Legal Director

### The Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF)

The Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF), founded in 1974, is a national New York-based nonprofit organization that protects and promotes the civil rights of Asian Americans through litigation, advocacy, organizing, and community education.

The Legal Director is a seasoned litigator and organizational leader who will creatively and collaboratively establish and implement program objectives. Responsible for supervising all legal staff, the Legal Director manages the strategic direction for AALDEF’s legal services, impact litigation, and legal advocacy. Additionally, the Legal Director plays a pivotal role in spearheading our community lawyering model. This position reports to the Executive Director.

### Responsibilities

– Supervise all legal staff, providing guidance, support, and oversight to ensure high-quality legal services and effective team collaboration.
– Set priorities and identify cases/projects focused on those most marginalized in the Asian American community and in collaboration with grassroots groups.
– Lead and develop innovative legal docket that addresses core civil rights matters and nimbly responds to emerging issues in the community.
– Serve as counsel in key cases across program areas to advance AALDEF’s legal and advocacy goals.
– Balance services across practice areas and develop plan for potential growth.
– Lead strategic visioning for the legal department and help lead organization-wide visioning.
– Build, manage, and inspire a cohesive legal team that strives for excellence.
– Manage and supervise legal staff across different practice areas: anti-Asian violence, economic justice, immigrant rights, educational equity, housing and environmental justice, and voting rights and democracy.
– Oversee administrative systems for the legal department.
– Foster a healthy, sustainable, creative, innovative, collaborative, and results-oriented work environment.
– Collaborate with the senior leadership team to ensure communication and cooperation across departments.
– Promote AALDEF and engage in public relations, training and education and fundraising activities; build and maintain key relationships and partnerships; and help develop and carry out pro bono strategies.

### Minimum Qualifications

– Proven legal strategist with expertise leading and developing litigation, legal services, and legal advocacy strategies.
– Minimum 7 years of civil litigation experience with an excellent track record.
– Minimum 3 to 5 years of experience supervising attorneys and legal staff, with 1 to 3 years of organizational development and management experience.
– Experience with public speaking, developing training curricula, and providing training to diverse audiences.
– Excellent writing, communication, organizational, and interpersonal skills.
– Highly organized, solution-oriented, and can work independently and in collaboration with others, whether in our office or remotely.
– Licensed to practice law in the State of New York.

### Preferred Qualifications

– Commitment to social justice and advancing anti-racism in a work setting.
– Track record of providing legal services to Asian American communities.
– Familiarity with Asian American communities and issues.
– Ability to speak an Asian language helpful, but not required.
– Commitment to community lawyering.

### Compensation

Salary range is $195,000 – $225,000.

### To Apply

Please send cover letter; resume; names of five references, including two people you have supervised; and two writing samples to:
Jennifer Weng, AALDEF, 99 Hudson Street, 12th Floor, New York, NY 10013-2815
[email protected] (for email, insert “Legal Director” in subject line)