About this role
Attorney
Brooklyn Defender Services (BDS) seeks an Attorney to join the Padilla team in the Criminal Defense Practice in the Brooklyn office.
BDS is a public defense office representing low-income New Yorkers in criminal, family, immigration, and civil legal matters. For nearly 30 years, BDS has worked, in and out of court, to protect and uphold the rights of individuals and to change laws and systems that perpetuate injustice and inequality. Our legal expertise work with clients is focused on the intersections of these legal systems that disproportionately impact Black and Brown communities living in poverty.
BDS represents thousands of people each year who have diverse, complex, and multi-faceted legal needs. In addition to a zealous legal defense, our interdisciplinary teams of attorneys, social workers and advocates provide a wide range of legal and advocacy services, including for housing, public benefits, education, and employment. BDS staff work collaboratively and across disciplines to deliver high-quality legal services that serve the people we represent, their families and communities.
Named after the landmark Supreme Court decision, Padilla v. Kentucky, 559 U.S. 356 (2010), BDS’s Padilla Team specializes in the intersection of criminal and immigration law. The Padilla attorneys are embedded within the Criminal Defense Practice and advise criminal defense colleagues and clients on the immigration law consequences of criminal cases. The Padilla Team helps devise strategies to minimize the immigration impact of clients’ criminal cases, screens clients for immigration relief, and represents some clients in affirmative applications and removal proceedings. The Padilla Team collaborates with BDS’s Immigration Practice, which represents people in detained and non-detained removal proceedings and complex applications before USCIS, as well as with the Family Defense and Civil practices.
Under the direct supervision of a Supervising Attorney, the Padilla Attorney works directly with clients and criminal defense attorneys to determine client