ICS is hiring: Portland/Hood River Staff Attorney
Date Posted: May 18, 2023
Immigration Counseling Service has been dedicated to defending the rights of immigrants for 40 years. We are a group of diverse individuals committed to providing high-quality immigration advocacy and representation to over 90 low-income immigrant communities throughout Oregon and Southern Washington. Our staff have extensive experience in immigrant and refugee communities (many being from immigrant families themselves) and trauma-informed care and are bilingual in English and Spanish. ICS encourages collaboration and is a supportive environment where our attorneys and staff constantly learn and grow.
ICS seeks a full-time English-Spanish bilingual attorney for our Portland location and/or our Hood River location that are responsible for providing legal service to individuals in a wide variety of immigration matters and overseeing staff in case-related work.
Why Oregon? With offices in gorgeous Hood River and vibrant Portland, a career with ICS will offer you an environment of stunning natural beauty, quirky neighborhoods with plenty of character, and no sales tax! These Oregon cities have become destinations for young professionals, families, and world travelers alike for good reason. From rent to groceries, Portland offers a more affordable cost of living than other cities on the west coast. Worried about the rain? Portland’s annual rainfall is only slightly above the national average, and your patience on rainy days will be repaid by sunny summer days that aren’t scorching hot. ICS operates across Oregon, so you’ll have the opportunity to experience the state’s diverse natural scenery—from coast to desert, valley to mountaintops.
Responsibilities and Duties:
Conduct legal screenings and interviews with immigrant community members and explain their legal options;
Provide direct representation to clients who are both submitting affirmative applications before USCIS and are in removal proceedings before Portland Immigration Court;
Conduct case analysis to determine eligibility for immigration protections/status under the immigration laws;
Maintain a working knowledge of significant policies, laws, practices, and trends in immigration law, particularly as it impacts low-income immigrants and those impacted by the criminal justice system;
Establish, organize and maintain files up to date;
Perform administrative tasks related to grant reporting such as timekeeping, submitting timesheets, tracking trainings and other duties in a timely manner;
Supervise support staff on case-related work;
Communicate with community organizations to coordinate outreach and representation of immigrant community members across Oregon.
Qualifications/Skills:
Graduate of U.S. ABA-accredited law school
Licensed by a state bar (preferred) or applicant for state bar licensure and licensed by Fall 2023 at latest (Oregon State Bar preferred in both cases)
Spanish fluency required
Excellent communication and advocacy skills
Salary and Benefits:
Salary is commensurate with experience with a salary range of $54,346 - $67,592.
ICS also provides an annual key language proficiency salary differential of $1,100.
401(k) Plan with an employer contribution.
100% employer paid health, vision & dental plans for employee level coverage.
8 weeks of paid parental leave after 6 months of employment
20 days of vacation time annually in your first year, in addition to 14 paid holidays, and a 35-hour standard work week.
These attorney positions are covered by the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program (PSLF).
Working Conditions:
Hybrid Work: We have been utilizing and evaluating a Hybrid Work Model. Employees not in Operations or in an Administrative Support role are required to come into the office at least 3 days a week on a scheduled basis to be pre-arranged with the supervisor. Friday’s we are closed to the public and work from home on this day of the week. We provide a laptop, printer, and cell phone to each employee to facilitate a home office. We are a collaborative office environment and pride ourselves in not only providing high-quality legal representation to the Oregon community but also learning from one another.
May require occasional driving of a motor vehicle and requires a valid insurable Driver’s License.
May require evening or weekend work; working with challenging clients; driving to centers where clients are located, immigration offices, immigration court, and state courts and clinics in various parts of Oregon and southern Washington.
ICS is committed to creating a diverse workforce to strengthen our organization and is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer. At ICS, we welcome and value applicants from all backgrounds, including marginalized and disenfranchised communities. We encourage applications from individuals who identify as Black, Indigenous, Latina/Latino/Latine, people of color, immigrants (including people who were formerly detained, undocumented, or who have navigated the immigration legal system), women, people with disabilities, members of the LGBTQIA+ community, and individuals with rich cultural backgrounds and diverse language abilities. The individual differences, life experiences, knowledge, innovation, self-expression, and talent that our employees invest in their work helps shape the culture here at ICS. We strive to have a workforce that represents the communities we serve.
All employment decisions at ICS are based on job requirements and individual qualifications, without regard to race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions), national origin or ancestry, citizenship, physical or mental disability, genetic information, age (18 and over), veteran status, uniform servicemember status, unemployment status, sexual orientation, gender identity (including gender-related identity and gender expression), marital status, family status, or an individual having been a victim of sexual abuse, including domestic abuse, sexual assault or stalking. However, being human isn’t about checking every box on a list. It’s about the experiences we have, people we meet, and the perspectives we share. So, if you feel you have the skills but are hesitant to apply because you’re not sure if your exact background or years of experience are applicable, apply anyway. We need amazing people like you to help us challenge the conventional and think differently about the problems that we’re solving. We’re in this together. Come be human, with us.
Reasonable Accommodation: Any employee who needs accommodation to perform the essential functions of his or her job should communicate with the Executive Director. We will work with an employee to evaluate whether there is a reasonable accommodation that does not pose an undue hardship on the organization. Any proposed accommodation that creates an undue hardship on the organization, that does not allow the employee to perform the essential functions of the job, or that poses a serious safety risk to others that cannot be mitigated, is not a reasonable accommodation.
Position is:Exempt and included in the NOLSW Local 2320 Bargaining Unit
Reports to: Managing Attorney
Number of Employees Supervised by this position: None
How to Apply: Please send to admin@ics-law.org with the name of the position you’re applying to in the subject line, a cover letter, current resume, writing sample, and contact information for three references addressed to:
Hiring Committee
Immigration Counseling Service (ICS)
519 SW Park Avenue, Suite 610
Portland, OR 97205
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