Staff Attorney

PURPOSE. DIGNITY. ACTION.

Staff Attorney

(LEAD: Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion/Let Everyone Advance with Dignity)

PURPOSE. DIGNITY. ACTION. (PDA)

PDA strives to build robust support for non-punitive, community-based solutions to many public safety issues. With neighborhood and public partners and in partnership with community members actively seeking to move past experiences of harm and injury, we design and deliver widely supported initiatives that promote safety, restoration, and racial equity.

Who We Are

Formed in 1969 as The Defender Association to provide high-quality legal defense for civil rights activists in Seattle, in 2013 we began to concentrate exclusively on alternative public safety models, when King County created an in-house public defense program. PDA remained independent to carry on the work of our Racial Disparity Project, which had helped to design LEAD, the nation’s first pre-booking diversion model for drug-related offenses. In 2021, we adopted a Co-Executive Director structure, recognizing the value of power-sharing, multiple voices, and perspectives at the leadership level. Our multicultural team of lawyers, organizers, project managers, social workers, direct service providers, and administrative staff blends professional and technical skills with lived experience of the systems we’re working to change.

Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion/Let Everyone Advance with Dignity (LEAD) Background

LEAD enhances public safety, health, and equity by building new systems to divert people with unmet needs related to behavioral health or extreme poverty into non-punitive, collaborative, community-based systems of response and care. Individuals approved for LEAD receive access to harm reduction-based intensive case management. Working with their case managers, participants develop an individualized plan identifying the types of services most relevant for them, including, but not limited to housing, employment, legal issues, family reconnection, reducing drug use/access to medication treatment, mental healthcare, and other physical healthcare needs. Law enforcement or the community can refer individuals to LEAD. PDA is the project manager for the flagship LEAD program in Seattle-King County, and provides technical support for jurisdictions nationally and internationally that want to replicate LEAD through our LEAD Support Bureau.

Position Description:

The Staff Attorney will offer trauma-informed legal services to clients in the LEAD and CoLEAD programs, all of whom were referred and approved for program participation because of their exposure to enforcement and legal system sanctions. LEAD and CoLEAD are pre-booking community-based alternatives (not court-based). Participants tend to have a wide array of longstanding barriers and obstacles that need to be addressed to improve chances of stabilization, recovery and thriving; the effort to tackle many of these obstacles benefits from help from legal counsel.

The attorney will provide representation across a wide range of participants’ legal needs. Common practice areas include eviction, immigration, family and dependency law, public benefits issues, debt relief, warrant quash assistance, and post-conviction relief. However, the legal practice is defined by its varied scope rather than a single focus area. Due to the varied scope, the position will require the Staff Attorney to learn new areas of law to provide direct representation, or connect clients to existing legal aid providers in the community.

LEAD clients face a variety of challenges, including homelessness, mental illness, and substance use, that can complicate their ability to engage with legal services. Legal services will be provided through the principles of harm-reduction—meeting clients where they are in a way that is responsive to their specific needs. The attorney will work closely with client case managers at the LEAD direct service provider agencies (presently, Evergreen Treatment Services REACH Program, Community Passageways, and Downtown Emergency Service Center’s (DESC) Community Outreach and Advocacy Team (COAT)), and case managers with PDA’s lodging-based CoLEAD program, to ensure that the legal representation plan aligns with the client’s broader social service goals.

The Staff Attorney may be part of PDA’s broader work of advancing criminal legal system reform to address racial disparities in the criminal legal system. This work may be done using policy advocacy, impact litigation, and/or legal representation, and limited lobbying.

The Staff Attorney will work on a team of four attorneys and two paralegals.

Essential Job Qualifications:

Education:

• J.D.

Licensure:

• Member, in good-standing, of the Washington State Bar Association (WSBA); or ability to quickly obtain APR 8(c) admission, with full WSBA admission by May 2026.

Experience:

• Combination of criminal and civil practice experience desired; experience specifically with immigration, housing, or family matters preferred.

Knowledge and Skills:

• Exceptional legal representation, research, oral and written advocacy skills;
• Demonstrated capacity for flexibility, creativity, and innovation, as well as the ability to work on tight and sometimes unpredictable timelines;
• The ability to issue spot, independently and efficiently learn new legal practice areas, and offer representation with a high level of competence;
• Demonstrated cultural competence and sensitivity in working with diverse clients, communities, and colleagues;
• Experience providing legal services to individuals who have difficulty consistently engaging in their own representation, including those with mental illness, substance use disorder, and other disabilities;
• Demonstrated commitment to partnership with non-attorney colleagues, with strong conflict management skills and the ability to tactfully engage with external partners

Location

The PDA Office is in Seattle, WA. Although the office remains open for necessary in-person work, staff currently work largely remotely. In-person work will be required as necessary to provide legal services. Travel within Washington may be required. In the future, PDA may adopt a hybrid model, where staff will work from home and from the office, as needed. At present, however, legal staff work primarily remotely.

Benefits include:

• 401k match of up to 4% of salary, beginning after six months of employment
• Annual, 2% of salary, profit sharing contribution to 401k, provided in most years
• Generous medical and dental benefits for employees and family members
• Flexible Spending Agreement for both medical and dependent care needs
• 15 days vacation per year, increasing annually up to 20 days vacation per year, after 5 years
• 12 personal/sick days annually;
• Monthly $50 employer cell phone contribution if required by position

This is a Fair Labor Standards Act exempt, at-will position; continuation in the position depends on both performance and funding.

Equal Opportunity Employer

PDA is committed to a policy of equal opportunity and fosters an environment free of barriers and discriminatory practices. PDA actively promotes mutual respect, acceptance, teamwork, and productivity. PDA is committed to maintaining an organization whose staff, Board, and clients are diverse in background, experience, race, color, national origin, gender, age, religious affiliation, marital status, sexual identity, sensory, mental or physical abilities, veteran status, and other qualities that strengthen the program while reinforcing its commitment to basic fairness. People of color, those directly impacted by the criminal justice system, people who identify as queer, trans, lesbian, gay, or bisexual, and those with disabilities are strongly encouraged to apply. Individuals needing a reasonable accommodation for the application or interview process should contact Jajah Wu (she/her pronouns) at Jajah.wu@wearepda.org or 206-771-2057.

How to Apply

The position will remain open until filled. Applications will be accepted and reviewed on a rolling basis. Please submit the following to Tammy Fales (she/her pronouns) at tammy.fales@wearepda.org:

• Letter of interest.
• Resumé.
• One legal writing sample, no more than 10 pages, unedited by others.
• Names and contact information for three references.