Staff Attorney – Criminal Records Relief

Staff Attorney – Criminal Records Relief

About Cabrini Green Legal Aid

Cabrini Green Legal Aid (CGLA) was established in 1973 to serve the legal needs arising from the lack of opportunity, criminalization of poverty, and racial inequity experienced within Chicago's Cabrini Green public housing community. Since then, CGLA has grown beyond a single neighborhood to become a citywide, countywide, and statewide leader in proactively filling the void of legal representation, wraparound services, legal information and resources, and advocacy exclusively for low-income individuals negatively impacted by the criminal legal system.

Any engagement with the criminal legal system can greatly disrupt an individual, family, and community's quality of life.

CGLA is distinguished among legal aid service providers locally, throughout Illinois, and nationally as having expertise in legal matters related to the direct and collateral consequences of the criminal legal system. Since 2014, we have been the sole legal aid services provider serving Cook County with the distinction of focusing exclusively on individuals and families who have been adversely impacted by the criminal legal system in all legal program areas: criminal records, emerging adults, criminal defense, housing law, and family law.

We provide direct legal services, advocate for policy reforms, and provide legal information and resources to other legal aid organizations, pro bono attorneys, and the general public. We also support our clients holistically with wraparound social services from our social workers. Our policy and advocacy work is not performed as a separate entity; rather it is informed by our legal services and the lived experiences of our Leadership Council, an Advisory Group made up of former CGLA clients and community members directly impacted by the criminal legal system.

CGLA’s Mission, Purpose and Vision

• Mission:
  We provide holistic legal services that include social support services and advocacy for individuals and communities negatively impacted by the criminal legal system.
• Purpose:
  
  CGLA exists to remove barriers to equity in the criminal legal system.
• Vision: A more just and equitable criminal legal system.

The primary responsibilities of the Staff Attorney include implementing CGLA’s priorities in the criminal records practice and representing clients in criminal records-related matters through expungement and sealing, pardons, health care waivers, certificates and other legal remedies. This position also trains and assists fellows, interns, and volunteers to assure clients receive quality legal services and representation. The staff attorney is responsible for completing these duties while providing holistic legal services to their clients by collaborating with CGLA’s attorneys in other program areas.

• Provide direct legal services to CGLA clients in criminal records matters including at the virtual and in-person Expungement Help Desks, preparing petitions for self-represented litigants seeking to expunge and/or seal their juvenile and criminal records and advising them on next steps.
• Cultivate and manage relationships with court and clerk personnel, workforce development agencies and other community-based organizations that have formal partnerships with CGLA.
• Represent and advocate for partner clients in civil or criminal legal matters, assisting with housing law, family law, and criminal law cases as co-counsel with supervisory approval.
• Schedule and conduct periodic visits to partner organizations to conduct staff training and on-site legal services at the agreed upon frequency defined in written agreements with partner agencies.
• Collaborate with assigned Client Support Services team member to improve overall outcomes for clients who present social services needs according to screening criteria.
• Represent self-represented litigants as a “friend of the court” during in-person and virtual court hearings at the George N. Leighton Criminal Court and other courthouses.
• Assist in onboarding and training new staff, interns and volunteers.
• Oversee the work of volunteer attorneys and law students at CGLA’s Criminal Records…