Overview
Supervising Attorney
Oakland, CA
About LSPC
Legal Services for Prisoners with Children (LSPC) is a nonprofit legal organization that fights for the human rights and liberation of incarcerated and formerly incarcerated people. We build community power through legal advocacy, policy advocacy, community organizing, and leadership development. Our work is grounded in an abolitionist framework and a commitment to racial and gender justice. Learn more at prisonerswithchildren.org.
About the Role
The Supervising Attorney, reporting to our Advocacy Director, will work with a team of attorneys, policy advocates, community organizers and directly impacted people and their families to directly advance civil legal services in California — in furtherance of LSPC’s mission to:
- Release people from jails and prisons
- Restore civil and human rights
- Reunify families and communities impacted by mass incarceration
As an IOLTA-funded legal support center, LSPC’s primary purpose is the advancement of civil legal services for indigent Californians. Our focus is on the civil rights and civil needs of currently and formerly incarcerated and convicted people, with a current focus on fair chance employment and occupational licensing, sentencing reform (adults and youth), ending predatory collection practices of court-ordered debt, protecting family unity and upending the family policing system, ending involuntary servitude, and advancing fair chance housing, disability justice, and climate justice for incarcerated people.
What you’ll do:
As LSPC’s Supervising Attorney, you will provide vision, leadership, and oversight for our legal support center functions in service of formerly incarcerated, incarcerated, and convicted people and their families. Reporting to the Advocacy Director, you will supervise attorneys and fellows, ensure high-quality legal support services statewide, and help shape the organization’s legal strategy and priorities. Your key responsibilities will include:
- Supervision, Leadership and Professional Development:
- Supervise, mentor, and support 2–3 Staff Attorneys, as well as post-graduate legal fellows, law clerks, and interns, ensuring alignment with LSPC’s mission and program priorities.
- Lead onboarding, work planning, and performance feedback processes for legal team members.
- Foster a collaborative, growth-oriented environment that supports professional development, cultural humility, and systems-impacted leadership within the legal team.
- Provide ongoing coaching and constructive feedback to strengthen legal analysis, writing, advocacy, and relationship-building skills.
- Convene and facilitate regular team meetings to ensure coordination, shared learning, and strategic alignment across all areas of legal work.
- Model LSPC’s abolitionist, systems-impacted-led approach in all aspects of supervision, partnership, and external representation.
- Contribute to the overall strategic direction, culture, and sustainability of LSPC.
- Legal Support Center Oversight:
- Oversee the development and delivery of responsive, high-quality legal training, technical assistance, and advocacy support for civil legal services across California.
- Ensure that LSPC’s legal resources, trainings, and technical assistance anticipate emerging needs, reflect current law and practice, and advance the rights of formerly incarcerated, incarcerated, and convicted people and their families.
- Review and approve legal research, pleadings, sample motions, amicus briefs, and publications prepared by staff attorneys for quality, accuracy, and accessibility.
- Oversee the creation of legal manuals, guides, and resource materials.
- Lead the preparation and submission of annual State Bar / IOLTA Support Center reporting, ensuring compliance, accuracy, and strategic reflection of LSPC’s impact.
- Litigation:
- Provide strategic oversight and supervision of LSPC’s impact litigation, including amicus and co-counsel work, ensuring alignment with organizational priorities and movement goals.
- Guide and review case selection, legal theories, pleadings, and research to ensure high-quality, movement-oriented litigation support.
- Support collaboration between legal, policy, and organizing teams to advance advocacy goals through litigation and legal strategy.
- Serve as a thought partner to the Advocacy Director and Managing Director in identifying and pursuing litigation or advocacy opportunities that address systemic barriers and expand access to justice.
- Policy Advocacy Collaboration:
- Partner with LSPC’s policy and organizing teams to integrate legal research and analysis into legislative and administrative advocacy efforts.
- Oversee legal team contributions to bill drafting, regulatory analysis, agency comment letters, and other policy-related legal work.
- Review and approve legal input for coalition letters, testimony, and advocacy materials.
- Outreach, Networking and Partnerships:
- Represent LSPC as a leader in the statewide civil legal aid network, maintaining strong relationships with QLSPs, legal advocates, and community-based partners.
- Actively identify and engage in opportunities for collaboration and joint training with other support centers, movement lawyering networks, and advocacy coalitions.
- Conduct surveys, convenings, and networking activities to understand and respond to the needs of the legal aid community statewide.
- Collaborate with LSPC staff to amplify legal perspectives in public education, communications, and organizing spaces.
- Contribute to fundraising and grant reporting related to legal team activities.
What you bring:
Required Qualifications:
- At least 5 years of post-graduate legal experience. Experience with civil legal services strongly preferred.
- At least 3 years of experience supervising post-graduate fellows and/or attorneys.
- Strong legal research and writing abilities.
- Experience providing trainings and presentations.
- A track record of advancing opportunities for low-income and Black, Indigenous, and People of the Global Majority (BIPGM) communities, and individuals and families impacted by mass incarceration.
- Demonstrated experience and cultural humility uplifting BIPGM people.
- Ability to interact effectively and respectfully with a range of diverse stakeholders.
Preferred / Nice-to-Have:
- Financial / budget analysis experience.
- Public speaking and engagement with press and media.
- Comfort with Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint), Google applications (Docs, Sheets, Slides) as well as virtual meeting technology (e.g., Zoom), and quick learner with new tools and technologies.
Compensation & Benefits:
- Salary: $105,000-$115,000 annually (full-time exempt)
- Health & Wellness: 100% employer-paid health, dental, and vision insurance (including dependents), plus acupuncture and chiropractic coverage
- Time Off: Generous vacation, sick leave, and paid holidays, including an office closure at the end of the year
- Professional Growth: Opportunities for professional development and leadership training within a supportive, justice-driven team
Our Commitment to Equity
LSPC is committed to building a diverse and inclusive workplace and welcomes applicants of all backgrounds and identities. We are an equal opportunity employer to all, regardless of age, ancestry, association with a member of a protected class, color, disability (physical, intellectual/developmental, or mental health/psychiatric), gender identity or expression, genetic information or characteristic, marital status, medical condition (cancer or genetic characteristic), military and veteran status, national origin, pregnancy, childbirth, lactation, or related medical conditions, race (includes hairstyle and hair texture), religious creed (includes dress and grooming practices), reproductive health decision making, sex/gender, sexual orientation, and use of protected leave. We strongly encourage those with the unique contribution of candidates with lived experience as a formerly incarcerated and/or system impacted person to apply.
How to Apply
Please submit a cover letter and resume at prisonerswithchildren.bamboohr.com/careers. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis until the position is filled. Early applications are strongly encouraged.