Legal Director, Mazzoni Center

Posted by on August 08, 2011

[emailed 7/23/11]

LEGAL DIRECTOR
Mazzoni Center

The legal director’s duties can be divided into four primary areas of responsibility: (1) legal clinic management and supervision of legal clinic staff, (2) direct legal representation, (3) grant writing and associated activities, and (4) publicity and community outreach. Below is a more detailed description of each of these broad areas of responsibility.

Management/ Supervision
Legal Clinic management includes all activities relating to the legal intake system, administration of programs affiliated with area law schools, and supervision and oversight of legal clinic staff and all legal product leaving the office.

Legal Intake System
The legal director oversees a legal intake system staffed by legal clinic advocates, consisting primarily of law students but also including a number of pro bono attorneys from Philadelphia area law firms. Of the approximately 600 intake calls received each year, the majority are received by telephone. The legal clinic advocates answer the phones and conduct the initial intake interview. After speaking with the caller, the clinic advocates meets with the legal director for an initial assessment and instructions for follow up. This initial assessment takes place for every intake request received by the legal clinic, with the exception of legal name change cases. The legal director continues to monitor the cases through four main mechanisms. First, each legal clinic advocate checks in with the legal director about the status of his or her cases at the beginning and end of each shift. Second, the legal director monitors the legal docket produced by CInDa, the in-house “client intake database” approximately once a week to ensure that all open intake matters are assigned to a clinic advocate. Third, the legal department has bi-weekly case review meetings at which each staff member discusses each of his or her assigned cases (including intake). Fourth, on a frequent basis throughout the day, the legal director inquires from the clinic advocates as to whether there have been any new telephone or email intakes.

Law School Programs & Supervision of Staff
The vast majority of legal clinic advocates are law students who devote ten (10) hours per week to the legal clinic. Prior to the beginning of each semester, the legal director contacts the law school administrators to discuss the possibility of hosting students for the upcoming semester. For one of our law school programs, the clinical course through Temple University, students register for the course one year in advance. The legal director prepares a course description and syllabus to submit for formalized programs, such as the externship program at the University of Pennsylvania and the clinical course at Temple University. Less formal relationships, such as the pro bono placement with the University of Pennsylvania, will require a
letter request only. Interviews are then conducted, as required by particular programs, or at students’ request. At the beginning of each semester, the legal director conducts three-hour orientation sessions for each law school program affiliated with the legal clinic that semester. For example, during the Fall semester, there will be an orientation for Temple students, who begin classes in late August, and another orientation for Penn students, who begin classes in late September.

During the semester, the legal director continues the process of administering the programs through local area law schools. The legal director teaches a bi-weekly class on substantive issues of LGBT law. In addition, the legal director completes a written mid-semester evaluation and a written final evaluation of each student within the legal clinic. After completing the evaluation forms, the legal director meets with each student to discuss the evaluation, and the student is asked to sign the evaluation form, and he or she is provided a copy. In addition, as indicated above, the legal director checks in with each student at the beginning and end of his or her assigned shift. Finally, the legal director maintains an “open door” policy so that legal clinic advocates are encouraged to approach the legal director at any time with questions or to request other assistance.

All legal work product which leaves the legal clinic must be reviewed and approved by the legal director. The legal director must sign off (initials and date) on all written correspondence to be transmitted by electronic mail, facsimile, United States mail, or other modes of delivery. The legal director also monitors all telephone conversations which take place within the legal clinic.

Supervision of Staff
The legal director is the direct supervisor for any staff attorney, law fellow, or legal clinic manager employed by Equality Advocates Pennsylvania. In coordination with the executive director, the legal director is also responsible for recruiting and interviewing legal clinic staff. Recruitment efforts may include drafting job announcements, reviewing resumes, and interviewing candidates. As appropriate, the legal director will complete necessary applications for legal fellowships, and multiple applications may need to be submitted for each potential fellow.

Direct Legal Representation
In addition to administrative and managerial duties, the legal director maintains a full case load and conducts all activities involved with direct legal representation. Such activities include the following: drafting all correspondence to clients and other counsel; drafting documents for filing with a court or administrative body; reviewing documents from opposing counsel; attending court and administrative hearings; communicating with clients, opposing counsel, and investigative bodies; and updating CInDa and client files with information regarding all of these activities.

The legal director also supervises the legal clinic advocates with respect to any work they perform on docketed cases within the legal clinic. The activities performed by the legal clinic advocates on docketed cases may include any of those activities described in the preceding paragraph.

The legal director also coordinates the efforts of cooperating counsel, including other agencies, on any individual direct representation case. This duty includes a number of conference calls to delegate task assignments and coordinate the activities of all co-counsel.

Financial Development
The legal director assists the development department in completing grant applications which fund the legal department. In addition, the legal director assists development in the preparation of grant reports and participates in on-site visits with grant administrators and makes presentation to grant administrators during a site visit.

Community Outreach
The legal director represents the organization at a number of public speaking engagements and other public outreach events. Such events include the following: Philadelphia Bar Association meetings of the Civil Rights Committee, Public Interest Section, Delivery of Legal Services Committee, and Pro Bono Subcommittee; legal symposia; table events, public interest job fairs, and Pride festivals; workshops and “know your rights” presentations targeted at the LGBT community; and teaching activities such as guest lecturer assignments at Rutgers Law School and name change course taught through the William Way Community Center. In addition, the legal director is responsible for media outreach on behalf of the legal clinic. To fulfill this responsibility, the legal director drafts articles for publication in legal newspapers and magazines, assists in drafts “alerts” for the organization’s web page, drafts press releases, and responds to press calls and other media inquiries. Finally, the legal director collaborates with other agencies on a number of different advocacy efforts relating to LGBTQ youth, elders, and families. Agencies with which the legal department have consulted or collaborated include the ACLU of Pennsylvania, the Support Center for Child Advocates, the Juvenile Law Center, and the Senior Law Center.

Legal Advisory Board
Mazzoni Center has convened a legal advisory board comprised of legal experts in various areas of law to assist the legal director and provide resources when necessary. The legal director is responsible for communication with the advisory board; the convening of quarterly meetings; setting the agenda; and conducting follow-up on any issues raised during meetings.

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