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Harris County · 2 weeks ago

Assistant Public Defender, Juvenile Division

Houston, TX

Full-time

Onsite

Mid, Senior Level

5+ years exp

Harris County is seeking an Assistant Public Defender for the Juvenile Division. The role involves representing clients in juvenile court, conducting legal research, and maintaining communication with clients and their families, while also assisting with various legal and holistic needs.

Government Administration

Responsibilities

Attend all scheduled court activities with client and family/guardian, including detention hearings, non-issue court settings, trials and psychosocial evaluations

Visit client in the Juvenile Detention Center or other secure holding facility to gather case information, give case updates, or to assess general well-being of client

Seek all necessary evidence related to your client's case(s) through use of subpoenas, open records request, telephone calls/letter writing, investigator requests, and discovery requests of the state

Keep client and family/guardian informed of all aspects of case outside of the regular court activities

Obtain answers or solutions to client case issues through office research tools, use of appellate division, or seeking answers by soliciting outside agencies or organizations

Assist client and family/guardian with issues that arise outside the normal course of legal representation, such as housing, education, medical, immigration and mental health

Assist other members of the Juvenile Division with help with trial and non-trial cases, either with ideas to resolve case issues or physically standing in for other division members unable to attend court or other case-related activities

Maintain client case files, provide new and closed case information to proper staff, make concurrent data entries into office data system, and organize all other materials germane to attorney caseload

Qualification

Juris DoctorateTexas State Bar LicenseCriminal Defense ExperienceJuvenile Law ExperienceTrial SkillsBilingual (English/Spanish)Organizational SkillsTime Management SkillsWritten Communication SkillsOral Communication Skills