AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION (ACLU) OF TEXAS

The ACLU is the nation’s foremost defender of civil liberties and civil rights, dedicated to defending the Bill of Rights and advocating for marginalized communities through litigation, legislation, and public education. The ACLU of Texas, founded in 1938 and headquartered in Houston, is one of the largest ACLU affiliates in the nation. The ACLU of Texas has regional staff in Austin, Brownsville, Dallas, and El Paso.

Whether it’s protecting the rights of immigrants and refugees, ending mass incarceration, achieving full equality for the LGBT community, combatting voter suppression, or preserving reproductive rights, the ACLU takes up the toughest civil rights and liberties cases to defend all people from government abuse and overreach.

Case Management & Litigation Assistant

HOUSTON, TX
Hybrid or Remote: Remote*
Supervisor: Legal Program Manager

JOB DESCRIPTION

Building on the success of our first Innovator, we seek to move the infrastructure of the department forward through this position.

The Innovator will be primarily tasked with building and implementing a brand-new case management system for the ACLU of Texas. The creation of this system will be conducted in two phases: research and implementation & training.

As Case Management Assistant, the Innovator will be building, implementing, and training staff on a new case management system for the department. By building this new layer of much needed infrastructure, the ACLU of Texas hopes to capitalize on the success of our intake program by further tracking those intakes that move to investigation and litigation stages. Currently, the department has no software and relies on simple folder case trees to manage cases and filings. Through Affiliate Support Services at ACLU National, they will be coordinating and donating a 1-year subscription to LegalServer, a case management system. The Innovator will be working closely with affiliate and national technology and legal staff to help implement the system. In addition, the Innovator will get hands on knowledge of not only case management, but in-depth analysis of each of our current cases, what goes into building litigation, and what is needed for a successful piece of litigation. During the research phase the Innovator will learn the current case management infrastructure, criteria for case development, and basics of case management. For the implementation & training phase, the Innovator will work with the selected case management system to implement and migrate any necessary information. They will lead project management and help establish guidelines, policies, and procedures for the new system. After implementation is complete, a training guideline and presentation will be presented to all legal staff and they will oversee successful use and tracking of cases in the new system. We expect this project to take 6-8 months for full completion.

As Litigation Assistant, the Innovator will assist in building litigation through intake, research, motions practice, discovery, and possibly trial. They will also be supporting the legal department as we address any litigation post-legislative session and helping with legal advocacy across all our issue areas. The Innovator will provide basic general paralegal assistance including but not limited to: preparing documents for filing in court, cite-checking, proof reading, drafting legal letters, FOIA and Public Information Act requests, and other correspondence, as appropriate, managing responses, and using PACER and Westlaw. Opportunities to gain subject matter knowledge, interact with other departments through integrated advocacy, and direct interaction with impacted communities should also be expected.

DESIRED SKILLS

• Knowledge of diverse groups, experience working with a multicultural workforce, and sensitivity and appreciation of cultural differences is required;
• Knowledge of technology systems is a plus, but not required.

*REMOTE WORK DETAILS

The position will be remote, with potential travel to the office once per quarter. All travel costs will be covered by the organization.