Senior Attorney, Legal Training

About KIND 

Kids in Need of Defense (KIND) is a global leader in the protection of unaccompanied and separated children who are forcibly displaced from their countries of origin. Launched in 2008, KIND champions a world in which every child’s rights and well-being are protected throughout their journey to safety. 

Building on its extensive programming and successful model in the United States, KIND is expanding in the Americas and Europe to bring its experience to bear in working with unaccompanied and separated children. Our work focuses on addressing the legal and mental health needs of this population; building strong partnerships and engaging in training and capacity strengthening with governments, NGOs, and the private sector; and advocating for systemic and pragmatic reforms to advance the rights of unaccompanied and separated children.

Position Summary

KIND seeks a Senior Attorney, Legal Training to join its Training and Technical Assistance team within the organization’s Global Partnerships, Capacity Strengthening and Training department.  The Training and Technical Assistance team is a multi-disciplinary team comprised of legal and psychosocial service professionals that work together to provide holistic, trauma informed, culturally responsive training and technical assistance on unaccompanied children’s cases.  The incumbent will contribute to the development and implementation of a training and technical assistance program for legal professionals representing and assisting unaccompanied children released from U.S. federal custody. The Senior Attorney, Legal Training will develop and deliver content for training and technical assistance to legal professionals providing services to unaccompanied children. The incumbent will also contribute to the development of materials explaining legal processes, rights, and responsibilities to unaccompanied children and their caregivers. 

The Senior Attorney, Legal Training reports to Director, Legal Training or Managing Attorney, Training and Technical Assistance.

This is a remote position based from any location in the U.S. 

This position is contingent upon continued funding.

• Provide Legal Technical Assistance

• Drafts legal practice guides, toolkits, infographics, checklists, sample filings, quick tip sheets, and other materials. 
• Ensures materials comply with KIND’s style guide.
• Drafts, updates, and revises materials for use in an external portal for KIND partners.
• Monitors legal developments and policy changes impacting the representation of unaccompanied children, contribute to regular written updates regarding such developments, and create advisory tools in response to changes. 
• Drafts simple information for unaccompanied children and/or parents. 
• Provides expert legal technical assistance to legal professionals providing services to unaccompanied children by:
• Leading and/or participating in group technical assistance activities for KIND’s staff or partners, such as group office hours, thematic round tables, or similar.
• Responding directly to questions, connecting individuals to resources and others with expertise, and facilitating contact with outside experts as needed.
• Identifying common trends or issues to inform the development of technical assistance resources and trainings.
• Working with Psychosocial Training staff to ensure holistic, trauma informed, child centered, and culturally responsive approach.
• Tracks existing and/or new resources as they become available for practitioners representing unaccompanied children to maximize access to robust resources.
• Assists with optimizing the organization, accessibility, and integration of KIND’s legal technical assistance resources within organization-wide platforms.

• Train Legal Professionals 

• In collaboration with KIND’s Psychosocial Training team members, develops content to train  KIND staff and partners on a range of topics necessary to provide high quality, trauma informed and culturally responsive representation to unaccompanied children, such as asylum, special immigrant juvenile status, representing children in removal proceedings and before the asylum office, the intersection of immigration and the child welfare system, and more. 
• Presents legal trainings to individuals providing services to unaccompanied children, including in-person presentations, mock hearings, and online/webinar presentations.
• Drafts scripts for video trainings and record training videos for working with and representing unaccompanied children.
• In coordination with other Legal Training team members, researches training needs, monitors developments in effective adult and professional education practices, and develops effective training modes to reach the target audience of practitioners.

• Other Duties

• Collects and/or enters data to support monitoring and evaluation plans and use monitoring and evaluation tools selected by KIND. 
• Edits training and technical assistance materials.
• Participates in training for other stakeholders as needed.
• Represents KIND at conferences, panels, and other meetings and public speaking events.
• Other duties as assigned. 

• J.D. and admitted to local state bar.
• Minimum of 5 years of experience practicing immigration law.
• Minimum of 3 years of experience working with children, preferably immigrant and refugee children, and/or working with survivors of abuse, human trafficking, or other trauma.
• Expertise in humanitarian immigration legal claims, including Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS), asylum, T and U visa claims, on behalf of children.
• Knowledge of and experience working with ORR and its stakeholders.
• Experience and understanding of the domestic state child welfare system in any U.S. state.
• Experience formulating and presenting trainings and legal guidance and providing technical assistance on immigration law, policy, and procedure to lawyers, paralegals and others.
• Experience working with a range of legal practitioners. experience with law firm or in-house corporate practitioners preferred.
• Exceptional written and oral communication skills, including both formal (litigation, regulatory) and more directly interpersonal (training, mentoring) formats.
• Willing and able to travel occasionally to KIND U.S.  field offices or other locations within the United States.
• Working knowledge of Microsoft Office Suite (such as Teams, Excel, etc.).
• Ability to work collaboratively and multi-task in our KIND environment, managing numerous priorities and emerging opportunities.
• Excellent organizational skills with the ability to work on multiple projects in a deadline-oriented environment. ability to prioritize tasks and delegate as appropriate.
• Ability to work effectively with people of diverse backgrounds, lived experiences, and communication styles.
• Demonstrate discipline and adaptability to effectively deliver on our core mission of ensuring access to justice and safeguarding children’s well-being and rights.
• Ability to multitask and work with a sense of urgency in a dynamic, fast-paced environment.
• Committed to practicing and supporting wellbeing and a work-home life balance. 
• Experience working and communicating in a remote environment preferred but not required. 

Our Benefits

- Medical, dental, and vision insurance with KIND paying 100% of the employee only portion of the premium for one of the three medical plan options, dental, and vision. 

- Pre-tax flexible spending account (FSA) for both medical and dependent care.  

- Pre-tax transit and parking spending account.  

- Employer-paid life insurance and accidental death and dismemberment insurance.  

- Employer-paid short and long-term disability insurance.  

For a complete list of benefits, please click here. 

Our Focus on Wellness

KIND recognizes that our ability to help our clients starts with helping our team members. KIND has prioritized wellness for employees through Mindfulness and Wellness Trainings, Wellness Platforms, Employee Assistance and Resilience Programs, Time Away and Office Wellness Activities. 

For more information regarding our Wellness initiatives please visit this link.  

Application Instructions

To be considered for this role, please submit an employment application at supportkind.org/join-the-team, along with your resume and cover letter.

Disclaimer: KIND is committed to an ethical recruitment and hiring process and maintains a firm “no fees” recruitment policy. We will never charge a fee or ask for money as part of the application process. KIND also conducts all interviews via telephone or video conference, and at no time will KIND engage in a text or mobile app-based application or interview process. For more information, please visit the following website: https://supportkind.org/join-the-team/kind-employment-practices/.