About Legal Services of New York City
Legal Services of New York City (LSNYC) provides critical legal representation to indigent residents of New York City’s five boroughs as part of a wider mission to achieve racial, social, and economic justice for low-income New Yorkers. For over 50 years LSNYC has challenged systemic injustice and helped clients meet basic needs for housing, income and economic security, family and immigration stability, education, and health care. LSNYC is the largest civil legal services provider in the country with a staff of nearly 740 in neighborhood-based offices and outreach sites across all five boroughs, helping more than 117,000 New Yorkers annually.
About Bronx Legal Services
Bronx Legal Services (BxLS), an office of LSNYC with an independent Board of Directors, provides high-quality civil legal services, advocacy, and social work support to low-income communities throughout the Bronx. BxLS’s staff of over 180 helps more than 36,000 individuals each year and reaches thousands more through outreach and community legal education. BxLS litigates and advocates in many practice areas, including tenants’ rights and foreclosure, civil rights, family law, disability advocacy, immigration, education, and LGBTQ advocacy. BxLS also works with clients and community partners to identify and challenge the systemic inequalities faced by low-income communities in the Bronx and throughout New York City. BxLS is the largest provider of free civil legal services in the Bronx, serving one of the most diverse counties in New York State.
Learn more about Legal Services of New York City and Bronx Legal Services at https://www.legalservicesnyc.org/boroughs/bronx-legal-services/.
The Opportunity
LSNYC seeks an accomplished lawyer and talented leader to oversee the day-to-day operations and activities of BxLS. The ideal candidate will be a lifelong advocate with a proven dedication to fighting for justice. This is an opportunity to join a storied organization and collaborate with internal and external stakeholders to grow the impact of BxLS within the Bronx and citywide.
Reporting to the Executive Director of LSNYC and the BxLS Board of Directors, the Project Director will work with LSNYC central leadership, BxLS managers and staff, the BxLS Board, and community partners to continue to provide the best-in-class legal and related services to low-income Bronx residents.
The Project Director serves as the primary spokesperson for BxLS, championing the importance of delivering quality legal services to those who can least afford a lawyer and dedicated to promoting justice at all levels. In addition to the managerial, financial, and operational responsibilities of the role, the Project Director will support and expand efforts to promote LSNYC’s mission and brand with current and future government, foundation, and private partners and funding sources.
The Project Director’s key responsibilities include, but are not limited to:
Leadership and Management
- Provide inspirational and motivational leadership to a diverse and highly skilled staff of attorneys and nonlegal professionals including paralegals, social workers, translators, and others.
- Ensure the delivery of high quality, high impact legal services to address issues affecting low-income New Yorkers.
- Oversee all supervision, long-range organizational planning, and project and program development in partnership with BxLS program and unit leaders, staff, and the BxLS Board of Directors.
- Ensure the organization’s fiscal health, including overseeing and expanding the BxLS annual budget of $36 million.
- Maintain a strong and effective working relationship with BxLS managers, BxLS staff (including the organization’s union, LSSA 2320), LSNYC central leadership, the BxLS Board of Directors, and external stakeholders, such as elected officials, government agencies, courts, and funders.
- Oversee and promote the program’s diversity, anti-racism, debiasing, and cultural competence initiatives, including recruitment, hiring, training, and professional development.
- Serve as an active member of the LSNYC citywide senior leadership team, which includes the executive leadership of LSNYC and Project Directors of other borough offices; participate in citywide planning and initiatives affecting BxLS and its sister programs.
Resource Development and Communications
- Act as a visible and engaging spokesperson for BxLS and LSNYC to strengthen and extend our public presence and serve as a leader in social justice movements by effectively representing and promoting BxLS and LSNYC to public officials, the Bronx community, and the media.
- Develop and maintain active relationships with local, citywide, and national partners to facilitate sharing of knowledge, strategies for action, and best practices.
- Create and implement a fundraising strategy, ensuring a diversified funding base that includes federal, state, and local governments, foundations, and individual donors.
- Establish and maintain relationships with current and potential public funders and private donors through engagement, cultivation, and solicitation.
- Strengthen the organization’s relationship with federal, state, and local officials, including advocacy to sustain and build funding for legal services.
- Ensure the program’s compliance with grants awarded through public and private sources.
- Develop and implement a communications strategy for BxLS and its initiatives.
Candidate Profile
The Project Director will be a seasoned leader, lawyer, advocate, and manager. The successful candidate will bring a passion for the LSNYC mission, expertise in public interest law, demonstrated people and team management experience—ideally with experience in a union environment—and a deep belief in the power of community-based advocacy and related social justice movements.
We recognize that there is a spectrum of lived and professional experience that will set candidates up for success in this role. While no one candidate will have every experience outlined in the position description, ideal candidates will display the following professional and personal qualities, skills, and characteristics:
Strategic & Visionary Mindset
- Strategic leader with an inspirational style, eager and energized to develop and articulate a values-driven vision for a multifaceted organization.
- Significant understanding of, and experience with, providing legal and other services to low-income people and vulnerable populations, including experience developing and engaging in high impact litigation and advocacy.
- Deploys analytical, organizational, and problem-solving skills that support and enable sound decision-making.
- Empowers others to lead and contribute to the organization's overall success.
- Ability to act decisively in the face of emergent situations and circumstances while still maintaining focus on the big-picture goals of the organization.
Empowering & Collaborative Leader
- Results-oriented leader with a highly collaborative and inclusive approach to management.
- Ability to build, nurture, and retain a collaborative, diverse, and inclusive employee team, including one with a unionized workforce.
- Talent for empowering staff through active communication and opportunities for collaboration.
- A track record of hiring, developing, and retaining culturally diverse staff at all levels.
- Transparent communicator and natural listener who ensures all voices are heard, while also being firm and resolute in making decisions.
Nonprofit Business Acumen & Development Mindset
- Management and interpersonal skills developed at a senior level of leadership at a complex organization of comparable size and scope.
- Seasoned executive and strong manager skilled in effective operational and financial administration who can deploy these skills at scale.
- Strong non-profit budget development and management skills with a knowledge of working with restricted funding, ideally with exposure to the intricacies of government grants and contracts as a primary funding source.
- Awareness of the importance of building out internal capacity and structural supports that enable the organization’s mission and work.
- Experience and interest in fundraising and grant writing.
- Passion for developing and cultivating relationships that will advance and amplify BxLS’s value proposition, reputation, and opportunities for impact in the field.
Skilled Advocate & Relationship Builder
- Proven track record as a public interest lawyer, litigator, advocate, negotiator, or policymaker in legal services organizations, private sector pro bono projects, impact litigation organizations, or government.
- Experience and legal acumen necessary to serve as the “last word” on crucial decisions relating to legal strategy in BxLS litigation, advocacy, or other client case work.
- Ability to serve as a key spokesperson and face of the organization, successfully conveying BxLS’s mission and objectives in clear written and oral communications to community partners, media, funders, policy makers, and others.
- Willingness to communicate internally, effectively and frequently, fostering a culture of transparency and bringing staff of all levels and program areas along in a way that ensures all understand and are invested in their role within the broader vision and mission of the organization.
Commitment to Justice Inside & Outside the Organization
- Embraces the mission, purpose, and future of BxLS and LSNYC.
- History of engaging with social justice issues integral to the mission of BxLS.
- Recognizes the importance of empowering clients and nurturing psychological safety.
- Dedication to furthering LSNYC’s commitment to promoting an inclusive environment in which all employees can: perform at their best; feel valued, respected, and motivated; share views and ideas for continuous improvement; access professional development, leadership, and learning opportunities; and work collaboratively to cultivate a supportive, client-centered environment and culture.
- An individual of unquestioned integrity, ethics, and values who leads by example.
Champion of the Mission
- Above all, possess an unwavering dedication to advancing the well-being of individuals, families, and communities through high-quality legal service.
- Exhibits boldness and courage in their advocacy for justice.
- Demonstrated history of supporting individual case work and initiatives aimed at broader systemic and institutional change.
Job Requirements
Education: Law degree from an American Bar Association accredited law school and member in good standing of the New York State Bar are required.
Travel: Regular travel within the five boroughs; occasional travel outside New York City, including to Albany, NY.
Compensation and Benefits
Salary is competitive and commensurate with experience. The salary range for this role is $200,000 - $240,000 with a generous benefits package
Contact
DSG | Koya has been exclusively retained for this engagement, which is being led by Molly Brennan and Corina Benitz. Express interest in this role by filling out our Talent Profile or emailing the search team directly at [email protected]. All inquiries and discussions are strictly confidential.
DSG | Koya is committed to providing reasonable accommodation to individuals living with disabilities. If you are a qualified individual living with a disability and need assistance expressing interest online, please email [email protected]. If you are selected for an interview, you will receive additional information regarding how to request an accommodation for the interview process.
LSNYC is an equal opportunity employer and an organization committed to race, gender, and economic justice in our work and within our workplace. Staff are members of the LSSA/NOLSW UAW Local 2320. We welcome and encourage applications from candidates of color, women, people with disabilities, gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people.
About DSG | Koya
DSG | Koya, a DSG Global company, is the nation’s premier search firm dedicated to mission-driven leadership. Since its founding in 2004, DSG | Koya has had an exclusive focus on mission-driven clients and was founded on the belief that the right leader can transform an organization and have a deep and measurable impact on our world. DSG | Koya works with nonprofits & NGOs, responsible businesses, and social enterprises in local communities and around the world.
DSG Global is consistently recognized by Forbes on its top 10 list of “America’s Best Executive Recruiting Firms” and is an industry leader in recruiting transformational leaders for a changing world. The firm is deliberately different in its approach, with best-in-class teams who have decades of experience in cultivating inclusive leaders, understanding the dimensions of diversity, and building equitable teams.
Learn more about DSG | Koya via the firm's website.