Staff Attorney & Manager, The People’s Immigration Clinic

Staff Attorney & Manager,

The People’s Immigration Clinic

Location: Chicago’s Southwest Suburbs (In-Person)

Salary Range: $85,000–$95,000

Reports to: Associate Executive Director

About SSIP

The Southwest Suburban Immigrant Project (SSIP) is an undocumented-led, community-based organization that exists to dismantle barriers, build power, advance justice, and cultivate a sense of belonging for all immigrants in Chicago’s southwest suburbs. Our work is driven by a bold vision: a future where immigrant communities live unafraid, organized, and rooted in their collective power — honoring the wins of those who came before us while building the world we need for future generations. Based in Bolingbrook, IL, we serve Will and DuPage counties, empowering immigrant families by providing immediate resources while base-building to advocate for lasting social change in our communities, through story-telling, mutual aid, education, and community organizing.

Position Summary

SSIP is seeking a committed, bilingual Staff Attorney & Manager, The People’s Immigration Clinic, to help build and grow our community-centered legal clinic and expand our removal defense work. This role sits at the intersection of legal advocacy, popular education, organizing, leadership development, and management. At SSIP, we practice community lawyering that centers directly impacted people as leaders, storytellers, and strategists. Our goal is not only to defend against harm, but to build the collective power necessary to transform the systems that target our communities.

You will work together with DOJ-accredited representatives, community organizers, rapid response volunteers, and directly impacted families to:

• Provide both affirmative and defensive immigration representation
• Respond to immigration enforcement and support impacted households
• Build legal literacy and pro se capacity among community members
• Strengthen SSIP’s community lawyering model and legal infrastructure
• Develop processes to engage SSIP’s community leaders interested in legal volunteerism & careers

This is not a traditional legal services role. It is a movement-facing position for someone who believes legal work must be accountable to community priorities, aligned with organizing strategy, and rooted in collective care and resistance.

Compensation & Benefits

Salary: $85,000–$95,000, depending on relevant experience

Benefits include:

• Employer-sponsored health, dental & vision coverage
• Short-term disability and life insurance
• Retirement savings plan access with employer match
• 20+ paid holidays in addition to a generous PTO/sick time plan
• Professional Liability Insurance
• Professional development opportunities
• Access to free and paid CLE opportunities

Key Responsibilities:

Program Development & Management

• Help strengthen and refine SSIP’s legal infrastructure, to center our community lawyering model and achieve our vision for the People’s Immigration Clinic, which may include evaluating systems, protocols, workflows and collaborative practices.
• Participate in internal planning, evaluation, and creative strategy sessions to help stay on track and meet the clinic’s annual goals, in a way that connects this work to the organization’s broader goals
• Contribute to grant proposals, reports, and organizational documentation to sustain and expand the immigration clinic.

Direct Legal Services & Casework

• Represent clients in affirmative immigration matters, including naturalization, LPR renewals, DACA renewals, and other benefits aligned with community needs.
• Conduct legal consultations, intakes, and ongoing case management for individuals at risk of deportation or facing ICE contact.
• Maintain a caseload that reflects organizational capacity, community priorities, and SSIP’s commitment to holistic, community-centered support.
• Develop declarations, gather evidence, and collect personal narratives that strengthen legal filings.
• Build out capacity to provide direct representation in removal proceedings, bond hearings, and related defensive cases (e.g., cancellation of removal, motions to reopen, stay-of-removal requests).

Community Lawyering & Organizing Integration

• Collaborate with SSIP’s organizing team, Rapid Response Network, and community leaders to align legal strategy with campaigns, base-building, and popular education.
• Participate in coordinated responses to immigration enforcement and support families
• Support community members in developing pro se skills, understanding legal processes, and engaging in advocacy that centers their own voices and experiences.
• Support community members in making legal decisions by laying out all options.
• Engage in narrative-shifting efforts that uplift directly impacted leadership and challenge harmful immigration narratives.

Popular Education, Leadership Development & Training

• Support and co-lead Know Your Rights trainings, deportation defense workshops, legal education sessions, and community forums.
• Mentor, train, and accompany SSIP staff, interns, volunteers, and directly impacted leaders pursuing DOJ accreditation, legal field pathways, or community defense skills.
• Create and refine legal education materials, curricula, and community-accessible resources that build legal literacy and collective power.

Movement-Building & Professional Development

• Stay current on immigration law developments, removal defense strategies, and community-based legal innovations.
• Participate in local, regional, and national coalitions, legal advocacy efforts, and rapid response networks that makes up the immigrant rights movement
• Participate in collective advocacy, including but not limited to community actions & events, accompanying, standing by and showing solidarity with directly impacted communities & SSIP’s team of organizers.

What We’re Looking For:

Required

• J.D. from an accredited law school and active license to practice law in any U.S. state (Illinois preferred).
• Proficiency in Spanish and English — spoken and written.
• 2–4+ years of experience practicing immigration law, including removal defense and/or family-based or humanitarian cases.
• Demonstrated commitment to racial justice, immigrant justice, and systems change.
• Experience working with and in immigrant communities, preferably in nonprofit, organizing, or movement-based settings.
• Strong understanding of the immigration enforcement system, detention, the deportation pipeline, and immigration laws and policies both federally and state-wide.
• Deep belief in client-centered, trauma-informed, and anti-oppressive legal practice.
• Experience and interest in management, project planning, and working with non-lawyers
• Comfort working in nontraditional legal settings, including homes, indoor & outdoor community spaces, and churches.
• Reliable transportation and willingness to travel across Will, DuPage, and surrounding counties.

Preferred

• Experience working with detained clients or families impacted by ICE enforcement.
• Experience mentoring staff, interns, or community members in legal or leadership roles.
• Familiarity with movement lawyering, legal observing, or narrative change campaigns.
• Comfort working with media or supporting community storytelling.
• Experience with legal case management tools.
• Experience with remote work platforms.

Core Competencies

• Movement-Oriented: Understands legal work as one tool in a broader strategy for liberation.
• Collaborative: Brings humility and openness to working across disciplines with colleagues, organizers, clients, and partners.
• Responsive: Able to handle urgent legal issues, respond to enforcement activity, and adapt quickly to changing conditions.
• Empathetic & Grounded: Practices trauma-informed, anti-oppressive advocacy and resists saviorism.
• Community-Centered: Believes that directly impacted people are the most powerful agents for change.
• Bridge-Builder: Navigates across cultures, languages, and lived experiences with care and respect.

Work Environment & Physical Requirements

This is a full-time, in-person, exempt position averaging 45 hours per week. Evening or weekend work may be required to support community workshops, rapid response needs, or legal emergencies.

Legal services, trainings, and team meetings may take place in person or virtually. Candidates should be able to adapt to a variety of settings, including office environments, community spaces, and remote platforms. Collaborative work may include in-person meetings, phone calls, emails, texting, or video conferencing.

Rooted in our value of Collective Care, and because we prioritize mutual responsibility and the safety of the communities we serve, vaccination and masking may be required for all staff, including regular testing for Flu & COVID as needed.

To Apply

Please send your resume and brief cover letter explaining your interest in community lawyering and ways in which 3 of our organizational values from our list: https://www.ssipchicago.org/ssipvalues/ resonate with you, to hiring@ssipchicago.org with the subject line: [Staff Attorney & Manager – Your Name] by September 30, 2026, for priority consideration. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis until the position is filled.