POSITION: Farmworker Legal Services (FLS) is seeking a bilingual (Spanish/English) staff attorney to join its dynamic and committed team working directly with migrant and seasonal agricultural workers and community groups to provide civil legal services to migrant and seasonal agricultural workers throughout Michigan. The position will have an emphasis on farmworkers’ trafficking and employment cases—such as filing administrative, state, and federal complaints related to wage theft, trafficking, discrimination, sexual harassment, housing, workplace health and safety, and exploitative schemes involving the H-2A visa program—and will include significant collaboration with local and national community partners engaged in anti-trafficking and farmworker advocacy. This position is union supported and based out of our Kalamazoo, Grand Rapids, or Ypsilanti (Ann Arbor area) office with a flexible remote work schedule option.
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS:
- Applicants must be licensed to practice law in Michigan, qualify to be admitted by waiver, or able to take the next available bar exam in Michigan;
- have lived or mission-aligned work experience or a demonstrated commitment to advocating in low-income or immigrant communities;
- be willing to occasionally work a flexible schedule that may include travel and evening or weekend outreach;
- have demonstrated success working effectively in teams with diverse identities;
- possess excellent communication, analytical, and problem-solving skills; and
- be committed to social, racial, and economic justice and FLS’s mission.
PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS:
- Priority will be given to applicants who have experience litigating at state or federal levels;
- working knowledge in employment and labor law, farmworker advocacy, or legal services;
- Spanish and English communication skills;
- proficiency in Haitian Creole or indigenous languages native to Mexico or Central America;
- familiarity with or interest in learning immigration laws and labor-based immigration relief (such as deferred action, U-Visas, T-Visas, and H-2 visas), farmworker advocacy, or legal services;
- demonstrated success working effectively in teams and independently to meet multiple deadlines; and
- possess excellent communication, analytical, and problem-solving skills.
DESCRIPTION OF PROGRAM: Farmworker Legal Services (FLS) is a growing and nationally recognized non-profit law office and the statewide division of the Michigan Advocacy Program (MAP) that fights for justice and dignity alongside the farmworker community through our systemic, multi-forum legal advocacy, community engagement, and direct legal representation of farmworkers in their civil legal matters. FLS currently has 7 permanent staff and 7 summer seasonal advocates based out of our Kalamazoo, Grand Rapids, and Ypsilanti (Ann Arbor area) offices. FLS provides a full range of civil legal services to Michigan’s eligible population of migrant and seasonal farmworkers and their dependents and prioritize cases including wage theft, trafficking, discrimination, sexual harassment, workplace health and safety, housing, civil rights, and labor-based immigration relief.
MAP works to advance the safety, independence, and economic stability of those most affected by poverty, racism, and other structurally oppressive systems by increasing access to justice and working for systemic solutions. MAP has provided civil legal aid for those unable to afford an attorney for more than 50 years, serving 13 counties through five legal aid offices and managing 6 statewide programs that serve farmworkers (Farmworker Legal Services), immigrant communities (Michigan Immigrant Rights Center), vulnerable older adults (Michigan Elder Justice Initiative), victims of domestic violence and elder abuse (Crime Victims Legal Assistance Program), legal aid advocates through research and training support (Michigan Poverty Law Program), and self-represented litigants (Michigan Legal Help Program). MAP has a staff of about 220 people in offices in Battle Creek, Detroit, Jackson, Kalamazoo, Lansing, Grand Rapids, Monroe, and Ypsilanti. Visit www.miadvocacy.org and www.farmworkerlaw.org for more information.
BENEFITS: Starting 2025 salary is $63,672 based on years of relevant experience. MAP offers a generous benefits package, including life, short and long term disability, health, vision, dental, fully funded deductibles, and flexible spending accounts. If an applicant does not require health benefits, they can take an annual $1,500 payout in addition to the base salary paid over the year. MAP also has a generous leave policy allowing staff to accrue over 3 weeks paid leave the first year and 15 paid holidays, as well as a 401K retirement plan, including employer-match for eligible staff after 6 months of employment. MAP is a qualifying employer for Public Service Loan Forgiveness and the position includes LRAP (Loan Repayment Assistance Program) eligibility. MAP is a unionized program. Kalamazoo is a college town in southwest Michigan with its own airport and is located 35 miles east of Lake Michigan, 50 miles from Grand Rapids, 2 hours from Chicago and Detroit. Kalamazoo also offers the Kalamazoo Promise (an independent scholarship program that provides students who graduate from Kalamazoo Public Schools up to up to 100% tuition for post-secondary education).
TO APPLY: Please complete this application and submit your resume and cover letter describing your level of Spanish competency and how your personal background or experiences have prepared you to work effectively alongside diverse colleagues and the farmworker community. You can also access the application by copying and pasting the following web address into your browser: https://miadvocacy.bamboohr.com/careers/165. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis until the position is filled.
The Michigan Advocacy Program is an equal opportunity employer, committed to diversity and inclusion in the workplace.
Updated: 12/05/2024