About Whitman-Walker Health

Whitman-Walker envisions a society where all persons are seen for who they are, treated with dignity and respect, and afforded equal opportunity to health and wellbeing. Through care, advocacy, research, and education, we empower all persons to live healthy, love openly, and achieve equality and inclusion. For 50 years, we have been meeting the needs of our communities with the endless dedication of our diverse teams.

We have three offices: at 1377 R Street NW “LIZ”; the 1525 health center at 1525 14th Street NW; and the Max Robinson Center, located at 1201 Sycamore Drive SE, all in the District of Columbia. Our legal staff may rotate periodically between offices. Our legal staff provide direct counseling and representation to individual clients; support training, education, and advocacy efforts, including client education; and recruit and train volunteer attorneys and community partners.

Whitman-Walker Health emphasizes an integrated care model and is proud to be the nation’s oldest medical-legal partnership. Whitman-Walker legal professionals collaborate with Whitman-Walker medical, behavioral health, and dental care providers to address health harming legal problems with the goal of promoting health equity and opportunities for systemic reform to make systems more equitable. Working on the legal team offers the unique opportunity to provide robust, high quality legal services with a health equity and team-based approach.

Job Summary
As part of our integrated care approach, Whitman-Walker Legal Services provides free legal help to persons living with HIV, LGBTQ persons, and patients of Whitman-Walker Health to address health-harming legal needs and reduce structural barriers to care. Since 1986, Whitman-Walker’s Legal Services Program has provided pro bono legal counseling and representation on a variety of civil legal issues which have evolved in response to community needs. Our current primary areas of practice include discrimination based on HIV or other disabilities, sexual orientation, or gender identity; Social Security disability, Medicaid, Medicare, and other federal, state and local public benefits programs; private health and disability insurance; elder law; medical privacy; immigration; wills, powers of attorney, and advance health care directives; and name and gender marker changes on legal records for transgender persons.

This position is integral to the operation of Legal Services by providing support to legal staff on client and administration matters and directly serving legal clients through intake coordination, service delivery, volunteer coordination, and administration of departmental resources. This work includes monitoring cases through the online legal case management software tool; and online network resources to deliver high quality services and achieve the best possible results.

Core WWH Primary Essential Duties:

• Performs and behaves in accordance with Whitman-Walker’s mission, cultural norms and core values of dignity, respect, affirmation, and humility.
• Maintains a respectful, non-judgmental, and compassionate manner with patients/clients/staff.
• Demonstrates excellent customer service by identifying and exceeding customer requirements.
• Adheres to Whitman-Walker policies and procedures, with special attention given to HIPAA requirements.
• Maintains data integrity through conscientious use of relevant tools and employing a system of checks and balances.
• Demonstrates organizational skills necessary to multi-task, meet deadlines, and re-prioritize as needed.
• Participates in organizational quality and performance improvement activities.

Role Specific Primary Essential Duties

• Responsible for providing administrative and paralegal case support to attorneys on legal matters to include, but not limited to, discrimination based on HIV, sexual orientation, or gender identity; Social Security disability, Medicaid, Medicare and other federal, state and local public benefits programs; private health and disability insurance; elder law; immigration; wills, powers of attorney, and advance health care directives; medical confidentiality; medical debt; and name and gender marker changes on legal records for transgender persons.
• Responsible for handling a caseload of matters related to a number of public benefits and insurance programs, including Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security Retirement and Disability, and health insurance subsidies available through the Affordable Care Act.
• Performs a variety of tasks, including client intake and counseling; investigation and analysis of cases; legal research and writing; drafting documents; coordinating meetings with clients; tracking governmental submissions; and assisting other legal staff with all efforts directed toward client assistance.
• Provides client intake and counseling assistance to the Intake Coordinator for walk-in clients.
• Works with the Legal Services Operations Manager to support all legal staff needs including filing and file storage, technology needs, community outreach, volunteer relations, and administration of legal clinics.
• Assists the Legal Services Director, Deputy Legal Services Director, and Operations Manager with various aspects of program administration.
• Will be based at the office at 1201 Sycamore Drive SE, but must be available and willing to rotate on an as-needed basis to our other two locations listed above. This position will also meet with clients in their homes, in hospitals, long-term care facilities, and other community settings, as needed, and must have the flexibility to travel throughout the greater Washington metropolitan area when needed.

Budget Responsibilities

None

Management Responsibilities

None

Core WWH Knowledge, Skills, and Talents Required

• Ability to work independently with good judgment and minimal supervision.
• Ability to manage time and effort to meet strategic objectives.
• Knowledge of principles and processes for providing excellent customer service, both internal and external.
• Knowledge of all applicable WWH policies and procedures.
• Excellent oral and written communication skills.
• Knowledge of healthcare information systems with the ability to adapt to new electronic medical record and population health platforms.
• Analytical skills necessary for the preparation of accurate, concise, and comprehensive reports.
• Ability to maintain records and information in an accurate, timely and confidential manner.
• Ability to adapt to changes in the service delivery model, re-prioritizing, as necessary.
• Commitment to health equity.

Role Specific Knowledge, Skills, and Talents Required

• Applicants must be fluent in Spanish, both written and oral.
• Applicants must have a commitment to working with people living with HIV; persons of diverse sexual orientations, gender identities, racial and ethnic backgrounds, and low-income clients.
• Applicants should have a sense of humor, a strong work ethic, a demonstrated ability to work well with others in stressful situations, and excellent oral and written communication skills.
• Applicants must have thorough knowledge and experience with Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, database management and utilization, on-line meeting platforms, and on-line document creation/sharing tools.
• The standard work week is 37.5 hours, Monday to Friday, although legal staff frequently manage or attend work events in the evenings and occasionally on weekends, and balance these hours through a flexible work schedule. The flexibility to attend meetings and legal service clinics in the evening is essential.

Education and Experience Required

• Applicants must have a Bachelor’s degree froman accredited college or university, or demonstrate professional experience through former employment, volunteer, and/or academic achievements.
• Prior experience with these areas of law is not required but is a plus: public benefits and insurance programs, including Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security Retirement and Disability, health insurance including subsidies available through the Affordable Care Act, and updating identity documents.

Working Conditions:

Working conditions for this position are normal for an office environment. Individuals may be required to work evenings and / or weekends and organizational events.

Physical Demands:

• Lifting: No more than 20 lbs. and infrequently.
• Movement: Standing and sitting for long periods.
• Visual: Long periods on computer.
• Concentration: Extended periods of engagement with computer systems where concentration is key to accuracy in data entry. Intermittent periods of engagement with a telephone system to respond to inquiries where concentration is key to task performance.
• Communication: Direct and indirect communication. Written and verbal competency.

The above job description is designed to indicate a general sense of the duties and expectations of this position. It is not to be interpreted as a comprehensive inventory of all duties and responsibilities required. As the nature of our business demands change, so too, may the duties and responsibilities of this position. You may be required to perform other duties as requested, directed, or assigned.

Note: The Legal Services Team is looking to hire either a Paralegal I or Paralegal I-Bilingual. Please apply to the job listings that fits your experience.