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Medical - Legal Partnership Program WNCCHS Staff Attorney - Asheville, NC

Pisgah Legal Services Jul 18,2022 May 19,2022 Location USA Asheville NC
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Public Interest

Attorney

Health Care

Litigation

Litigation - Public Interest

Litigation - Whistleblower - CFTC

Min 1 yrs required

Profile

Medical-Legal Partnership Program WNCCHS Staff Attorney - Asheville, NC

Pisgah Legal Services (PLS) is a community-based non-profit legal aid agency governed by a local Board of Directors. Located in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Western North Carolina (WNC), Pisgah Legal Services provides free civil legal assistance to low-income people in WNC. The organization currently has offices in Asheville, Brevard, Burnsville, Hendersonville, Highlands-Cashiers, Marshall, Newland, and Rutherfordton, as well as several individual offices co-located with medical partners.

Pisgah Legal Services seeks a full-time staff attorney to work onsite in a new medical legal partnership with Western North Carolina Community Health Services (WNCCHS) in Asheville, NC. With the support of the Medical Legal Partnership (MLP) team, the attorney will be responsible for developing relationships with WNCCHS providers and staff, training community partners, advising and representing WNCCHS patients on legal issues that impact health, and for identifying and pursuing systems reform opportunities.  The attorney in this role will approach casework and advocacy opportunities from a framework of collaboration and community-based lawyering principles.

Medical Legal Partnership Responsibilities

  • Direct legal services work: advise and represent WNCCHS patients referred to Pisgah Legal on issues impacting health outcomes as a generalist attorney, including housing and utilities, income maintenance and support (health coverage, Social Security benefits, nutrition-related benefits), safety from domestic violence, and immigration assistance.
  • Collaboration and relationship building: learn the systems and personnel at WNCCHS, thereby facilitating referrals, identifying training opportunities, and fostering collaboration across sectors to address patient social needs. Keep a consistent branded presence onsite at WNCCHS, and offer continual training to staff to keep referral numbers consistent. 
  • Systems reform: through client work, identify opportunities to track information and reform internal (health and legal services) systems and external (policy) systems. Train and educate clients and medical partner staff about connections between health outcomes and legal services. Leverage data, relationships, and experiences to participate in policy advocacy at the local, state, and national levels.
  • Communication: provide all information and services in a culturally and linguistically appropriate manner and ensure accessibility to all services including provision of remote services where appropriate.  A successful candidate will possess excellent writing, analytic, interpersonal, public speaking, and organizational skills and be adept at managing multiple priorities and deadlines.

Other Responsibilities

  • Commitment to PLS’ mission, values, and vision.
  • A willingness to handle a varied case load, and an understanding of the civil legal needs of low-income people, including the impact unmet needs have on health.
  • Ability to effectively communicate, to motivate others, and to work collaboratively with diverse groups of people with varying perspectives, experience, and expertise.
  • Ability and willingness to learn and integrate new technologies and methodologies to efficiently perform responsibilities.
  • Document all work in Legal Server case management software.
  • Organize and conduct outreach and educational presentations.
  • Develop and maintain community relationships including other non-profit agencies, government officials, government employees, community leaders, and others.
  • Travel within our service area and to meetings or conferences in other parts of NC.
  • Adhere to program priorities and case handling policies, procedures, and standards of practice, as well as the highest professional and ethical standards.
  • Keep abreast of developments in the law and disseminate information to staff, volunteer attorneys and the public.
  • Work with volunteers, including volunteer attorneys, on a regular basis.
  • Assist in fundraising in coordination with PLS Development Team.

Qualifications

  • Member of good standing with the North Carolina Bar (or plan to waive in—see NC Pro Bono exception for guidelines).
  • Demonstrated skill with socio-economic and cultural sensitivity, and commitment to equity.
  • Possess a valid driver’s license.
  • Onboarding requirements as determined by WNCCHS.
  • Fluency in Spanish would be an asset.
  • At least one year of litigation and/or administrative law experience or comparable case management would be an asset.
  • Previous experience in the subject matter areas of housing law, domestic violence and child abuse prevention, and/or public benefits law including Social Security Disability would be an asset.

Salary/ Benefits

Salary ranges from $51,819 – $98,297 depending on experience. 

Our salary scale is predetermined based on the years of relative professional work experience that qualify for this position to ensure equity in pay. Employees are eligible for medical, dental, vision and life insurance coverage the 1st of the month following the start date. Pisgah Legal Services (PLS) pays 100% of the Employee and 50% of the Dependent Cost for BCBS Medical and Dental coverage. PLS pays 50% of the Employee Coverage Cost for BCBS Vision coverage. PLS pays 100% of Long-Term & Short-Term Disability Coverage, Life Insurance Coverage of 5x base salary + an additional $15,000 Life & AD&D Coverage. 401k Retirement Plan after 6 months of employment. Additional Fringe Benefits includes Paid Parental Leave, 12.5 Company Holidays, 22 Paid Leave Days, Paid Sabbatical Leave for Attorneys, Employee Assistance Program for entire household and a great working environment with work life balance!

To Apply

Submit your online application with resume and cover letter through our Career Center located at https://www.pisgahlegal.org/jobs.

PLS invites all applicants to include in their cover letter a statement about how your unique background and/or experiences might contribute to the diversity, cultural vitality, and perspective of our staff and legal services practice.

Pisgah Legal Services is committed to creating a diverse environment and is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, disability, age, or veteran status. 

As an Equal Opportunity Employer, we will provide reasonable accommodations to qualified persons with disabilities. Prospective and current employees are encouraged to discuss ADA accommodations with our Human Resources department.

COVID-19 Safety Information:

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Pisgah Legal Services has worked tirelessly to promote evidence-based practices across our entire organization. With this in mind, as of January 4th, all Pisgah employees will be required to provide proof of their COVID-19 vaccine. Employees who are unvaccinated or have an approved exemption will be required to provide verified weekly COVID-19 test results. We currently have COVID-19 safety precautions in place such as working remotely as our business allows, requiring face masks while meeting with clients or co-workers, providing outdoor meeting areas to meet with clients while wearing masks, limiting onsite visits by meeting virtually or by phone with clients. Pisgah Legal Services also conducts temperature checks at our location upon arrival.

Company info

Company Profile

Our Mission Pisgah Legal Services seeks to pursue justice by providing legal assistance and advocacy to help low-income people in Western North Carolina meet their basic needs and improve their lives. What We Do Pisgah Legal Services is an innovative nonprofit founded in 1978 that: - provides free civil legal aid to people who live in poverty; - helps more than 20,000 of the most vulnerable people in our communities annually to meet urgent needs such as: housing, safety from abuse, health care and income; - partners with dozens of other agencies to make sustainable change for people in crisis; - coordinates the services of more than 300 pro bono attorneys in WNC; - improves systems and policies that impact the lives of thousands of low-income people. Our Attorneys We employ staff attorneys and work with approximately 300 lawyers who generously volunteer their time and talent to help the people of our mountain region. Area Served Pisgah Legal Services provides a broad array of free, civil legal services in 11 WNC counties, and offers immigration law services in 18 counties. The 11 counties are: Buncombe Avery Henderson Jackson Macon Madison Mitchell Polk Rutherford Transylvania Yancey PLS has nine offices Asheville, Burnsville, Brevard, Highlands/Cashiers, Hendersonville, Marshall, Newland, Rutherfordton and Spruce Pine.