Law Clerk

Job Description

About Company

Mission Action, formerly known as Dolores Community Services, is a multi-issue, multi-strategy organization dedicated to nurturing individual wellness and cultivating collective power among low-income and immigrant communities to create a more just society. They work to improve lives individually and affect broader social change through advocacy and community organizing. The organization’s programs address critical issues such as homelessness, lack of affordable housing, and immigrant rights, aiming to meet complex community needs and collectively address the root causes of suffering and injustice.

Since 2008, Mission Action’s Deportation Defense & Legal Advocacy Program has been a leading local provider of pro bono legal defense for individuals and families facing deportation. The program employs creative legal and advocacy strategies to challenge prolonged detention, constitutional violations, and other injustices within the immigration legal system. They represent individuals threatened with deportation by challenging charges of removability and through applications for various forms of relief, including:
• Asylum
• Withholding of Removal
• Relief under the Convention Against Torture
• Waivers of Inadmissibility and Deportability
• U-visa, T-Visa, and VAWA relief

The program strives to connect its individual casework to broader movements for immigrants’ rights, racial justice, and abolition, and is guided by the communities they serve. Mission Action describes itself as a caring and supportive team that values sustainability and wellness in its challenging work.

Mission Action is an equal-opportunity employer that highly values lived experience and actively seeks applicants from diverse backgrounds. They particularly encourage people of color, women, older people, members of the LGBTQ community, individuals with disabilities (including HIV), and community members who grew up in the Mission District to apply. Pursuant to the SF Fair Chance Ordinance, qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records will be considered for employment.

Job Description: Law Clerk – Deportation Defense and Legal Advocacy Program

This position is for a Law Clerk within Mission Action’s Deportation Defense and Legal Advocacy Program for Summer 2025.

Compensation:
• No monetary compensation is provided.
• Mission Action will help sponsor students for third-party scholarship opportunities and/or academic credit.

Schedule:
• Flexible.
• Full-time is strongly preferred.

Starting Date & Commitment:
• Flexible starting date.
• A 10-week commitment is strongly preferred.

Application Process:
• Applications are accepted on a rolling basis until the position is filled.
• To apply, visit https://dscs.isolvedhire.com/jobs/ and submit the following:
• Cover Letter
• Resume
• Three References
• Writing Sample

Position Summary:
Under the supervision of attorneys, the law clerk will work on a variety of cases, representing both detained and non-detained clients in their removal proceedings.

Responsibilities May Include:
• Assisting attorneys in providing full-scope representation to individuals facing removal before the Immigration Court, the U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS), the Board of Immigration Appeals, and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
• Conducting intake with potential clients, screening for potential claims for relief.
• Appearing in immigration court proceedings.
• Participating in agency meetings, community activities, and trainings.
• Working on public campaigns on behalf of individual clients or urgent issues impacting immigrant communities.
• Engaging in outreach and education in the area of immigrants’ rights.

Qualifications:
• Must be a current law student.
• 2L applicants are preferred, but exceptionally qualified 1Ls will be considered.
• Demonstrated passion for immigrants’ rights and abolishing immigration detention.
• Relevant experience in immigration law and/or direct services.
• Demonstrated commitment to immigrants’ rights and community empowerment.
• Advanced Spanish language skills are required.
• Ability to work effectively with clients who are survivors of trauma, suffer from mental illness, and/or have had contact with the criminal justice system.
• Strong organizational, problem-solving, and analytical skills.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills.
• Ability to work both as part of a team and independently to manage multiple tasks and prioritize workflow.
• Commitment to providing culturally humble services.