Attorney in Charge - YAD Quincy

Overview

The Youth Advocacy Division of the Committee for Public Counsel Services (CPCS), the Massachusetts public defender agency, is seeking to an experienced juvenile defender to fill the Attorney in Charge position in its Quincy Office.

 

DIVISION OVERVIEW

 

The Youth Advocacy Division (YAD), the juvenile defender division of CPCS, is committed to ensuring that every indigent child in Massachusetts has access to zealous legal representation in delinquency, GCL Revocation, juvenile murder, juvenile appeals, and youthful offender cases from a diverse and ever improving community of juvenile defenders consisting of both private assigned counsel and staff public defenders. YAD provides leadership, training, support, and oversight to the indigent juvenile defense bar in Massachusetts. 

 

OFFICE OVERVIEW

 

Quincy is a city in Norfolk County with apopulation of just over 100,000, making it the seventh-largest city in the state.  Known as the "City of Presidents,Quincy is the birthplace of two U.S. presidents: John Adams andhis son John Quincy Adams,as well as John Hancock. For more than a century, Quincy was home to a thriving granite industry and ship buildingwas another key part of the city's economy.  Additionally,Dunkin Donutswas founded in the city.The YAD Quincy office is comprised of an AIC, four staff attorneys, a Social Service Advocate, and an Administrative Assistant.

 

POSITION OVERVIEW

 

As youth in Massachusetts have a right to jury trials, the Attorney in Charge (AIC) oversees a trial office which integrates the work of attorneys, a social service advocate, and an administrative assistant to fully address the legal and developmental needs of our clients. The Attorney in Charge plays a significant leadership role by managing the local office, helping with the management of YAD as a whole, representing individual clients, and working closely with the private bar to build a strong community of juvenile defenders actively addressing practice and training issues. 

 

The AIC provides leadership, support, and oversight to the members of a multi-disciplinary community oriented public defender office. The AIC also plays a leadership role in YAD efforts to support indigent representation in delinquency and youthful offender cases statewide. The AIC collaborates extensively with private assigned counsel. 

 

The AIC will report directly to a Managing Director of YAD.  The AIC will be expected to participate in regular meetings with other YAD AICs, the local Juvenile Supervising Attorneys, as well as the YAD management team.

Qualifications

MINIMUM ENTRANCE REQUIREMENTS

 

The following attributes are required for the position of Attorney-in-Charge:

• Eligible to practice law in this jurisdiction as a member of the Massachusetts bar in good standing, or as an attorney in another jurisdiction who is eligible to engage in limited Massachusetts practice under Supreme Judicial Court Rule 3:04;
• A minimum of seven years of experience handling criminal defense cases;
• Access to an automobile in order to travel to courts, clients, and investigation locations that are not easily accessible by public transportation; and,
• Reliable home internet access sufficient to work remotely.

 

QUALIFICATIONS/SKILLS

 

The following skills are preferable in a candidate:

• Strong experience with juvenile defense, particularly with a community-oriented defender practice;
• Experience supervising, managing, and training attorneys and other staff;
• A demonstrated commitment and understanding of juvenile justice practice and policy;
• A demonstrated commitment to the principle of zealous advocacy in the representation of indigent persons in criminal cases;
• Ability and commitment to complete annual performance evaluations in a timely and comprehensive manner;
• Demonstrated writing and public speaking skills;
• Strong organizational and administrative ability;
• Substantial knowledge of state and local resources of use to juvenile defendants;
• Ability to provide in-house training and disseminate information about case law and other relevant legal developments;
• Substantial experience in the use of forensic experts.

Responsibilities

RESPONSIBILITIES

 

The responsibilities of the Attorney in Charge include, but are not limited to:

• Managing and supervising a juvenile public defender office by overseeing legal representation to the offices clients utilizing the YAD model of a positive youth development approach (PYD) to inter-disciplinary representation in delinquency, youthful offender, and related proceedings;
• Maintaining a reduced caseload of delinquency, youthful offender, and related proceedings and taking the lead on difficult and potentially precedent-setting cases;
• Ensuring that all cases are assigned promptly and opened and closed in a timely fashion;
• Ensuring that annual performance evaluations are completed for all staff in a timely and comprehensive manner;
• Embracing the Positive Youth Development Approach to Zealous Advocacy, including the use of education advocacy and the use of both staff and private social workers;
• Fully embraces the CPCS case management system, including the ability to generate and interpret case statistics and reports, to ensure the collection of data for performance management, program evaluation, and policy advocacy;
• Participating, supporting, and providing leadership to the local juvenile defender communities and stakeholders and encouraging staff to engage meaningfully in client communities;
• Providing on-going in-house training for staff and working closely with the YAD Training Director to help develop and deliver private counsel trainings;
• Building and maintaining strong working relationships with the local Juvenile Court, Probation, DYS, DCF, community agencies and other stakeholders in the Juvenile Justice System, including representing YAD in select circumstances; and,
• Other duties as assigned.

In performing duties and responsibilities, CPCS AICs are expected to adhere to the requirements set forth in the agencys enabling legislation (G.L. c.211D), the Massachusetts Rules of Professional Conduct, as well as in CPCS performance guidelines, and other practice standards promulgated by the agency.