Client Advocate

Overview

Join to apply for the Client Advocate role at Neighborhood Defender Service (NDS) in Harlem. NDS is a community-based, client-centered, holistic public defense office serving residents of Northern Manhattan and the Bronx.

• Provide energetic, enthusiastic, and creative client-centered holistic advocacy for clients targeted by the family policing system.
• Work as part of an interdisciplinary team, including attorneys and other non-attorney advocates, to determine case strategy.
• For social worker role: contribute to legal strategy by analyzing and assessing clients’ past diagnoses, service participation, and treatment history, as well as other mitigating factors.
• Advocate for clients in-person and virtually at ACS and foster agency case conferences.
• Advocate for clients in-person and virtually at school, hospital, and other meetings related to litigation.
• Meet with clients in-person and virtually in collaboration with attorneys to prepare for court appearances.
• Conduct client interviews and assessments in-person and virtually to determine social work needs.
• Identify and secure placement of clients in programs and services intended to advance cases with allegations of mental illness, addiction, domestic violence, and disability.
• Work with clients to determine if any community resources serve their legal and/or social work needs.
• Communicate and advocate with service providers about clients’ needs.
• Provide crisis intervention management.
• Participate in training, individual and group supervision, meetings and case conferencing with your supervisor and interdisciplinary team.
• Attend court appearances with clients.
• Staff intake in court regularly, as assigned.
• Acquire a robust institutional knowledge of ACS policy and practices.
• Must be able to work at least 14 hours a week in person in Harlem, Bronx or court satellite office(s), and more as needed in support of providing excellent representation.
• NDS is seeking applicants with a demonstrated commitment to parents’ rights, indigent defense, social justice issues and/or the Harlem and/or Bronx communities.
• Experience working in Family Court and/or the family policing system preferred.
• Lived experience with the Family Policing System and other systems impacting NDS’s clients preferred.
• Must possess excellent interpersonal, analytical, writing, and communication skills.
• Must possess strong organizational skills and the ability to be flexible in order to manage a high caseload in a very fast-paced environment.
• Must be comfortable in a court environment, and potentially testify under oath in special circumstances.
• Familiarity with Harlem and the Bronx community a plus.
• Spanish language fluency is strongly preferred.
• For social worker role, Master’s Degree in Social Work required and experience working with adults managing mental health diagnoses preferred for consideration.

Compensation is commensurate with experience and is in adherence to the NDS compensation scale. For a social worker position, the salary range for 1-5 years of directly relevant experience is $73,440.00 to $78,582.23. For a client advocate position, the salary range for 1-5 years of directly relevant experience is $55,904.13 to $61,003.80. Full medical and dental benefits, as well as other benefits, are provided.

The salary, benefits, and employment policies relevant to this position are governed by the CBA between NDS and the NDS Union, part of ALAA UAW 2325.

Interested applicants should submit a cover letter, resume, and writing sample in a single PDF through NDS’s website at neighborhood defender.org/careers. Applications without a cover letter will not be considered. Applications will be considered on a rolling basis. Candidates are encouraged to apply as soon as possible.

Don’t meet every single requirement? NDS is committed to building a diverse, inclusive, and authentic workplace, so if your experience doesn’t align perfectly with every qualification, we encourage you to apply anyway. You may be just the right candidate for this or other roles.

The Neighborhood Defender Service is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants are encouraged to apply and will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, disability, age, or veteran status. NDS encourages people with incarcerated loved ones, formerly incarcerated people, people of color, women, queer transgender, gender non-conforming, and gender fluid people to apply.

Note:

Salary figures shown above include typical ranges for the stated roles. Salary data may vary by position and experience.