Pro Bono Associate Jobs in California (NOW HIRING)

Managing Attorney - External Partnerships, San Francisco, CA

Full-Time, Exempt

Hybrid (3-4 minimum office days/week)

"It always seems impossible until it's done." - Nelson Mandela

We believe that even the biggest problems can be broken down into small, achievable steps. Poverty and access to justice are part of the same problem. And we're solving this problem together. At Open Door Legal (ODL), we're pioneering the country's first system of universal access to civil legal representation to dramatically reduce poverty and prove that the law really can belong to all of us. We've grown 150x in 10 years, and in the next 2 years, we hope to finish scaling across San Francisco. To achieve this goal, we've created an award-winning and best-in-class legal aid organization full of passionate, motivated, gritty, thoughtful, and team-oriented people. We believe that injustice is the heart of poverty, and we're looking for someone to join us in ensuring justice for all.

We are hiring a Managing Attorney - External Partnerships who will lead, manage, and direct our pro bono partners, contract attorneys, private law firms, and legal service organizations as they take on referred cases. These partnerships help us increase our capacity and close the justice gap. As part of the Triage Team, you will work with members of each of our practice areas to coordinate placing viable legal matters either internally or externally with our partners. You will also work out of multiple office locations in San Francisco. We currently have four offices. They are located in the Bayview, Western Addition, Excelsior, and Sunset neighborhoods. We anticipate opening new locations in the Tenderloin and Mission neighborhoods by the end of the year.

Overall, this position is intended to be a challenging and rewarding experience for someone looking to grow in their substantive and strategic leadership and change lives along the way. You should approach problems with curiosity and enthusiasm. Your leadership is demonstrated in the quality of the people you've led AND the work you've produced together. Cultural humility is not just conceptual to you; you embody it and commit to growth. Success in this role requires grit, dynamism, teamwork, care, and passion (also our team's five values). You will report directly to our Associate Director of Community Engagement.

Responsibilities:

• Recruit and maintain our referral relationships with Pro Bono partners, contract attorneys, private law firms, and legal service organizations. This includes attending networking and professional events to meet and recruit potential referral partners.
• Conduct initial meetings with interested pro bono attorneys and conduct periodic meetings with partners to ensure ongoing participation in the referral system.
• As part of the Triage Team, ensure placement of outgoing referrals within the necessary timelines.
• Gather all necessary data and outcomes information from referral partners for grant reporting needs.
• Supervise pro bono and contractor attorneys on triaged cases, which will entail maintaining a proficient working knowledge of substantive law across our various practice areas.
• Take the lead on organizing our legal clinics and monitoring the delivery of services by non-legal know-your-rights counselors.
• Provide and ensure your team is providing services and support to our low-income clients with sensitivity to and awareness of cultural, socio-economic, and disability barriers to service, and can skillfully navigate difficult or tense situations. Ensure that cases placed with external partners have a positive client feedback rating.
• Embrace and embody our values of teamwork, grit, caring, passion, and dynamism.

Requirements:

• Membership in good standing with the California State Bar. Applicants without active California bar membership will not be considered.
• Minimum of relevant professional experience is four (4) years.
• Must show experience directly supervising staff attorneys and be able to provide references from attorneys supervised.
• Knowledge in at least one of our practice areas and superior court civil procedure knowledge, and an openness to learning the basics of all of our different practice areas.
• Ability and willingness to work out of any of our San Francisco office locations. We currently have four offices in the Bayview, Western Addition, Excelsior, and Sunset, and we anticipate opening new locations in the Tenderloin and Mission neighborhoods by the end of the year.
• Must genuinely enjoy and be motivated by working with low-income clients, many of whom are people of color, and be able to work effectively with clients impacted by trauma (emotional, mental, and physical).
• Show an enthusiasm for and commitment to self-learning and professional development.
• Excellent writing, editing, and proofreading skills, with the ability to be detail-oriented.
• Excellent interpersonal and diplomacy skills to excel in providing constructive feedback to people you supervise, and in building relationships with other organizations and agencies as ODL's ambassador.
• High level of comfort learning and using technology and case management systems. We use Salesforce, Dropbox, and the Google Suite.
• Must be willing to make a minimum two-year commitment to the organization.

Bonus Points:

• Experience working in a high-volume legal aid organization, public defender's office, or similar environment, or as a pro bono attorney.
• Experience working with low-income and vulnerable populations.
• Having lived a significant period of your life in San Francisco proper.
• Comfortable practicing, translating, and interpreting in Spanish and/or Cantonese (this comes with a slight compensation increase upon assessment).

Starting compensation is $95,500 - $111,500 per year based on experience.

Benefits:

• Loan Repayment Assistance - for staff pursuing 10-year public interest debt forgiveness, we will pay the minimum payment on all qualifying loans so that you don't need to worry about student loan debt (this is a conditional benefit).
• Medical/Dental/Vision Plan offerings at 100% coverage
• Generous paid time off (four weeks vacation and two weeks sick/care)
• Flexible work hours
• Generous paid parental leave
• 401K/Retirement Account
• We believe everyone is always learning. We financially invest in individual professional development for each staff member and provide many internal and external mentorships, coaching, and learning opportunities (conferences, workshops, etc.).
• We are a fun and hard-working office with best-in-class technology solutions for anyone who is passionate about making a meaningful and measurable difference.

Ideal starting date: September 7, 2026

Applications received before August 28, 2026 will receive priority consideration.

To apply, submit your cover letter and resume. You may type your cover letter into the text box or combine your cover letter and resume into one PDF document for upload.

Open Door Legal is proud to be an Equal Opportunity employer. We do not discriminate based upon race, religion, color, national origin, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, gender expression, transgender status, sexual stereotypes, age, status as a protected veteran, status as an individual with a disability, or any other applicable legally protected characteristics. We also consider qualified applicants with criminal histories, consistent with applicable federal, state, and local law including the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance.

We are committed to providing reasonable accommodations for candidates with disabilities in our recruiting process. If you need any assistance or accommodations due to a disability, please let us know at whitney [at] opendoorlegal [dot] org.