Atlanta Legal Aid Society (“Legal Aid”) seeks a Staff Attorney to work in its Health Law Unit located in its downtown Atlanta office. The project aims to improve the health and well-being of low-income people living with or affected by life-threatening illnesses by coordinating services to address legal, social, and economic conditions threatening their health. The unit began in 1990 as the AIDS Legal Project and expanded to work with people with cancer and ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease). The unit also now includes a medical-legal partnership and is exploring further expanding its scope of services. The staff currently consists of a managing attorney and two staff attorneys.
Responsibilities: The Staff Attorney performs client intake and provides referrals, advice, brief service, or representation in a variety of civil legal matters affecting a client’s health including public benefits and health insurance, access to appropriate support services, disability rights, poor housing conditions, loss of housing, end of life planning, family law, and consumer law. The Staff Attorney also performs regular outreach and community education for clients and medical/social service staff.
Qualifications: A Georgia bar license is required. Applicants should have at least 2 years of experience practicing law. Applicants must possess excellent legal writing and oral advocacy skills and a strong work ethic. Communication and listening skills, the ability to work on a team and alone, adaptability, eagerness to learn and openness to evaluation, and an appreciation of diversity are required. A demonstrated commitment to public service, participation in law school clinics, trial advocacy courses, previous work with low-income people and/or people with serious health conditions, and knowledge of health and poverty law are preferred. Experience handling bankruptcy and medical debt cases, and proficiency in languages other than English are highly valued.
Salary and Benefits: The salary for 2 years of legal experience is $58,000. (The salary offered may increase or decrease depending on the actual, relevant experience of the selected candidate.) Salaries currently increase annually based on a salary scale. We recently engaged a compensation consultant to review our current structure and make recommendations for improvement. The program provides generous fringe benefits, including 18 paid holidays (in 2024) , 6 weeks paid time off, 6 weeks paid parental leave; health (including optional dental and vision coverage), life, and long and short-term disability insurance; partial payment for dependent health insurance; a salary reduction option for a flexible spending account; educational loan reimbursement up to $600 per month; voluntary tax-sheltered annuity with 3% match; Georgia Bar dues; and CLE expenses. Legal Aid offers a hybrid work schedule that allows staff to work 2 days remotely subject to management approval and a probationary employment period. This position may be eligible for Public Service Loan Forgiveness through the U.S. Department of Education.
Application Requirements: Submit a letter of interest; resume; writing sample (advice letter, legal memorandum or brief) which demonstrates your ability to research and analyze legal issues; official law school transcript (a copy is acceptable pending your order of an official transcript); and the names, phone numbers and email addresses of three professional references (preferably individuals who have supervised or managed your work) as one (1) PDF using our online application system at atlantalegalaid.org/jobs. Only applications with all of the requested documents will be considered for an interview.
Your application will be acknowledged. No phone calls please. For assistance with technical difficulties in submitting your application, please email [email protected].
Legal Aid considers all qualified applicants for employment without regard to race, color, national origin, religion, age, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, or any other legally protected status.