Community Legal Services

Now Hiring: Public Interest Attorney position with the flexibility to work partially remote and part-time!                                        Community Legal Services of Philadelphia (CLS) is seeking a highly driven attorney to help support and advance exceptional legal representation for low-income Philadelphians. This new position of Legal Compliance Attorney will work closely with the Deputy Director of Legal Practice and focus on ensuring CLS practices and procedures support all advocates in meeting obligations to clients and meeting other compliance requirements. This role is important because it allows us to grow and evolve to support the emerging needs of our clients. As we innovate and find creative solutions to the legal problems our clients face, the person in this role will provide vital assistance to ensure we continue to provide effective legal services of the highest quality. The Legal Compliance Attorney will assist in the following types of projects: developing systems for certain practice, ethics, and compliance topics; presenting related trainings, resolving ethics questions; reviewing and managing potential professional liability issues; developing standards for and reviewing certain categories of minor and contracts that CLS has with consultants, researchers and occasionally vendors etc. This position will have the flexibility to be partially remote and could be part-time. Ideal candidates are licensed in PA, have an interest in supporting legal services work, and possess strong legal research, writing, problem-solving and communication skills. https://lnkd.in/ewfCJeFS

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver delved into the SSI disability process in their recent episode. CLS was proud to contribute research for the show, particularly around Social Security medical exams and the disability standard for sickle cell disease. We’re especially proud that Jen Burdick, Divisional Supervising Attorney in the SSI Unit, could provide information on the ins and outs of applying for SSI—and appears in the credits! Watch the episode here: https://lnkd.in/ekwZ_bXV

Huge congratulations to Professor Dorothy Roberts for being named a 2024 MacArthur Fellow! We are so grateful that she joined us on our podcast in 2022 to discuss the ways that the child welfare system was designed to punish the most disenfranchised communities instead of to protect children. Listen here: https://lnkd.in/eRS2U-qf Photo credit: John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. Image description: Professor Dorothy Roberts posing for a photo in front of trees with dark green leaves.

CLS’s HR Unit is now in full force! Yesterday, they gathered to welcome the new team members, take a group picture, and share a lunch. Later this month our new HR team will be participating in their first ever team retreat! It’s a great day in HR at CLS! Image description: Image 1: The five members of the HR team pose for a photo in front of a round window with pink paper hearts on it Image 2: The five members of the HR team pose for a photo in front of a CLS mural depicting a march.

Last week, our executive director, Destiny Garcia also attended the Criminal Record Advocacy Conference in Philadelphia. She participated in a panel to share best practices when working with people with lived experience, and was also invited to present on how we’re supporting individuals that self-navigate the expungement process in Utah.💪✨ It was an amazing opportunity to connect with advocates nationwide and strengthen our efforts in record clearance advocacy. Huge thanks to Community Legal Services of Philadelphia for hosting this impactful event! #RecordClearance #Advocacy #CriminalJusticeReform

At this past Pennsylvania Legal Aid Network, Inc. Statewide Conference NLS attorney Cathy Martin joined Community Legal Services and North Penn Legal Services attorneys Alfonso Madrid, John Byrd, and Monty Wilson for a presentation on bankruptcy titled "How to use Ch. 13 to Save Your Client's House".

CLS's Raegen Selden, as a parent advisor to the Automatic Benefit for Children Coalition, has been using her perspective as a parent to speak out in favor of a permanent Child Tax Credit (CTC), recently appearing on CBS, NPR, and other national media.   The Child Tax Credit is a step toward the goal of a guaranteed income for children, which would reduce poverty, advance racial and economic equity, improve child well-being, and help families afford the essentials that children need to thrive.   We need an accessible, regular, and meaningful child allowance for all children, no strings attached. https://lnkd.in/eWbwVFxj Image Description: Raegen Selden advocating for a permanent Child Tax Credit on CBS Evening News. The chyron says: "Harris and Trump both push for Child Tax Credit hike."

We’re so grateful to everyone who came to the 2024 Criminal Record Advocacy Conference last week. This was our first time hosting in Philadelphia, and we were thrilled to welcome people from 19 different states around the country! Criminal records advocacy is at the heart of much of what we do at CLS. So many people have been held back from jobs, housing, and opportunities for decades because of over policing and based on records that don't define who they are. It’s exciting to gather with people working to build momentum and ensure thousands of people with criminal records are no longer shut out of opportunity and can move forward in their lives. Thank you to our wonderful hosts, Ballard Spahr LLP, for sponsoring this event. Their generosity made this conference possible. Thank you also to Francis Mailman Soumilas, P.C. for sponsoring Friday's Lunch & Learn.

It was such an honor to be invited to speak at Community Legal Services Criminal Record Advocacy conference last week. I’m excited for the future of research in this area and glad that my colleagues and I could share what we’re learning in the field!

I appreciate the invitation from Brandon Wallace DeShields and Community Legal Services to participate in last week's Criminal Record Advocacy Conference. A lot of folk doing incredible, important work to create a pathway to a second chance for those burdened by the criminal legal system. Also, ht Laura E. Chavez, PhD and The Clean Slate Initiative for building a research base and for innovating policy in this space.