Director of Special Litigation

Job description

The Legal Aid Society’s Criminal Defense Practice Special Litigation Unit is seeking a highly experienced civil litigator and organizational leader to manage a team of legal professionals focused on developing creative and innovative legal advocacy and systemic law reform strategies across a range of criminal justice matters. The Special Litigation Unit of The Legal Aid Society’s Criminal Defense Practice (SLU) engages in civil litigation and policy advocacy to address systemic injustices affecting the Legal Aid Society’s criminal defense clients and their families. Examples of past work include federal litigation challenging the NYPD’s stop-and-frisk practices, state litigation compelling arraignments within 24 hours, and, more recently, federal litigation challenging the state’s failure to provide timely and adequate competency restoration services to people found unfit to stand trial, and federal litigation challenging DHS’ practice of conducting suspicionless stops of New Yorkers based solely on their perceived race and ethnicity and conducting warrantless immigration arrests without probable cause. SLU’s impact litigation docket can be found here . SLU sits within the Law Refo...