Staff Attorney

About the Community Economic Defense Project (CEDP) & CED Law

Our mission

We partner with low-income and working people to build economic and racial equity. We do this by confronting economic abuse and investing in community wealth. We use an ever-evolving set of legal, economic and advocacy tools to challenge and dismantle unjust systems, building quickly towards a world where all people have what they need to live and thrive.

Our Organization

The Community Economic Defense Project (CEDP) is a Colorado-based nonprofit. Launched in 2020 as the COVID-19 Eviction Defense Project, our organization was formed to keep our neighbors housed during the pandemic. Working with clients, we built a deeply integrative approach to eviction, foreclosure, and homelessness prevention that centers the legal and financial needs of housing-insecure families and uses a variety of tools to keep them housed.

Our team now serves more than 1,000 people per month, bringing together housing lawyers, economists, data analysts, policy-experts, organizers, and technologists to serve our clients. We have served more than 50,000 low-income Coloradans across 45 counties, distributing over $200 million in emergency assistance. We have also contributed to the passage of major legislation to prevent eviction, stop economic abuse, and make credit and life-saving medication cheaper.  CEDP’s model has been cited as a best practice by White House, HUD, the Urban Institute, and in the media.

Building on our work to stop evictions, CEDP has further expanded its integrated services model to include disaster response, predatory towing, debt collection, benefit access & navigation, long-term rental assistance, and homelessness response. Similar to CEDP’s work on rental housing, these efforts offer a continuum of care that includes navigation and advisory services, targeted payments, legal support, and the ability to participate in advocacy.

More about the Staff Attorney Role:

As our law firm evolves, we are seeking a staff eviction defense attorney to coordinate cases, as well as to set, meet, and track goals. This attorney will work closely with supervisors on the tasks related to this role and receive significant guidance and support. The role reports directly to the Director of Eviction Defense. 

In this role you will:

• Manage an appropriate caseload of eviction defense cases, set by organizational and contract requirements and goals. 
• Attend courthouse clinics and other community events to provide limited representation, information and advice to tenants in the community. 
• Be responsible for completing case goals.
• Coordinate across CEDP to ensure holistic service of legal clients when appropriate and consented to by client. 
• Maintain a regular schedule of hearings, court appearances, and conferences based on case requirements.
• Complete required documentation for both case tracking and also personal management. 

Position Requirements:

• Colorado bar admission and JD.
• 1 years' experience in litigation, housing law, eviction defense, or other related fields. 
• We will also consider a highly qualified recent graduate who is not yet licensed, with continued employment being contingent on passing the February 2025 Colorado bar exam and becoming licensed in Spring 2025. 
• Demonstrated passion for social and racial justice.
• A supportive, client-focused attitude.
• Strong desire to center client and community needs.
• Ability to work collaboratively with other attorneys, paralegals, and supervisors in a rapid-change environment centered on social justice and equity. 
• Excellent interpersonal communication skills.
• A creative, self-driven attitude.
• Ability to travel within the Denver Metro area and surrounding suburbs under a hybrid schedule where in-person work is required 1- 3 times per week at our downtown Denver office, courthouses around the Denver metro area, and/or community events. 
• Strong organizational abilities.
• Knowledge of MS Office suite, CLIO, Google Suite, Adobe Acrobat desired.
• Spanish language fluency is not required but is a strong plus and is eligible for an additional stipend.

Additional Details:

•       Candidates must reside in Colorado, ideally within the greater Denver Metro area. The position includes competitive pay, flexible time off, benefits package (including medical, dental, vision), and 401k.
•       A competitive annual salary grade of $65,000 pre-bar admission and $75,000 post-bar admission, plus a $1,000 per year hybrid employee salary adjustment.
•       Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis but must be received by January 10, 2025
•       The estimated time to complete the recruitment process will be by January 24, 2025.
•       As in-person work is sometimes required, all employees at CEDP & CED Law are expected to maintain current vaccination status in keeping with CDC recommendations.
•     CEDP is an equal opportunity employer, committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. Employment decisions are made without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, age, sex, marital status, ancestry, physical or mental disability, veteran status, gender identity, sexual orientation, or any other legally protected status

Salary : $1,000 - $75,000