Paralegal Jobs

Medical-Legal Partnership Paralegal

Neighborhood Legal Services, Inc, (“NLS”) the largest provider of free civil legal services in Western New York, is seeking to hire a paralegal to join our Medical-Legal Partnership (“MLP”) program, a cutting-edge model of legal service delivery spanning all of NLS’ substantive practice areas through a lens of individual and public health.

NLS, a trauma-informed workplace, has partnered with multiple local community healthcare providers to deliver wraparound civil legal services to underserved communities. Our MLP work aims to improve health outcomes for low-income members of our community by providing legal solutions to health-harming legal needs. Our clients include people living with low incomes, disabilities, members of the LGBTQ+ community, and people experiencing homelessness. The paralegal selected for this position will have the unique opportunity to gain experience across multiple practice areas.

As an MLP Neighborhood Legal Services paralegal you will have the opportunity to do the following:

• Establish and maintain partner referral networks: Help establish and/or maintain NLS’ onsite presence with one of our partner providers, coordinate with our provider partners to assure effective referrals and holistic service delivery and to identify systemic problems that affect our clients’ rights and address these challenges;
• Legal services work: Provide support to and assist MLP attorneys on a spectrum of legal assistance in a wide-range of civil legal matters, including areas such as housing, family, public benefits, health insurance, Social Security, basic estate/life planning work, and advocacy on behalf of the LGBTQ+ community;
• Training: Conduct community outreach, education and training for and with our provider partners; and

Core Competencies:

• Cultural humility in working with low‐income clients across the spectrum of diversity, including race, ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation, socio‐economic status, immigrant status, religious identity, physical and mental disabilities, and limited English proficiency; and
• Excellent writing, editing, and proof‐reading skills;
• Strong personal work ethic and ability to organize time, manage diverse activities, and meet critical deadlines with supervision;
• Strong interpersonal skills and an ability to work collaboratively with a dynamic and multi‐sector team;
• Familiarity with diverse communities.
• Curious and self‐directed with an ability to anticipate client and healthcare partner needs;

Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree, or Associate degree in Paralegal Studies, with 0-3 years of experience preferred;
• Ability to organize and meet deadlines with supervision, effective communication; and
• Strong personal work ethic, interpersonal skills, ability to work collaboratively with a dynamic team;
• Cultural competency to work with clients challenged by poverty across the spectrum of diversity.