Overview
Volunteer Supervising Attorney — Immigration Removal Defense Jobs in Remote at Universal Removal Defense Project
Volunteer Supervising Attorney — Immigration Removal Defense
Universal Removal Defense Project (URDP)
Location: Remote — United States
Compensation: Fully remote volunteer position open to qualified attorneys located anywhere in the United States
Initial Commitment: Approximately 3–10 hours per month
About Universal Removal Defense Project
Universal Removal Defense Project (URDP) is a 21st-century nonprofit human rights organization building a modern model for immigration removal defense.
URDP was founded around a simple idea: access to justice should not depend on language, culture, geography, or financial resources. We are developing a nationwide, language-inclusive removal defense program that combines human-centered legal advocacy with modern remote service delivery, multilingual technology, and scalable legal infrastructure.
Rather than recreating the traditional brick-and-mortar legal services model, URDP is being built for the realities of the modern immigration system. Our vision is to use secure technology, remote collaboration, advanced language-access tools, and culturally responsive advocacy to extend the reach of qualified legal professionals to immigrants and families who might otherwise have difficulty accessing representation.
Technology is not the lawyer. Technology is the infrastructure that allows human advocacy to reach further.
URDP is currently pursuing recognition through the U.S. Department of Justice Recognition and Accreditation Program and developing the legal, ethical, technological, and operational infrastructure necessary to support responsible immigration legal services.
Position Summary
URDP seeks an experienced Volunteer Supervising Attorney or Retired Immigration Judge to provide legal supervision, mentorship, and strategic guidance as we develop our immigration legal services program.
This is more than a traditional volunteer attorney opportunity.
The Supervising Attorney will have an opportunity to help shape a 21st-century immigration nonprofit from the ground up—one designed around remote service delivery, multilingual access, culturally competent representation, responsible technology, and nationwide collaboration.
The attorney will provide legal quality assurance, case review, professional guidance, and oversight while helping URDP develop systems capable of responsibly scaling access to removal defense.
We are particularly interested in experienced practitioners who recognize that the future of nonprofit legal services will require both strong human legal judgment and better infrastructure for delivering that expertise to the people who need it.
Our 21st-Century Legal Services Model
URDP is developing an immigration legal services infrastructure designed to overcome three longstanding barriers to representation:
Language. Geography. Capacity.
Our developing model includes:
- Multilingual intake systems supporting numerous languages
- Advanced translation and language-access workflows
- Remote client intake and onboarding
- Secure cloud-based legal operations
- Nationwide remote service delivery
- Digital evidence collection and organization
- Collaborative attorney and legal professional workflows
- Technology-enabled supervision and quality-control systems
- Electronic immigration court workflows
- Scalable case-management infrastructure
- Data-driven access-to-justice measurement and reporting
- Responsible use of emerging technologies to reduce administrative barriers
URDP’s approach is fundamentally human-centered. Technology may assist with translation, organization, communication, and administrative efficiency, but professional legal judgment, case strategy, ethical decision-making, and legal supervision remain human responsibilities.
Primary ResponsibilitiesLegal Supervision
- Supervise immigration legal work performed by future DOJ-accredited representatives and appropriate legal personnel
- Review legal strategies and filings before submission
- Provide guidance concerning complex removal defense matters
- Help establish appropriate case-review and escalation procedures
- Promote compliance with applicable ethical and professional responsibility standards
- Help maintain consistent standards of legal quality across a remote service environment
Case Review
Provide review and oversight, as appropriate, concerning matters involving:
- Defensive asylum
- Withholding of removal
- Convention Against Torture (CAT) protection
- Bond motions and custody proceedings
- Motions to reopen
- Motions to reconsider
- Appeals before the Board of Immigration Appeals
- Other humanitarian immigration relief matters within URDP’s authorized scope of services
Program Development
- Assist with development of URDP’s legal services program
- Help establish supervision and case-review protocols
- Support DOJ Recognition and Accreditation readiness
- Assist with development of legal training and professional-development materials
- Advise on legal quality-assurance standards
- Participate in periodic strategic planning discussions
- Help develop a legal program capable of responsibly expanding as organizational capacity grows
Technology & Innovation
The Supervising Attorney does not need to be a technologist.
Rather, we seek an experienced legal professional willing to help ensure that innovation develops around sound legal judgment and professional responsibility.
Responsibilities may include:
- Advising on technology-assisted legal service delivery
- Helping evaluate appropriate and ethical uses of AI and translation technologies
- Providing feedback on digital case-management workflows
- Helping establish safeguards for technology-assisted legal processes
- Advising on scalable remote supervision systems
- Ensuring that efficiency never comes at the expense of legal quality or client protection
Minimum Qualifications
Required:
- Active license to practice law in at least one U.S. jurisdiction
- Minimum two years of immigration law experience
- Significant experience representing respondents before EOIR
- Extensive experience with defensive asylum matters
- Demonstrated experience using EOIR’s Electronic Case Access System (ECAS)
- Experience filing electronically before EOIR
- Experience handling Master Calendar and Individual Hearings
- Experience with BIA appeals
- Strong understanding of asylum law and country-conditions evidence
- Ability to supervise and collaborate remotely
- Commitment to immigrant rights and access to justice
Preferred Qualifications
- 10+ years of immigration litigation experience
- Former nonprofit legal services experience
- Experience supervising DOJ-accredited representatives
- Experience mentoring attorneys, accredited representatives, paralegals, or legal staff
- Experience in detained and non-detained removal defense
- Federal court immigration litigation experience
- Multiple-language capabilities
- Experience developing legal programs or supervision structures
- Familiarity with technology-enabled or remote legal services
Who We’re Looking For
We are seeking someone who is:
- Mission-driven
- Collaborative
- Innovative
- Culturally responsive
- Comfortable working across languages and cultures
- Open to responsible experimentation with new technology
- Protective of professional independence and legal ethics
- Passionate about expanding access to justice
- Interested in mentorship and institution-building
- Excited by the opportunity to help build something different
You do not need to believe that technology can solve every problem in immigration law.
We don’t either.
We believe experienced attorneys, accredited representatives, advocates, interpreters, and communities remain at the center of effective removal defense. Our goal is to build better 21st-century infrastructure around those professionals so their knowledge and advocacy can reach more people.
Time Commitment
- Approximately 3–10 hours per month initially
- Flexible scheduling
- Fully remote
- Occasional strategy and program-development meetings
As URDP develops and funding becomes available, opportunities for expanded involvement may become available.
What You’ll Help Build
Joining URDP at this stage means helping shape an organization rather than simply stepping into an established system.
You will help us build a nonprofit legal services model where:
- Language is never a barrier to justice
- Culture is respected throughout representation
- Geography does not determine access to legal help
- Technology expands—not replaces—human advocacy
- Remote services connect qualified professionals with underserved communities
- Innovation operates within strong ethical and professional safeguards
- Immigrants can access culturally competent legal support regardless of where they live
The immigration legal services infrastructure of the future does not have to look exactly like the infrastructure of the past.
URDP is working to build what comes next.
Together, we are building a future where all cultures are welcome, all languages are heard, and every person has access to a fair defense.
To Apply
Please submit:
- Resume or CV
- Bar admission information
- Brief description of immigration and supervisory experience
Organization: Universal Removal Defense Project
Position: Volunteer Supervising Attorney — Immigration Removal Defense
Location: Remote (United States)
Compensation: Volunteer
Website: www.universalremovaldefenseproject.org
All Cultures. All Languages. 21st-Century Access to Justice.
Pay: From $20.00 per hour
Expected hours: No more than 1.0 per week
Work Location: Remote
Title: Volunteer Supervising Attorney — Immigration Removal Defense
Company: Universal Removal Defense Project
Location: Remote
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