The Legal Aid Society’s Criminal Defense Practice has an opening for a Supervising Attorney in its Brooklyn office. The Supervising Attorney has front-line responsibility for the representation of clients in Criminal and Supreme Court. They directly supervise staff attorneys, investigators, and paralegals in the Complexes and offer tactical and legal advice on cases, observe hearings and trials, train new lawyers and law students, second-chair hearings and trials of junior attorneys, and periodically evaluate the work of staff. The Supervising Attorney generally carries a small caseload and, to facilitate training, frequently invites junior or mid-level attorneys to second-chair their own trials.
In this position, you will: be responsible for the effective running of and the provision of client services by a complex containing 25-30 attorneys, 2-3 investigators and 2-3 paralegals and support and administrative staff; respond to client concerns about their representation; resolve conflicts among staff, court personnel and other agencies in the criminal justice system; address problems that arise on an emergency basis; monitor standards of performance for the complex; assist in formulating, interpreting and implementing organization policy; represent their offices and the Criminal Defense Practice in interactions with the public and other practice areas of the Society; and perform other duties as assigned.
The ideal candidate must have: at least five years of experience as a staff attorney or comparable experience that includes felony jury trial experience as lead counsel; comprehensive knowledge of the law of evidence, recent developments in criminal and constitutional law, statutory interpretation, and ethical principles contained in the Rules of Professional Conduct, and all aspects of trial techniques; understanding of the structural workings of the criminal justice system and ability to deal effectively with a broad range of individuals in the criminal justice system, as mediator, bargainer, conciliator and communicator; excellent writing and oral communication skills; excellent organizational and interpersonal skills; and excellent courtroom skills
How to apply
To Apply: The Legal Aid Society is reducing its carbon footprint and therefore paper applications are not accepted. All applicants must submit a cover letter, resume, references and the Applicant Information Form (http://www.legal-aid.org/info_form.html) electronically in a single PDF document by 12/8/15 to: jobs-crm@legal-aid.org and include the Job Reference Code: CDP-2015-048 in all correspondence and in the subject line of your email. If one or more of the required items are missing or if the application is not in a single PDF, your application will not be processed.
The Legal Aid Society is an Equal Opportunity Employer – Women, People of Color, Gays and Lesbians, Transgender People, Veterans and people with disabilities are encouraged to apply.