Director of Pro Bono & Bar Relations

Job Description

Job Description

POSITION ANNOUNCEMENT

Position : Director of Pro Bono & Bar Relations (Full- Time Position)

Closing Date : Position Immediately Available and Closed When Filled

Location : Hybrid / Remote Fort Worth, Texas (Administration)

OVERVIEW : Legal Aid of NorthWest Texas (LANWT) seeks a Director of Pro Bono & Bar Relations to provide direction, management and leadership of LANWT's Equal Justice Volunteer Program (EJVP), the pro bono component to the firm’s legal work.

In addition, the Director will be the driving force in building relationships and partnerships with the local private bar associations and groups, law firms, corporate legal departments, and the State Bar of Texas.

DESCRIPTION : LANWT is a non-profit public interest law firm that provides high-quality free civil legal services to low-income persons in 114 counties in North and West Texas.

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES : The Director will have substantial responsibilities in developing and carrying out tasks to design, implement and monitor LANWT's private attorney involvement (PAI) plan.

Primarily duties and responsibilities of this position are :

• Manage oversight functions of LANWT's program-wide EJVP efforts which includes supervision of branch office Coordinators to ensure compliance of policy, procedures and regulations.
• Provide grant oversight on pro bono grants and monitor EJVP activities that have pro bono matching grant requirements.
• Assist in LANWT’s identification of funding, submission of grant applications, and reporting on awarded grants.
• Provide technical assistance to EJVP Coordinators in areas of volunteer recognition, program development, recruitment methods, CLE opportunities, and resolve administrative issues.
• Review and approve EJVP expenditures including but not limited to reduced fee invoices, CLE training event budgets, purchase order requests, reimbursement of approved expenses on pro bono cases, coordinators' training / travel requests, and daily reimbursement expense claims.
• Process all reduced fee cases by reviewing Case Tracking Forms to ensure standard opening hours per case type and approve and submit to the Accounting Department.
• Respond to phone calls and emails from Coordinators regarding assignments, volunteer inquiries for pro bono participation, law student and paralegal requests for internship and volunteer placements, requests from potential clients seeking information on how to apply for legal aid.
• Attend grant and management meetings.
• Review client stories submitted by Coordinators, compile into a program-wide document, and share for publication consideration to various media sources.
• Confer with the Director of Litigation on matters involving the legal assistance provided by volunteer attorneys.
• Review quarterly programmatic and statistical reports submitted from each of the branch offices and monitor case, recruitment, and outreach activities.

Work with Coordinators to address reporting errors.

• Prepare EJVP Report based on responses from the branch offices by securing case data and volunteer non-case hours reports to generate the EJVP report for Quarterly Board of Directors’ meetings.
• Attend State Bar of Texas meetings, local bar association meetings, Pro Bono Advisory Board meetings, and Pro Bono Recognition events.
• Conduct EJVP case reviews and meet with Coordinators and Managers to discuss local pro bono effort.
• Plan and implement EJVP Coordinators' Meetings to update staff on policies, procedures, and discuss and resolve program issues.
• Create an annual EJVP PAI Work Plan for adoption by LANWT’s Board of Directors.
• Assist Managers with annual performance evaluations of EJVP Coordinators.

QUALIFICATIONS :

• License to practice law in Texas required.
• Prior management or leadership experience in a law firm setting is preferred.
• Prior experience working with pro bono program administration preferred.
• A demonstrated, zealous commitment to public interest law, serving the indigent, or other relevant legal experience.
• Ability to demonstrate and promote a positive work ethic and work environment and provide mentorship and training to staff.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
• Excellent legal research skills.
• The ability to collect and analyze data.
• The ability to think and plan strategically and to develop and implement projects.
• Possess a strong work ethic and a sense of accountability.
• Fluent in Spanish both verbal and written is preferred.
• Excellent attendance record.
• Ability to engage in occasional work-related travel.

COMPENSATION : Based on the candidate’s years of relevant experience.

BENEFITS : Excellent benefits package that includes paid vacation and holidays; a retirement plan; health, dental and life insurance.

Please submit a cover letter expressing interest, a resume, and three professional references during the application process.

LEGAL AID OF NORTHWEST TEXAS IS AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER

VETERANS ARE ENCOURAGED TO APPLY