Tennessee Alliance for Legal Services Seeks Part-Time Civil Legal Helpline Staff Attorney

Job Summary

Are you looking for a part-time position where you can serve clients from home by phone, using your legal skills to help them better understand and address the problems they are facing? If so, Tennessee Alliance for Legal Services’ Civil Legal Helpline may be a great opportunity for you!

Tennessee Alliance for Legal Services (TALS) has been providing free civil legal advice and referrals by phone to disadvantaged Tennesseans in all 95 counties for eleven years.  In 2023 alone, the helpline served over 5,000 callers.  844-HELP4TN fills a critical role in our state by making civil legal help more accessible to those who cannot afford to hire an attorney. Helpline attorneys identify and explain callers’ legal issues, provide individualized legal advice, and connect callers to local resources. 

TALS is seeking to hire one part-time attorney with a minimum of five years of experience, who will work a hybrid schedule as part of our passionate team for approximately 20-25 hours per week

Job Responsibilities

• Listening to callers and asking questions to spot legal issues;
• Maintaining familiarity with organizations that serve callers statewide and referring callers to the appropriate agencies for further assistance (TALS maintains a referral directory to assist with this);
• Entering information from calls into a case management system either contemporaneously or shortly after each call is completed;
• Achieving key performance metrics
  
  • Partnering with helpline attorneys for the first two weeks of employment to learn best practices for helpline services and our case management system;
  • Completing and documenting two calls per hour;
• Conducting research when needed to answer questions;
• General record keeping;

• Participating in staff meetings via conference call or in person.

Qualifications

Required Skills

• JD Degree
• Licensed to practice law in Tennessee with a Tennessee law license in active and in good standing
• Familiarity with a wide variety of legal issues facing Tennesseans including consumer debt, housing issues, denial of benefits, and family law issues;
• Excellent listening skills;
• Superior ethics and professionalism standards;
• Excellent telephone manner; ability to assist callers who may be emotional and, in a crisis;
• Computer literacy and competence to accurately enter information into a case management system while talking on a call;
• Proficiency in Microsoft Outlook and Word as well as Google Calendar.

Additional Information

Benefits

Benefits include malpractice coverage for helpline-related work, eligibility to participate in TALS 403B (details will be provided upon request), admission to TALS’ continuing legal education sessions at no cost, eligibility for annual pay increases, and flexibility in scheduling. The hourly rate is $25.00. There are no additional fringe benefits associated with the position.

How to Apply

Please email your resume to Lbrown@tals.org by August 15, 2024

Details

• Date Posted: August 2, 2024
• Type: Part-Time
• Job Function: Legal
• Service Area: Social / Human Services
• Start Date: 08/19/2024
• Salary Range: $25.00 per hour
• Working Hours: part-time