Immigrant Victims of Crime Paralegal, HIAS

HIAS Pennsylvania’s Mission:
Driven by the Jewish value of welcoming the stranger, HIAS (the
Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society) PA provides legal, resettlement and supportive services to immigrants and refugees from all backgrounds in order to assure their fair treatment and full integration into American society.

HIAS Pennsylvania is one of the largest non-profit immigration legal service providers in Pennsylvania. The organization assists low income immigrants with adjustment of status, removal defense, family unification, citizenship, and asylum applications. HIAS Pennsylvania prioritizes providing services to vulnerable populations including survivors of interpersonal violence and unaccompanied and abused youth.

Position:

We seek a paralegal to help support the legal services programming of our Immigrant Victims of Crime initiative. The paralegal will provide direct case support to our Immigrant Victims of Crime Initiative (IVOC) staff.

Responsibilities:

• Assist in drafting immigration forms, including requests for fee waivers, work permit renewals, and requests for U Nonimmigrant status certification forms under the direct supervision of the responsible attorney and accredited representative;
• Communicate with clients to ensure timely and effective information sharing regarding upcoming appointments, deadlines, and other individual aspects of case;
• Assist clients and attorneys or accredited representatives with collection of key evidentiary documents in support of case;
• Draft client statements and witness statements, under the direct supervision of the responsible attorney and accredited representative;
• Collaborate with social service partner agency regarding social services needs and referrals;
• Conduct initial screening of client referrals;
• Maintain case files and data entry in case management database;
• Manage up-to-date waitlist of clients in need of services;
• Coordinate regular meetings with our grant partners;
• Provide other general administrative support to attorneys and accredited representatives, where appropriate;
• Additional assignments as required by the funder and/or the needs of the program.

Qualifications:

The candidate should be passionate about HIAS PA’s mission, understand the organization’s roots in and relationship to the Jewish community, and have a demonstrated ability to work with diverse collaborators and stakeholders. In addition, the candidate should possess:

• Bachelor’s degree (strongly preferred) or equivalent combination of education and work experience required; or
• LL.M graduates with a background in immigration law are encourage to apply; or
• Paralegal graduates are encouraged to apply;
• Bi-lingual in English and Spanish (required);
• Excellent verbal and written communications skills. A writing sample may be required for
• candidates who are selected for the second interview
• o And/or combination of education and work experience with immigrant victims of crime
• o And/or experience working in a non-profit setting
• o At least 1 year experience
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office and Excel applications, database management and internet
• Excellent organizational and time management skills
• Ability to work independently/collaboratively in a team and work with diverse professionals and human service workers
• Ability to pay close attention to detail
• High degree of skill in doing detailed reporting
• Two-year work commitment
• Passion for working in a diverse community
• Sensitivity to working with diverse populations

How to Apply:

Please send cover letter and resume as attachments to Yvonne Leung, Executive Assistant at

yleung. No phone calls please.