197 Friend Street
Boston, MA
United States
GBLS is an AA/EO accessible employer committed to diversity in the workforce and regards differences as assets.
The Consumer Rights Unit of Greater Boston Legal Services seeks candidates for an Attorney Fellowship position for September 2019. GBLS is a non-profit legal services program providing free civil legal assistance to eligible low-income clients in Boston and 31 surrounding cities and towns.
The purpose of the Bart Gordon Fellowship is to provide civil legal services to low-income communities who may have difficulty accessing the justice system due to linguistic, racial, cultural or disability barriers, and also to encourage careers in legal services.
The Bart Gordon Fellow will work with the Consumer Rights Unit (CRU) to address pervasive problems of racial injustice in the debt collection system through systemic advocacy and providing low-income communities of color with access to pro-bono representation in debt collection cases. Much of the work of the CRU helps to create economic stability for our clients, fighting income inequality and enabling them to begin to create wealth. We seek to do this through individual cases representation, legislative and policy advocacy, impact litigation and community education. The Fellow will focus on debt collection issues in communities of color and address unmet legal needs.
The Fellow will focus on the Roxbury and Chelsea communities where we operate a Debt Collection Lawyer for the Day Program in the Small Claims sessions of the Chelsea and Roxbury District Courts. Our goal will be to expand our program to provide community based education to consumers on their legal rights around debt collection issues. The Fellow will also engage in individual case representation and systemic advocacy to strengthen consumer protections in debt collection laws.
The activities the Fellow will engage in include: community outreach and education; community based intake; training of community organizations staff; representing clients in small claims hearings; representing clients in other debt collection and consumer matters, expanding our program to represent consumers in wage garnishment proceedings; engaging in systemic advocacy and litigation to challenge discriminatory debt collection practices, abusive vocational student loans, scams targeting communities of color, and wage garnishment practices. The Fellow will also engage in research to document the disproportionate impact of debt collection practices on people of color in the Greater Boston area.
Priority will be given to 2019 graduates, however any eligible graduate who is within 30 months of their law school graduation will also be considered. Priority will also be given to candidates with relevant work experience.
Familiarity with consumer issues and experience working with community organizations is a plus. Candidates must be eligible for admission to the Massachusetts Bar.
Salary is based on a union scale. Generous benefits package.
Candidates should submit cover letter, resume and a brief writing sample to: Sonia Marquez, Director of Human Resources, via e-mail at jobs@gbls.org. Please refer to Job Code: Bart Gordon when applying for this position. Applications will be accepted until the position is filled but applicants are encouraged to submit applications by June 12, 2019.