Litigation Assistant

Department: Family Defense Practice

Location: Harlem

Reports To: Discovery Supervisor

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.

The Family Defense Practice at NDS represents parents in family policing cases (sometimes called “child welfare” cases) filed by the Administration for Children’s Services (ACS) in Manhattan and the Bronx as well as related family court cases, including custody, visitation, and termination of parental rights proceedings. Through our holistic approach to representation, the Family Defense Practice provides parents with the help they need—both inside and outside of court—to keep their families safe and stable. Parents are represented not only by a high-quality attorney, but also social workers, administrative staff, and client advocates. NDS is committed to advancing due process rights for parents by fighting unwarranted state intervention in their lives and advocating for related systemic change.

Core Purpose of the Role:

The litigation assistant is an essential part of a client’s interdisciplinary team and will work closely with attorneys, social workers, and client advocates during the pendency of Article 10 and related family court and administrative cases.

• Provide excellent assistance to the legal defense team with energy, enthusiasm and a commitment to striving for client-centered holistic advocacy throughout the case;
• Assist with all aspects of Article 10, Statewide Central Register, and related custody, visitation, guardianship, paternity, termination of parental rights and other cases;
• Staff intake in court regularly, as assigned, and assist the legal team with emergency hearings;
• Work under high pressure in an atmosphere of frequent emergencies and tight deadlines;
• Engage with clients through telephone contact, in person meetings, and court appearances;
• Maintain thorough and accurate records and client files by timely saving documents in NDS’s cloud server and entering notes and other data into NDS’s case management system
• Prepare, file and serve legal papers and subpoenas and draft legal correspondence in collaboration with attorneys;
• Catalogue, organize and review discovery, i.e., medical records, investigation notes, videos, photographs, etc.;
• Prepare trial binders and organize exhibits for hearings and trials;
• Participate in limited investigative work such as identifying and interviewing witnesses, taking photographs and videos, and obtaining documents and other reports;
• Communicate with court staff, treatment providers, records departments;
• Attend in person mitigation and cross-practice team conferences, staff meetings, trainings, and select community intake days, with the expectation of in-person work at least two days per week;
• Assist practice and cross-practice committees to promote NDS’ holistic representation model;
• Assist Early Defense team with intake as needed. Provide logistical and administrative support to attorneys and non-attorney advocates;

Required

• Applicants must possess:
  • Bachelor’s degree or two years of related administrative experience
  • Excellent interpersonal, analytical, writing, and communication skills
  • Ability to work cooperatively in a team setting
    Strong organizational skills in order to work independently, think creatively, and triage to manage a high caseload and multi-task in a very fast-paced environment
  • A demonstrated commitment to parents’ rights, indigent defense, social justice issues and/or the Bronx or Harlem communities
  • Ability to learn new skills and willingness to be coached and trained
  • Openness and ability to adapt and respond to changes in the environment
  • Energy, enthusiasm and ingenuity to gather and develop information from a broad spectrum of sources, ranging from community residents to City agencies
  • Proficiency with online platforms such as Microsoft 365/Microsoft Teams/Microsoft Office Suite
• Must be willing to work in-person in Harlem and/or family court satellite offices in Lower Manhattan or the South Bronx
• Must be willing to work shifts before or after court holidays

Preferred

• Lived experience with family court, the family policing system, and/or other systems impacting NDS’ clients strongly preferred
• Bilingual Spanish/English candidates preferred
• Experience using Westlaw or other legal research tools preferred
• Experience using a case or data management system preferred
• Experience with Egnyte, NYS Criminal Inquiry System, UCMS, E-Courts/WebFamily, defenderDATA a plus

How to Apply:

Interested applicants should submit a cover letter, resume, and writing sample in a single PDF 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.