Legal Advocate

Legal Advocate

Full-Time and/or Part-Time effective August 1, 2025

FIRST UNITED is a registered charity that has been serving Vancouver's Downtown Eastside community for 140 years. We offer responsive, low-barrier services to individuals who are low-income, underhoused or homeless. We provide essential services to meet the daily needs of community members and engage in systems change work to reduce homelessness and break cycles of poverty. If you're looking for purpose-filled work and want to make a difference in the community, this might be the opportunity for you.

FIRST UNITED is seeking applications for the position of: Legal Advocate

WHAT WE OFFER

Wage: $37 per hour

• Annual salary progression for all staff
• Comprehensive and 100% employer-paid health benefits including extended health and dental plan for regular staff, spouses and dependents
• United Church of Canada defined pension plan; employee contribution rate 6%, employer contribution rate 9%
• Life insurance, Long-term Disability, and AD&D benefits
• 15 days of paid annual vacation
• 13 statutory paid days off every year and 12 days of paid sick leave
   

Each job within the First United Church Community Ministry Society should promote our accomplishment of our vision, mission, and values.

GENERAL DESCRIPTION:

Work out of our office on the Downtown Eastside to provide in-person advocacy assistance and representation to the community, on a variety of legal issues generally encountered by low-income individuals and families. Note that this work is done in person, 9am-5pm Monday to Friday, and cannot be done remotely. 

SPECIFIC DUTIES & RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Provide one-to-one advocacy services. This entails staffing 3 of our daily drop-ins per week to intake new clients and provide referrals, information, summary advice and/or full representation regarding the following legal issues: welfare (including disability), tenancy, employment assistance, Old Age Security, Canada Pension Plan (including CPP Disability), immigration, debt, employment-related issues (e.g. employment standards), human rights and other similar matters. 
• Assist with forms (facilitating access to benefits): old age security, victim assistance, birth certificate applications, guaranteed income supplement, etc.
• Connect clients to appropriate resources within our cultivated network of service providers and legal aid as required if we are unable to assist them
• Provide full representation at hearings, written submission of appeals and reconsideration of decision, written and spoken interventions at an administrative level with a number of government programs, interviews and investigations and basic assistance with a wide variety of applications.
• Contact numerous government agencies, social service agencies, housing providers, other community legal assistance organizations and individual lawyers
• Develop and deliver public legal education workshops. 
• Engage in research that is directly related to the casework.
• Participate in weekly case review conferencing with other First United advocates
• Meet monthly and quarterly reporting requirements for Law Foundation or First United
• Engage in weekly legal supervision and file review (Law Foundation-funded advocates only)

KNOWLEDGE & SKILLS:

• Good communication skills both oral and written 
• Up-to-date computer skills with Microsoft Office.
• Knowledge of the difficulties encountered by people living in the Downtown Eastside is an asset.
• Knowledge of statutes such as Residential Tenancy and Employment and Assistance Acts. 

EDUCATION & EXPERIENCE:

• Law Degree or depending upon experience, a university undergraduate degree, para-legal training diploma or continuing education training in poverty law. 
• Up to one year experience would be an asset. 

WAGES and AFFILIATIONS:

This is a bargaining unit position under UFCW 1518. Presently the wage is $35.92 under the collective agreement. This position provides generous time off provisions and excellent health and welfare benefits. 

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We are committed to becoming a more just, equitable, inclusive, and diverse workplace, which extends to how we hire. We are continually learning new and unlearning old practices while examining systemic causes of inequity, including colonialism.

We aim to be representative of the communities that we serve. We welcome everyone to apply, and we strongly encourage applications from members of communities that have been marginalized based on Indigeneity, race, colour, religion, nationality, social or ethnic origin, sex, age, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity and/or expression. In order to achieve a representative team, preference may be given to people who are members of one or more of these groups.

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Please apply through our website at www. Firstunited.ca

https://firstuniteddtes.easyapply.co/

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