The Juvenile Appeals Unit of the Youth Advocacy Division (YAD), the juvenile defender division of CPCS, is seeking a full-time attorney with experience in juvenile delinquency law and appeals to work with the Director of Juvenile Appeals and Staff Counsel II to grow a high-quality appellate unit. The attorney will carry a caseload of delinquency and youthful offender appeals and screenings, Single Justice Petitions, and delinquency trial court matters. The attorney will also serve as an appellate liaison with the trial bar and assist with coordinating and presenting appellate trainings.
We fight for equal justice and human dignity by supporting our clients in achieving their legal and life goals. We zealously advocate for the rights of individuals and promote just public policy to protect the rights of all.
Our Values
Courage • Accountability • Respect • Excellence
DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION MISSION STATEMENT
CPCS is committed to protecting the fundamental constitutional and human rights of our assigned clients through zealous advocacy, community-oriented defense, and the fullness of excellent legal representation. We are dedicated to building and maintaining strong professional relationships, while striving to accept, listen to and respect the diverse circumstances of each client, as we dedicate ourselves to meeting their individual needs. It is our CPCS mission to achieve these goals, and in furtherance thereof, we embrace and endorse diversity, equity and inclusion as our core values as we maintain a steadfast commitment to: (1) Ensure that CPCS management and staff members represent a broad range of human differences and experience; (2) Provide a work climate that is respectful and supports success; and (3) Promote the dignity and well-being of all staff members. CPCS leadership is responsible for ensuring equity, diversity, and inclusion. The ability to achieve these goals with any level of certainty is ultimately the responsibility of each member of the CPCS community.
AGENCY OVERVIEW
CPCS is the state agency in Massachusetts responsible for providing an attorney when the state or federal constitution or a state statute requires the appointment of an attorney for a person who cannot afford to retain one. The agency provides representation in criminal, delinquency, youthful offender, family regulation, guardianship, mental health, sexually dangerous person, and sex offender registry cases, as well as in appeals and post-conviction and post-judgment proceedings related to those matters.
The clients we represent are diverse across every context imaginable and bring many unique cultural dimensions to the matters we address. This reality creates a critical need for CPCS staff to be culturally competent and able to work well with people of different races, ethnicities, genders and/or sexual orientation identities, abilities, and limited English proficiency, among other protected characteristics.
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
The Juvenile Appeals Unit of YAD plays a leadership role in the effort to seek justice for court-involved youth. In furtherance of this mission, the unit is committed to providing our clients with outstanding appellate advocates who are dedicated to building a strong professional relationship with each client, understanding their diverse circumstances, and to meeting their needs. The unit provides leadership, training, support to, and oversight of these appellate attorneys. The unit assigns counsel to represent juveniles in direct appeals, new trial motions, screenings for possible new trial motions and motions to withdraw guilty pleas, and various other post-adjudication matters. The unit also initiates, directs, and coordinates the filing of amicus briefs in cases with significant impact on juvenile law and provides leadership, training, and assistance to YAD trial attorneys (private and staff) statewide.
The Juvenile Appeals Unit currently consists of a Director based out of the Fall River CPCS office and Staff Counsel II based out of the Salem CPCS office. This Appeals Attorney position may be based out of another YAD location depending, in part, on the needs of the unit and selected candidate, and on available space. Unit staff work remotely the majority of the week and are expected to travel to courts, offices and other locations throughout the Commonwealth for hearings, meetings and trainings.
POSITION OVERVIEW
The Appeals Attorney will provide direct representation of adolescent clients at the appellate level. The cases assigned by the Juvenile Appeals Unit are primarily direct appeals from delinquency and youthful offender adjudications, but also include interlocutory appeals, screenings, Rule 30 motions and amicus briefs in selected cases. The Appeals Attorney may be assigned to litigate Single Justice petitions pursuant to G.L. c. 211, § 3. The Appeals Attorney may also be assigned a small trial court delinquency caseload from various courts.
In addition, the Appeals Attorney will be representing court-involved adolescents. This requires the Appeals Attorney to understand the implicit biases impacting our young clients and be able to provide trauma-responsive representation.
RESPONSIBILITIES
- Interviewing clients, conducting legal research, collecting and reviewing documentary evidence;
- Writing briefs, petitions, memos, and applications for direct and further appellate review;
- Arguing before the Appeals Court and the Supreme Judicial Court, including preparation via moot arguments, and assisting other attorneys with their moot arguments;
- Drafting or assisting in the drafting of amicus briefs;
- Conducting post-adjudication investigation, including visiting crime scenes and locating and interviewing witnesses, when needed;
- Maintaining a small caseload of delinquency cases in Juvenile Court using the Positive Youth
- Development Approach as well as using all the same criminal defense skills needed to practice in district and superior courts, and providing post-dispositional advocacy, support to DYS-committed youth, and school-based advocacy;
- Increasing Single Justice practice throughout the Commonwealth by providing robust training materials, mentorship, and support to the juvenile defense bar;
- Preparing case summaries of new juvenile opinions;
- Developing and delivering appellate training programs;
- Working on projects related to improving legal representation and outcomes for court-involved children, including reviewing and drafting legislation, collaborating on impact litigation strategies and materials, and assisting in training and development of practice aids for juvenile defenders;
- Playing a leadership role in working towards reducing the racial and ethnic disparities in the juvenile legal system; and,
- Other duties as assigned.
EEO Statement
The Committee for Public Counsel Services (CPCS) is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, ethnicity, sex, disability, religion, age, veteran or military status, genetic information, gender identity, or sexual orientation as required by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, and other applicable federal and state statutes and organizational policies. Applicants who have questions about equal employment opportunity or who need reasonable accommodations can contact the Chief Human Resources Officer, Sandra DeBow-Huang, at sdebow@publiccounsel.net