Family Defense Practice Policy Director

Overview

The Bronx Defenders (BxD) – an innovative, progressive, holistic indigent defense office in the South Bronx – seeks an experienced advocate with a commitment to social justice to join our Policy Team as Policy Director of the Family Defense Practice.

Founded in 1997, The Bronx Defenders is a public defender nonprofit that has developed a nationally recognized model of representation called holistic defense, which provides people with teams of lawyers, social workers, and advocates to defend them zealously in court as well as to address the underlying drivers and enmeshed penalties of legal system involvement.  

Since opening our doors, we have grown into an organization of more than 400 staff members defending nearly 20,000 New Yorkers each year in criminal, family, civil, and immigration proceedings who face incarceration, family separation, eviction, and deportation, among other devastating consequences.  

Today we are reimagining the role of public defense even further, using community organizing and engagement, legislative advocacy, and impact litigation to partner with the communities we represent to bring about long-lasting systemic change.  

We also share our model and lessons learned with current and future public defenders. We run two legal clinics at NYC law schools and train public defenders from one end of the country to the next on how to move to a holistic model of representation.  

Family Defense Practice 

As residents of the most heavily disinvested borough in the city, families in the Bronx experience the highest rates of family policing and parent-child separation. We serve as the primary institutional provider defending parents and caretakers against the painful and unnecessary removals of their children in the Bronx. Together, our attorneys, social workers, and parent advocates provide the legal defense and support necessary to keep families together and interrupt generational cycles of family court involvement.  

Policy

Our policy experts collaborate closely with our practices and community engagement team so that our reform efforts are a comprehensive reflection of what Bronx residents need. Our policy reform work includes developing solutions to injustices, coalition building, legislative drafting and consulting, lobbying, advocating to the media, testifying before legislative bodies, and serving on bar committees and task forces.  

Responsibilities

The Family Defense Practice Policy Director will report to the Managing Director of Policy and be part of the Policy Practice’s leadership team.  The Policy Director will supervise the policy work of the Policy Counsels and Advocates in the Family Defense Practice (FDP) and coordinate closely with the Managing Director of the practice, practice leadership, and staff to develop and execute the practice’s policy agenda; amplify our clients’ voices in policy discourse; and provide advice and expertise to coalition partners, stakeholders, and policymakers.  The Policy Director will also serve as the principal advisor to the Family Defense Practice on policy questions. As part of the Policy Practice’s leadership team, the Policy Director will help formulate and execute BxD’s holistic policy agenda, foster cross-practice collaboration, and build internal capacity for policy change campaigns.

Supervision

• Serve as the primary supervisor of the policy counsels/advocates and other policy staff within the Family Defense Practice
• Meet with policy counsels and advocates on a regular basis to identify their policy work objectives and provide support and feedback
• Review and provide substantive feedback on written and oral advocacy work
• Complete annual employee evaluations
• Regularly evaluate and adjust workflow of staff members as necessary to ensure equitable and sustainable distribution of work
• Provide equitable, culturally conscious supervision, and support marginalized supervisees in navigating experiences of oppression in their work 

Advise the Family Defense Practice

• Develop and maintain expertise in relevant policy areas for FDP
• Collaborate with the Director of Data Science to analyze and synthesize BxD client and case data to inform our policy agenda
• Advise practice leadership on policy questions that arise within the practice
• Coordinate responses to family defense-related policy inquiries from external partners, system stakeholders, and the press
• Collaborate with the Managing Director of Policy, other policy counsels/advocates/directors, and Practice Managing Directors to identify and address policy issues impacting our clients

Legislative and Policy Advocacy

• Advise policymakers on the impact of proposed legislative changes on our clients and act as a BxD lobbyist in advancing BxD’s policy agenda
• Manage the execution of legislative and policy strategy in FDP
• Assist in drafting legislation with elected officials and advocacy partners
• Oversee preparation and delivery of testimony for various legislative hearings
• Manage and maintain relationships with key policymakers in the field
• Coordinate with Director of Organizing to develop community organizing and public education efforts in support of policy priorities

Collaboration with External Partners

• Represent BxD in city, state, and national reform coalitions
• Develop and evaluate policy positions in consultation with counterparts at other public defender offices, advocacy organizations, grassroots organizations, parent-led community coalitions and other stakeholders
• Amplify the experiences of our clients and our representation of them in coalition spaces and other fora

Communication

• Coordinate with the Managing Director of Strategic Communications to develop communications strategies that advance practice policy goals and maintain relationships with current and former clients who want to lend their experiences to policy change efforts
• Amplify clients’ experiences to local and national media as well as to city, state, and federal policymakers
• Collaborate with the Chief Policy Counsel, policy counsels/advocates and Managing Directors to draft articles, letters, editorials, white papers, and reports for public circulation

 Policy Practice Leadership

• Collaborate with the Chief Policy Counsel, Director of Organizing, and other policy directors to formulate and execute BxD’s holistic policy agenda
• Help to ensure BxD policy objectives are informed by grassroots movements led by parents in the family regulation system and aligned with BxD organizational goals and values
• Work with other practice Policy Directors to foster cross-practice collaboration
• Build internal policy capacity through participation in and leadership of BxD policy working groups
• Assist in planning and organization of cross-practice advocacy efforts, such as our Community Policy Summit, BxD Lobby Day, press conferences and rallies
• Assist the Chief Policy Counsel in fundraising and grant writing to help support and grow the work of the Policy Practice

Qualifications

To be eligible, applicants must have:

• At least 5 years of relevant advocacy experience in the family regulation system, including 3 years of leadership experience 
• Significant experience with policy data analysis and reform efforts

Applicants must demonstrate:

• Commitment to holistic public defense, racial justice, and legal system change with the goal of dismantling punitive carceral systems
• Commitment to defending and advocating for parents charged with abuse and/or neglect and at risk of losing custody of their children  
• Experience working in and with racially, ethnically and socioeconomically marginalized communities 
• Ability to effectively and respectfully communicate, collaborate and connect with people with various backgrounds, identities and experiences 
• Understanding of how systemic oppression affects marginalized communities and their experience in the criminal legal systems
• Commitment to fierce advocacy, and willingness to strategically challenge authority in defense of the people we represent and communities we work with
• Ability to establish and maintain strong working relationships with both internal and external stakeholders while maintaining tact and diplomacy
• Ability to effectively navigate coalition spaces, manage interests and relationships, and collaborative effectively
• Experience working with policy coalitions and community-based partners
• Strong written and verbal advocacy skills
• Ability to think critically and creatively, finding innovative solutions to unique obstacles
• Ability to work independently as well as collaboratively on an interdisciplinary team of lawyers, non-lawyers, people impacted by the criminal legal system, community members, and coalition partners  
• Skilled in mentoring and supervision, including providing constructive feedback, managing workloads and facilitating employee development
• Ability to work effectively under pressure and respond to changing priorities, while adhering to deadlines
• Meticulous attention to detail
• Ability to receive constructive feedback, demonstrate introspection and shift behavior accordingly
• Ability to exercise excellent judgment, discretion, and confidentiality with sensitive matters
• Commitment to raising one’s cultural consciousness and challenging oppressive practices on an interpersonal and institutional level

This is a hybrid position requiring a minimum of 3 days/week of in-person work.

Salary is commensurate with experience.  The salary range for this position would be approximately $117,891-$149,038. Full-time employees are also eligible for a comprehensive benefits package including but not limited to medical, dental and vision coverage; a 403(b) plan with employer contribution; and a generous vacation, sick leave, and parental leave policy.

Approximately 70% of The Bronx Defenders' staff, including attorneys and non-attorneys, are represented by UAW Local 2325 - Association of Legal Aid Attorneys (AFL-CIO). This position is not within the bargaining unit. 

This position is exempt. By law, non-exempt employees are compensated hourly based on their annual rate and therefore are entitled to over-time, whereas exempt employees are not.  

To apply, please click APPLY TO THIS JOB ONLINE and upload your resume and a cover letter in one document. Your cover letter should share why you want to do this work at our office, some key lived and/or professional experiences that have prepared you for this position. Your resume will be used to determine your salary based on the number of years of directly relevant professional experience listed; we therefore encourage you to include all relevant professional experience on your resume. Applications without a written cover letter will not be considered. 

Applications will be accepted through June 30, 2025.  

The Bronx Defenders is an equal opportunity employer and is committed to maintaining a workplace that embraces staff with a diversity of backgrounds, identities, and experiences. We acknowledge the ways in which systemic oppression and injustice can undermine access to professional opportunities and are committed to conducting hiring and promotion processes that are equitable and accessible to those commonly excluded from the workforce. We do not discriminate against and in fact specifically encourage applicants from marginalized communities to apply, including those who identify as Black, Indigenous, people of color, queer, transgender, gender non-conforming, disabled, neurodivergent, and those directly impacted by criminal, civil, family, and immigration legal systems. We value lived as well as professional experience and particularly welcome applications from the Bronx community that we serve.