Paralegal (Community/Movement)

About For The People

For The People works with prosecutors, system leaders, community members, and incarcerated people to reduce the number of people serving excessive sentences. We are harnessing the incredible power of prosecutors to join the fight to end mass incarceration. Through direct partnerships, we work with prosecutors to reduce and redress the harms caused by our criminal justice system. 

We are leading the implementation of AB 2942, a new California law that allows prosecuting agencies to reevaluate past sentences and facilitate prison release for those serving excessive sentences. Under our first initiative, the Sentence Review Project, we work with elected District Attorneys (DAs) to reevaluate past sentences, and where it can be shown that a current sentence is no longer in the interest of justice, we support the prosecuting agencies through the resentencing and prison release process. We support DA offices in: launching Resentencing Units; providing training and technical assistance during on-boarding and implementation; and forging partnerships with community leaders and reentry providers.  We also support incarcerated people, their loved ones and community-based organizations in preparing requests for resentencing and guidance on best practices on how to humanize stories for law enforcement audiences. We are now expanding our California model by training and supporting prosecuting agencies in other jurisdictions to implement resentencing policies and forging community partnerships to strengthen community trust.  For more information, please visit www.fortheppl.org.

About the Position

For The People is looking for a passionate and driven Paralegal to support the needs of our growing organization. The Paralegal will support the legal team in all aspects of the Sentence Review Project, with a focus on supporting and empowering community partners in the use of prosecutor-initiated resentencing.   The Paralegal will manage incoming and outgoing correspondence, engagement materials, and support documents received from community partners, incarcerated people and their support networks, and will complete data entry and case management tasks through software, such as Clio. This role involves coordination with the California Department of Correction and Rehabilitation to obtain prison records, and other documents necessary for screening and evaluation of cases. An ideal candidate will be effective at setting and managing deadlines in a fast-paced start-up environment and working with system-impacted people and communities. This role requires strong critical thinking, project management skills, attention to detail, and the ability to maintain and/or foster relationships within the prison department, legal community, and with community leaders. This position offers a unique opportunity to be a part of a collaborative team that is focused on achieving major improvements in areas such as changing the culture in DA offices, reducing the number of people involved in our juvenile and adult criminal justice system, improving conditions for those who remain incarcerated, providing meaningful opportunities for success for those rejoining our communities and improving justice outcomes.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

• Manage high volume of incoming and outgoing physical and electronic correspondences, documents, and files via U.S. Mail, on-line, email, or voicemail 
• Preserve, organize and maintain case files, spreadsheets, and databases by scanning and uploading correspondence, documents, and files into electronic databases such as Clio, Box, Excel, etc.
• Support FTP Community Staff Attorney with developing and maintaining onboarding and training activities, managing current and new community partners, and using sentence review as a new advocacy tool.
• Coordinate meetings and requests between multiple parties involved in active cases by way of consistent communication with interested parties (incarcerated persons, support networks, community-based organizations, prison officials, prosecutors, defense counsel, etc.) through the end of the case. 
• Coordinate and schedule volunteers to support C-File review and correspondence efforts with incarcerated people, including overseeing and tracking C-File distribution and review by volunteers
• Draft, review, edit and compile routine documents (C-File case summaries, presentations, legal briefs, etc.) 
• Research and analyze law sources such as statutes, judicial decisions and legal articles to prepare draft documents such as briefs, motions, summaries, and reports.
• Support maintenance of general organization of the office and manage office supplies (water plants, order supplies, coordinate staff events, etc.)

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

• A driving passion for FTP’s mission to reduce the number of people serving excessive sentences across the nation, end institutional racism, and restore human dignity to the incarcerated, formerly incarcerated, and all who are impacted by the criminal justice system.
• Self-starter with a strong work ethic and ability to take initiative, plan, prioritize and advance projects and tasks through to completion.
• Strong attention to detail, excellent organizational and project management skills.
• Manage multiple parallel projects and competing priorities.
• Excellent analytical, critical thinking, writing, editing, and verbal communication skills, with experience compiling and producing reports, guides, newsletters, and other written collateral.
• Demonstrated ability to work effectively in a team environment with a diverse group of people in a culturally competent manner, across a wide range of sectors, lifestyles, and attitudes.
• Desire, capacity, and willingness to support/train/empower community partners and system-impacted people. 
• Ability to adapt to the changing needs of the organization, which may require performing and supporting other tasks and projects of the organization and adjusting schedules to enable attending evening or weekend events and/or offsite meetings, as well as rapid response to communications needs.
• A strong working proficiency in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Google Docs, Box, and Monday.com or equivalents, and ability to research, identify, and lead implementation of office procedures, methods, applicable software applications, and other specialized applications related to the area of assignment.

Education and Experience 

• Bachelor’s Degree and/or paralegal certification (required)
• Minimum of equivalent work experience as a paralegal, legal assistant or equivalent in public policy, advocacy, or mission driven nonprofit service
• Litigation experience (preferred)

Benefits

• Competitive salary commensurate with experience; salary range $55K - $65K
• 100%-paid benefits package, including medical, dental, vision, disability, life insurance, holidays and paid time off.
• 25 hours of professional development/coaching.

How To Apply

 Interested applicants should submit the information below to our portal at: https://fortheppl.bamboohr.com/jobs/

1. a resume;
2. cover letter that describes why you are interested in the role and your qualifications; 
3. a writing sample; and
4. two references for people familiar with your qualifications.

Remote Work: This position will be primarily remote while our Oakland, California office is closed due to COVID restrictions. However, the Paralegal will be required to work in the office multiple times per week to carry out necessary support functions of the organization.  When the restrictions are lifted and it is safe to return to the office, the Paralegal will be expected to continue commuting to the Oakland office as needed to perform necessary office functions but will otherwise be able to work remotely.

For the People is an equal opportunity employer and desire staff that mirror the communities we serve. We strongly encourage and seek applications from women, people of color, bilingual and multi-cultural individuals, system-impacted people, and members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender and gender non-conforming communities.  Applicants will not be discriminated against because of race, religion, sex, national origin, ethnicity, age, disability, political affiliation, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, or medical conditions.