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​Legal Action of Wisconsin, Inc. seeks a staff attorney to work full-time with the Farmworker Project. The attorney will join other Farmworker Project staff to provide representation to agricultural worker clients in civil matters, with a focus on worker rights. The Farmworker Project attorneys often litigate cases in federal and state courts and represent clients in administrative agency matters. Candidates with strong Spanish language skills are invited to apply. Candidates with 2+ years of legal experience, particularly experience in plaintiff-side employment law, are strongly preferred. Position can be based in any of Legal Action’s six offices. 

LEGAL ACTION OF WISCONSIN

Legal Action is a large, vibrant non-profit civil legal aid firm that provides free legal services to low-income people who would be otherwise denied access to legal justice. Legal Action maintains offices in Milwaukee, Madison, Green Bay, Oshkosh, La Crosse, and Racine. Legal Action represents clients in five core practice areas: public benefits, housing, family, barriers to employment, and consumer law. In addition, the firm operates a statewide Farmworker Project and a statewide legal aid to victims of human trafficking project. Staff provide high-quality and zealous representation, maintain a direct service caseload of individual clients, and contribute to the firm’s structural change litigation and advocacy.

Legal Action believes that equal justice under law can only be achieved through the collaboration of a diverse staff. We strongly encourage applications from women, people of color, people who identify as LGBTQIA+, people with disabilities, and people with life experiences or educational backgrounds that add to the firm’s diversity and our capacity to provide high-quality legal aid.

Legal Action of Wisconsin, Inc. is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employee

FARMWORKER PROJECT

The Farmworker Project is Legal Action of Wisconsin’s statewide initiative to ensure that migrant, seasonal, and year-round agricultural workers receive the wages they have earned, live and work in a safe environment, are recruited lawfully and fairly, and have access to public benefit programs. Potential clients include: a migrant worker who travels to Wisconsin from another state or country to work in hand-harvesting of crops, a seasonal worker who works in vegetable food processing during summer and fall, or a year-round worker who milks cows at a Wisconsin dairy farm. When fully staffed, the Farmworker Project staff consists of a non-attorney project manager, three attorneys, and a paralegal. 

The Farmworker Project frequently collaborates with expert attorneys within Legal Action and often co-counsels with volunteer attorneys and other firms. Summer staff and interns are also an integral part of our team.

Farmworkers face historical and structural barriers that make it difficult for them to access legal and community services. Additionally, these barriers lead to unique legal problems that agricultural workers must confront, including:

• Failure to be paid minimum wage for their work or not being paid at all, among other worker rights issues.
• Recruitment abuses and unexpected changes in the employment contract.
• Substandard health and safety conditions in workplace and employer-provided housing.
• Confusion about immigration status, immigration laws, and governmental procedures.
• Denial of equal access to public benefits, services, and accommodations

The Farmworker Project prioritizes structural advocacy cases involving multiple workers or cases with the potential to improve workplace or industry conditions for multiple workers; however, each attorney also maintains a caseload of some individual clients. 

The Farmworker Project conducts extensive outreach and provides Know Your Rights information to agricultural workers throughout Wisconsin. Outreach is the primary way that the Farmworker Project contacts agricultural workers. Outreach may take place at farmworker housing, in community education presentations, through social media and radio, and includes the development of outreach materials like flyers and videos.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

• Provide high quality, zealous representation of agricultural worker clients in structural advocacy and individual service cases. Areas of focus are employment law, particularly enforcement of rights under the Fair Labor Standards Act, the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act, and other state and federal laws providing protections for agricultural workers;
• Represent agricultural workers in administrative law matters, in areas such as labor standards and equal rights complaints with the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development, worker’s compensation cases, immigration applications for survivors of worker rights abuses, and unemployment insurance appeal hearings;
• Review farmworker intakes, make determinations on available remedies and provide follow-up services, including but not limited to referral, advice and counsel, brief services, and litigation;
• Stay current with the areas of law that pertain to the agricultural worker community as the law changes and develops;
• Share responsibility for the development and maintenance of good working relationships with community groups, as well as with state and local bar associations;
• Provide training and other assistance to members of Legal Action's Volunteer Lawyer Project, as called upon;
• Serve on at least one of Legal Action’s Priority Committees: Housing, Employment, Consumer, Public Benefits, and Family;
• Participate in the firm’s efforts to improve diversity, equity, and inclusiveness and to undertake racial justice legal work;
• Ability and willingness to travel to visit Farmworker Project clients, as needed, and on occasion, approximately 1 time per month during the summer months, travel to conduct outreach to clients and community partners. For attorneys without prior experience representing farmworkers, additional outreach may be required during the training period.
• Staff attorneys may be assigned additional duties occasionally, as the needs of agricultural worker clients vary.

QUALIFICATIONS

Required – The following qualifications are required at hire:

• Juris Doctorate Degree;
• Be licensed to practice law in Wisconsin, be licensed in a state with which Wisconsin could grant reciprocal admission, or be willing to take the next available Wisconsin bar exam, in that order of preference;
• Strong Spanish language skills (oral and written). Candidates should expect a portion of the interview to be conducted in Spanish and a job offer will be contingent on passing a language proficiency test proctored by Language Line;
• Demonstrated engagement with social, economic, and racial justice, especially in the areas of worker and/or immigrant rights;
• Enthusiasm to combine direct client representation with a focus on law development and structural advocacy change;
• Ability to communicate both orally and in writing in a clear manner, as well as commitment to ongoing improvement of written and oral advocacy skills;
• Ability to manage and prioritize many pressing matters;
• Strong engagement and interest in developing creative and new ideas to solve problems, achieve goals, and collaborate;
• Willingness to work evening and weekend hours, as clients' needs dictate. Hours worked outside regular business day can be flexed within the same work week. Out of state or overnight travel for outreach or training is rare but may occur 1-2 times per year;
• Possess and maintain a valid driver’s license during employment (car not required).

Desired – The following qualifications are desired/preferred at hire:

• Minimum of 2 years of legal experience;
• Knowledge and appreciation of the complexity of farmworker experiences, the unique barriers to accessing justice, and the intricacies and multiple dimensions to providing legal aid and representation to farmworker communities;
• Experience in farmworker law and/or plaintiff-side employment law;
• Experience litigating in federal and/or state court, including complex cases with multiple clients.
• Experience litigating and making decisions as part of a team;
• Experience representing workers in administrative law matters;
• Experience giving and receiving feedback, as well as mentoring other attorneys, interns, volunteers or advocates, including on written work;
• Strong technology skills and/or willingness to further develop skills in technology such as: Westlaw and other electronic legal research, internet, email, web-based activities, Microsoft Word, Excel, Outlook, Adobe, Social Media Apps, Google Apps, texting applications, and phone data preservation;
• Affinity with farmworker communities.

COVID-19 VACCINATION POLICY

Legal Action requires all regular employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19 and to provide proof of vaccination within 30 days of employment. Employees may request an exemption from the vaccine requirement.

PHYSICAL DEMANDS AND WORK ENVIRONMENT

This position involves sedentary work, remaining stationary and operating a computer for an extended period; frequently moving objects such as files and office equipment, weighing up to 10 pounds; transmitting written information using a computer and a cellular phone; occasionally driving motor vehicle while remaining stationary for extended periods of time; occasionally positioning self near floor or low shelf positions to retrieve various items and materials.

During occasional outreach and field visits, staff attorneys need to transverse uneven ground and ascend and descend stairs to provide information to workers or interview potential clients. The work environment can vary from a controlled office environment with moderate noise from phones, printers and light office traffic to an outdoors environment in an agricultural or farm setting.

SALARY

Legal Action has two salary tiers available for Staff Attorney positions. Descriptions of the scope of authority for Tiers I and 2 staff attorney positions are identified below. Starting salary depends upon experience and qualifications and is determined by Legal Action’s attorney salary scale. Currently, a Tier 1 attorney with 0-1 years of experience would receive an annual salary of $55,000 for a 100% full-time position. A Tier 1 attorney with 3 years of experience would earn a salary of $62,500, and a Tier 2 attorney with 3 years of experience would earn a salary of $66,813. A Tier 1 attorney with 5 years would earn a salary of $68,500, and a Tier 2 attorney with 5 years of experience would earn a salary of $73,263. A Tier 1 attorney with 10 years of experience would earn a salary of $83,500, and a Tier 2 attorney with 10 years of experience would earn $89,388. Salaries are not negotiable and will follow Legal Action’s salary scale. Employees generally receive a yearly step increase on the anniversary of their start date.

Tier 1 and Tier 2 Staff Attorney Descriptions and Scope of Authority:

All staff attorneys are required to utilize and follow Legal Action’s attorney performance standards in performing their duties.

Tier 1 Staff Attorneys are:

1. Relatively new to providing legal services to low-income clients;
2. Closely supervised and practices law under close control and structure;
3. Closely adhering to Legal Action’s guidelines, rules, policies, and procedures and have little or no authority to deviate from them without supervisor’s approval.

Tier 2 Staff Attorneys have:

1. At least 3 years of post-J.D. experience that includes work relevant to the skills required for staff attorneys and;
2. Skills and abilities to:
   1. consistently perform most Tier 1 Staff Attorney duties with minimal assistance or direction, a high level of efficiency and/or independent initiative, and less immediate, regular supervision than a Tier 1 Staff Attorney;
   2. consistently carry a caseload of substantial size and complexity suitable to an experienced attorney;
   3. consistently adhere to Legal Action administrative and programmatic procedures such as, but not limited to contemporaneous timekeeping and accurate completion of administrative and client service forms; and
3. Demonstrated initiative and ability to undertake the additional duties that the Tier 2 Staff Attorney level requires such as, but not limited to mentoring, training, and otherwise supporting Tier 1 staff attorneys and others. (Tier 2 Staff Attorneys do not have the authority to discipline others and are not confidential management positions.)

LANGUAGE PREMIUM

In recognition of the unique and valuable skills that bilingual employees bring to Legal Action and to the delivery of high-quality legal services, Legal Action’s Salary Administration Plan includes additional pay of up to $4,800 annually for employees who pass a language proficiency test and utilize their Spanish and/or Hmong language skills in performing their work. Candidates for this position should expect to regularly use Spanish in their work. A portion of an interview will be conducted in Spanish and a job offer will be contingent on passing a language proficiency test proctored by Language Line.

FRINGE BENEFITS

This position receives a full fringe benefit package. It currently includes:

• Employer-paid health and dental insurance for employee, employee + spouse, employee + children, or full family with no premium contribution by the employee unless a spouse has other health insurance available to them;
• If in Madison office: one option for a Health Reimbursement Account (HRA.) If in any other Legal Action offices: two options for Health Reimbursement Account (HRA) to help employees with deductibles and out of pocket costs. One HRA option (base HRA) has no contribution by the employee and the other option, optional HRA option (buy-up HRA), requires a monthly 6% contribution to their health insurance premium by the employee;
• Employer-paid life and long-term disability insurance and other voluntary (employee-paid) income protection benefits for employees and their dependents;
• A retirement plan contribution (subject to annual board approval, dependent on budget);
• Generous sick leave accrual with no cap;
• At least four weeks of annual leave (longer tenured employees receive additional annual leave);
• At least four days of personal holidays per year (longer tenured employees receive additional personal holidays);
• Four weeks of paid parental leave after one year of employment; and
• 40 hours of “Service Leave” every five years of employment.

Relocation Expenses Reimbursement Available: Relocation expenses may be available for reimbursement. Amount to be determined before or upon hire.

GOVERNANCE AND SUPERVISION

The position is subject to a twelve-month probationary period. There is no guaranteed period of employment and employment is at will, subject to termination at any time.

If located in the Madison office, the position is governed by the terms and conditions of the collective bargaining agreement between Legal Action and the United Legal Workers. Legal Action’s personnel policies govern where no provision is covered by the collective bargaining agreement. The personnel policies are subject to unilateral change by the Legal Action Board of Directors.

If located in the Milwaukee office, the position will be governed by the terms and conditions of the collective bargaining agreement between Legal Action and the Milwaukee attorneys bargaining unit. As of 8/5/2024 bargaining is still taking place. Until the collective bargaining agreement is completed and the appropriate parties have signed, this position is governed by Legal Action’s personnel policies.

If located in another Legal Action office, the position is governed by Legal Action’s personnel policies which are subject to unilateral change by the Board of Directors.

This position is currently supervised by Mariah Hennen, Farmworker Project Program Manager.

HOW TO APPLY

Applicants must submit the following application materials via Legal Action of Wisconsin’s online applicant portal by using this link Staff Attorney Farmworker Project:

APPLY HERE

• Cover letter that summarizes interest, qualifications, skills, and experiences. Letter should specify which office location(s) applicant would prefer;
• Resume;
• A legal writing sample;
• Provide the names and reliable contact information for three professional references (current Legal Action staff members are not required to include references).

Mariah Hennen, Farmworker Project Program Manager, is the hiring manager for this position.

DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS

This position will be open until filled and review of applications will be conducted on a rolling basis. Interested applicants should submit materials as soon as possible to ensure consideration. Review of application materials will begin the week of September 9th, 2024.

Though we hope to fill the position as soon as possible, the start date may be flexible for qualified candidates who need to relocate and/or conclude current commitments.

Interviews may be conducted virtually or in-person. 

Requirements

QUALIFICATIONS

Required – The following qualifications are required at hire:

• Juris Doctorate Degree;
• Be licensed to practice law in Wisconsin, be licensed in a state with which Wisconsin could grant reciprocal admission, or be willing to take the next available Wisconsin bar exam, in that order of preference;
• Strong Spanish language skills (oral and written). Candidates should expect a portion of the interview to be conducted in Spanish and a job offer will be contingent on passing a language proficiency test proctored by Language Line;
• Demonstrated engagement with social, economic, and racial justice, especially in the areas of worker and/or immigrant rights;
• Enthusiasm to combine direct client representation with a focus on law development and structural advocacy change;
• Ability to communicate both orally and in writing in a clear manner, as well as commitment to ongoing improvement of written and oral advocacy skills;
• Ability to manage and prioritize many pressing matters;
• Strong engagement and interest in developing creative and new ideas to solve problems, achieve goals, and collaborate;
• Willingness to work evening and weekend hours, as clients' needs dictate. Hours worked outside regular business day can be flexed within the same work week. Out of state or overnight travel for outreach or training is rare but may occur 1-2 times per year;
• Possess and maintain a valid driver’s license during employment (car not required).

Desired – The following qualifications are desired/preferred at hire:

• Minimum of 2 years of legal experience;
• Knowledge and appreciation of the complexity of farmworker experiences, the unique barriers to accessing justice, and the intricacies and multiple dimensions to providing legal aid and representation to farmworker communities;
• Experience in farmworker law and/or plaintiff-side employment law;
• Experience litigating in federal and/or state court, including complex cases with multiple clients.
• Experience litigating and making decisions as part of a team;
• Experience representing workers in administrative law matters;
• Experience giving and receiving feedback, as well as mentoring other attorneys, interns, volunteers or advocates, including on written work;
• Strong technology skills and/or willingness to further develop skills in technology such as: Westlaw and other electronic legal research, internet, email, web-based activities, Microsoft Word, Excel, Outlook, Adobe, Social Media Apps, Google Apps, texting applications, and phone data preservation;
• Affinity with farmworker communities.