Job Title: Staff Attorney, Youth Law Team

Department: Criminal Defense Practice

Location: Harlem, NY

Reports To: Supervising Attorney

Position Type: Full-Time

Union Status: Union eligible

FLSA Status: Exempt

About NDS:

Neighborhood Defender Service (NDS) is a national nonprofit public defense organization that pioneered the holistic defense model more than 30 years ago. Founded in Harlem, NDS was built to challenge the traditional public defense model by centering clients, communities, and interdisciplinary advocacy. Today, NDS operates community-based offices in Harlem; the Bronx; Detroit; and Hays County, Texas, supported by a unified national infrastructure that allows local teams to deliver high-quality, responsive representation rooted in the communities they serve.

Across all locations, NDS provides client-centered legal representation through interdisciplinary teams composed of attorneys, investigators, social workers, client advocates, and team administrators. Our approach emphasizes early and ongoing engagement with clients—before arrest where possible, throughout the life of a case, and beyond case resolution—while addressing the legal, social, and systemic challenges that impact long-term stability. NDS is committed to treating every client with dignity and respect and to advancing justice for individuals and communities that have been historically marginalized and over-policed.

Core Purpose of the Role:

NDS seeks to hire an experienced Staff Attorney on the Youth Law Team within the Criminal Defense Practice. The Youth Law Team represents youth accused as delinquents in Family Court and PINS petitions, teenagers who are prosecuted in the Youth Part of Supreme Court, and teenagers and young adults who are prosecuted in Criminal and Supreme Courts in New York County. The Youth Law Team consists of attorneys and mitigation specialists. These advocates coordinate with other members of the Criminal Defense Practice and members of NDS’s other practice areas, including an education rights attorney, to provide our youngest clients with representation that addresses the underlying issues that brought them in contact with the criminal legal system as well as collateral issues that result from that contact.  

• Provide vigorous representation with energy and enthusiasm to young residents of Northern Manhattan;
• Engage in frequent court appearances and litigation, including arraignments, grand jury presentations, legal arguments, hearings and trials;
• Prepare clients and their families for Probation Adjustment Interviews and attend the interviews;
• Interview clients and their families in the Harlem office or local jails and detention facilities, conduct legal research and write pre-pleading letters, motions and develop mitigation reports on behalf of clients;
• Coordinate work performed by team members (investigators, social workers, mitigation specialists, team administrators and interns);
• Work with cross-practice colleagues (education, family defense, immigration defense, housing defense and other civil defense) to obtain comprehensive legal outcomes for clients;
• File motions, briefs and other related documents on a frequent and timely basis;
• Provide effective oral advocacy in negotiations and arguments in criminal and family court cases;
• Work from NDS’s Satellite Office near court when handling intake, on average two days a week.

Required

• Must possess a demonstrated commitment to indigent defense, social justice issues and/or the Harlem communities.
• Must have a demonstrated commitment to holistic and client-centered approach to representation.
• Must have at least two years of experience representing clients in criminal cases or juvenile delinquency proceedings
• Must possess a high level of organizational and administrative skills and be able to multitask in a fast-paced environment.
• Must have active listening skills and ability to give and receive constructive feedback.
• Must be able to work cooperatively in a team setting.
• Must be able to communicate clearly and effectively, both orally and in writing.
• Must be flexible about work location and must split time between Manhattan’s downtown courts and NDS’s main office in Central Harlem.
• Must be licensed to practice law in New York or pro hac vice until admitted to the New York bar.

Preferred

• Bi-lingual (Spanish) candidates are encouraged to apply.

Compensation:

Compensation is commensurate with experience. Full medical and dental benefits, as well as retirement plan with company match, robust time off perks, paid parental leave and other benefits, are provided. The salary range for this position is $85,909.74 – $176,572.65.

How to apply:

Interested applicants should submit a cover letter and resume through NDS’s website at neighborhooddefender.org/careers. Applications without a cover letter will not be considered. Applications will be considered on a rolling basis. Candidates are encouraged to apply as soon as possible.

The Neighborhood Defender Service is committed to creating a diverse environment that reflects the community we serve. NDS is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants are encouraged to apply and will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, disability, age, or veteran status. NDS encourages people with incarcerated loved ones, formerly incarcerated people, people of color, women, queer, transgender, gender non-confirming, and gender fluid people to apply.