Project Coordinator

New York City Bar Association; New York (NY); Hybrid; USD 53,000 - 63,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Paid time off

Medical plans

Dental coverage

Vision coverage

401K with employer match

Life insurance

Commuter benefits

Employee discounts

Professional association & CLE access

Job summary

The City Bar Justice Center, a division of the New York City Bar Association, seeks a Project Coordinator for the FedPro-SDNY program in a hybrid New York, NY role. You will support litigant intake, case management, and liaise with volunteers, interns, and staff to deliver pro bono services in SDNY matters.

You will engage with diverse clients, help prepare grants and program content, and support training and events while maintaining accurate records.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree or substantially equivalent work experience in a professional setting.
• Minimum 6 months of work experience (relevant internships acceptable).
• Strong data entry, organizational and project management skills; high attention to detail; excellent verbal and written communication skills; comfortable communicating both by telephone and in direct contact with the public; self-starter with a record showing consistent professional timeliness and reliability.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office 365, and the ability to quickly learn and effectively use LegalServer and other technology.
• A curiosity to learn about various federal laws and civil litigation procedure.
• A team player with an ability to interact respectfully with people from diverse backgrounds and perspectives.
• Demonstrated enthusiasm for public interest legal work, serving those who struggle with a lack of resources, and providing legal assistance to historically underserved communities.
• Professional working proficiency in Spanish or another non-English language a plus but not required.

Responsibilities

• Serve as the first point of contact for pro se litigants seeking legal assistance, including interviewing and screening litigants for eligibility for FedPro-SDNY services by phone, email, and/or in person at FedPro-SDNY’s lower Manhattan courthouse office.
• Carefully maintain case, program/activity, and volunteer records and databases, and run and analyze statistical and other reports.
• Provide administrative help by helping to engage interns and volunteers, and organizing virtual and in-person training programs, events, and legal clinics.
• Liaise with attorney volunteers from large firms, corporate legal departments, and solo practices.
• Assist in preparing grant applications and reports, and in designing and writing program content such as blogs, reports, legal informational resources, presentations and social media posts.
• As needed, provide general administrative support, including with new FedPro-SDNY programming and with other CBJC projects.

Skills

Data entry

Organizational skills

Project management

Verbal and written communication

Microsoft Office 365

Legal information systems

Team collaboration

Public interest/legal aid

Education

Bachelor’s degree or equivalent

Tools

Microsoft Office 365

LegalServer

Job description

POSITION: Project Coordinator
DEPARTMENT: City Bar Justice Center, Federal Pro Se Legal Assistance Project – S.D.N.Y.
POSITION REPORTS TO: Director, FedPro-SDNY
LOCATION: Hybrid (New York, NY)
FLSA STATUS: Non-exempt(Local 153, Office and Professional Employees International Union)

The City Bar Justice Center is the largest division of the New York City Bar Association 's charitable affiliate, the City Bar Fund . For nearly 50 years, our organization has furthered access to justice by addressing the unmet civil legal needs of New Yorkers facing poverty and other systemic socioeconomic barriers. The Justice Center mobilizes law firms, corporate legal departments, and other legal institutions to provide pro bono legal services; educates the public on legal issues; fosters community relationships; and shapes public policy. Its civil justice projects deliver high-quality services through brief advice, referrals, and direct representation. Last year, more than 3,300 pro bono attorneys partnered with the Justice Center to provide free legal services to over 23,000 New Yorkers who could not afford private counsel.

PROGRAM FUNCTION

FedPro-SDNY is an innovative initiative providing free, limited-scope legal assistance to “pro se” individuals – i.e., those representing themselves, including incarcerated individuals – while litigating civil cases in the Southern District, mostly in the areas of civil and prisoner rights, employment discrimination, contracts/warranties, and consumer/finance matters, and a range of other claims touching on core individual rights and the protection of livelihoods. Working closely with a tight-knit FedPro-SDNY team, project coordinators actively assist with litigant intake and case management, help to determine which litigants can be helped by the Project, and liaise with law student interns, volunteer attorneys and a social work team to support litigants served by FedPro-SDNY.

JOB FUNCTION

The City Bar Justice Center (CBJC) seeks an enthusiastic and organized individual to join the three-person project coordinator team with our Federal Pro Se Legal Assistance Project operating in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York (FedPro-SDNY). One project coordinator (similar to paralegal) position is available now for a candidate committed to expanding access to justice.

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Serve as the first point of contact for pro se litigants seeking legal assistance, including interviewing and screening litigants for eligibility for FedPro-SDNY services by phone, email, and/or in person at FedPro-SDNY’s lower Manhattan courthouse office, while providing caring follow-up to the pro se litigants, who typically seek our assistance at vulnerable moments in their lives.
• Carefully maintain case, program/activity, and volunteer records and databases, and run and analyze statistical and other reports.
• Provide administrative help by helping to engage interns and volunteers, and organizing virtual and in-person training programs, events, and legal clinics.
• Liaise with attorney volunteers from large firms, corporate legal departments, and solo practices.
• Assist in preparing grant applications and reports, and in designing and writing program content such as blogs, reports, legal informational resources, presentations and social media posts.
• As needed, provide general administrative support, including with new FedPro-SDNY programming and with other CBJC projects.

QUALIFICATIONS, SKILLS AND REQUIREMENTS

• Bachelor’s degree or substantially equivalent work experience in a professional setting.
• Minimum 6 months of work experience (relevant internships acceptable).
• Strong data entry, organizational and project management skills; high attention to detail; excellent verbal and written communication skills; comfortable communicating both by telephone and in direct contact with the public; self-starter with a record showing (or a demonstrable capacity for) consistent professional timeliness and reliability.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office 365, and the ability to quickly learn and effectively use LegalServer and other technology.
• A curiosity to learn about various federal laws and civil litigation procedure.
• A team player with an ability to interact respectfully with people of different backgrounds and perspectives on the justice system, including litigants, fellow staff members, volunteer attorneys, and court staff and other government employees, and desire and capacity to engage with members of the public in a respectful and sensitive way, many of whom suspect institutions and the legal profession, and some of whom experience legal problems compounded by mental health struggles.
• Demonstrated enthusiasm for public interest legal work, serving those who struggle with a lack of resources, and providing legal assistance to historically underserved communities.
• Professional working proficiency in Spanish or another non-English language a plus but not required.

Candidates must be authorized to work in the United States. We are not able to sponsor visas for this position.

We are looking for a candidate for this currently open position who is willing to make a minimum commitment of two years to the Project Coordinator role. This is a hybrid position for which candidates must be available for 2-3 in-person workdays during standard business hours, primarily at FedPro-SDNY’s downtown Manhattan courthouse, with the balance of time split between work-from-home, work at CBJC’s main offices in midtown Manhattan for supervision, team, and committee meetings, and occasional other local work-related travel.

This is a Local 153, Office and Professional Employees International Union position, with a starting annualized salary of at least $52,531 based on a 35-hour workweek (with higher salaries in the range of $53,581-$62,512 dependent on having 2-8+ years of directly relevant prior experience), and other benefits and employment terms and conditions in accordance with a collective bargaining agreement. The City Bar’s competitive benefits package includes generous paid time off (vacation, personal, sick time, holidays including office closure during the last week of the calendar year through New Year’s Day, day off for volunteer work, extra time off in summer), choice of medical plans (some offered at almost no cost to the employee), dental, vision, eligible for 401K when employment begins (with discretionary employer match up to 3% after 1 year), life insurance, commuter benefits program, Employee Assistance Program, short-term/long-term disability insurance, free New York City Bar Association membership and CLE programs, employee discounts, and more!

We actively seek a diverse applicant pool and encourage candidates of all backgrounds and unique experiences to apply. We welcome diversity of all kinds. It is the policy of the City Bar to ensure equal employment opportunity without discrimination or harassment on the basis of race, color, creed, age, national origin, alienage or citizenship status, gender (including gender identity), sexual orientation, disability, arrest or conviction record, pregnancy, credit history, salary history, caregiver status, marital status, partnership status, or status as a victim of domestic violence, stalking and sex offenses, religion, sex, genetic information, military status, unemployment status or any other characteristic as protected by law. With regard to the Americans with Disabilities Act and other related laws, the organization will endeavor to make reasonable accommodations for persons due to their religious beliefs, disability, pregnancy, childbirth or related medical condition or because the individual was a victim of domestic violence, sexual violence or stalking.