
• Learn to try cases with mentorship from senior attorneys.
• Work in a trial-focused firm with structured feedback and growth.

Skills

Family law

Litigation

Custody work

Spanish (bilingual)

Job description

Every firm hiring first-year attorneys promises the same three things: great mentorship, a collaborative environment, and room to grow. Then you arrive and spend eighteen months summarizing discovery and doing grunt work for cases that will never be yours.

AFTA is a Texas family law firm with offices in Houston, Dallas, San Antonio and Austin. Our founder, Gianni Avalos, built Single Mom Attorney, one of the largest legal education platforms on social media for single mothers navigating family law. Over 90% of our clients find us through that organic reach, and they arrive already understanding our approach and ready to work.

That matters more to a new attorney than it might sound. The hardest part of your first year at most firms is credibility, sitting across from a client who is doing the math on how recently you graduated. Our clients come in trusting the firm before they meet you. Your first conversation is spent on strategy, not on justifying your seat at the table.

Here is what your first year here actually looks like. You are going to be in a courtroom in your first few months. Not watching from the sidelines.Temporary orders hearings, uncontested prove-ups, agreed modifications. You will have a front row seat to custody cases through final orders, and then you will try your own. The learning curve is steep on purpose, and you will not be walking it alone.

HOW YOU'LL LEARN

• Working in a collaborative environment the attorneys running the firm's hardest cases, including in-person hands-on learning.
• Structured feedback on your drafting, strategy, and hearings, not just corrections in the margins
• First hand consultation training. Sit in on strategy on cases well above your level, because watching a case get built is how you learn to build one.
• Mentorship that is part of the job description, not a favor you have to ask for.

THE WORK

• Carry your own caseload, built up deliberately .
• Primary focus on custody and child-related matters: SAPCRs, modifications, enforcements, uncontested matters and simple divorces.
• Draft the pleadings, take the client calls, make the appearances, own the outcomes.
• We are a trial firm, not a settlement shop. You will learn to try cases because we try cases.
• Board-certified paralegals on staff who know family law.
• Real room to grow. This role is designed to become a senior associate seat, and we would rather build that person than hire them.

WHAT WE NEED FROM YOU

• Licensed to practice in Texas.
• 1 to 4 years of practice. Law school clinics, family law internships, and judicial internships all count for something.
• You want custody work specifically. It is the bulk of what we do, and it is hard in ways that are not obvious from the outside.
• Genuine care for clients, most of whom are mothers navigating one of the hardest moments of their lives.
• The composure to sit in a high-conflict room and not absorb the conflict.
• Coachable. You will get direct feedback and need to be able to digest and implement.
• Bilingual Spanish a plus.

THE NUMBERS

• $90,000 - $135,000
• 1,450 billable hour requirement
• Quarterly performance bonus, plus referral, conversion, and origination bonus opportunities
• 401(k) with company match
• CLE reimbursement plus lodging for Advanced Family Law in San Antonio
• Annual Bar dues reimbursed after first year
• Relocation assistance available

More about the firm: https://www.avalosfamilytrial.com/careers