Data Archivist

The Legal Aid Society's Criminal Defense Practice is seeking a motivated, efficient, organized, and detail-oriented Data Archivist to support the data-entry, organizational, and technical development needs of the Data Team and, in particular, to assist in data and archival tasks associated with the Special Litigation Unit's (SLU) police misconduct database and reference tools: Law Enforcement Look-Up (LELU), Lawsuit Summarization Project (LSP), internal LELU (iLELU), and Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) requests tracking.

The Data Archivist will largely provide support for jointly-held projects between the Data Team and Special Litigation Unit through data-entry, data cleaning, archiving, acquisition of data from online sources (such as finding and archiving current news articles about police misconduct), help in the training of volunteers for the Lawsuit Summarization Project, as well as building out technical solutions, such as, writing scripts to scrape data and integrating open source tools within workflows. This role is an opportunity for a Data Archivist to join a team of passionate, solution-oriented data analysts and attorneys to enhance how they find, collect, and process substantial amounts of information. The Data Archivist will also perform case management by opening and closing cases in LawManager for the Cop Accountability Project's clinic. Projects that will need to be developed are an internal LELU, so LAS attorneys can share information about officers that cannot be included in the public LELU, and a way to archive documents and track due dates for FOIL requests related to LELU.

The Data Archivist should also have strong research and writing skills to provide write-ups of lawsuits that coincide with the release and analysis of NYPD lawsuit payout data. The Data Archivist may also provide support for other data-quality related tasks/projects as needed, such as those related to the implementation of new Discovery and Case Management platforms.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES/RESPONSIBILITIES

Data Entry, Archiving, and Maintenance

• Data-entry, tagging, de-deduplicating, recategorizing, redacting, updating, correcting, and other data maintenance tasks to support LELU, iLELU, LSP, and FOILs

• Develop and support an internal LELU repository for LAS attorneys to share and search for confidential documents, notes, and other media concerning police officers

• Develop a tracking and repository for FOIL requests

• Create and maintain a documentation manual for LELU entries

• Sort and sift through archives to update missing information and documents in databases

• Deliver outputs in a timely manner and maintain consistency

• Create and maintain systems for data obtained through litigation discovery as needed

Data Acquisition, Analysis and Scripting

• Acquire data, involving web scraping public information, creating machine readable data with approaches such as optical character recognition, etc

• Work closely with LAS's IT department to ensure information is securely managed and that any scripts, software, or new tools conform to in-house security and safety standards

• Automate ways of working by building out technical solutions to automate day-to-day research processes within the Data Team, integrating open-source tools within the team's existing workflows, and writing scripts to automate tasks

• Research news relating to police misconduct

• Follow and help set best practices on storing data, discovery, verification, and analysis of data

• Research and write summaries of lawsuits for use in public communications

LELU Pro Bono Coordinator

• Correspond via email with LSP volunteers about their inquiries concerning training and how to summarize and code lawsuits

• Consistently keep the LSP Volunteer and Administration Manuals up to date

• Track issues with the LSP training process and identify ways in which the process can be improved

• Periodically review volunteers' summaries and coding to maintain quality of data and perform record keeping of volunteer activities

Professional Development and Other Duties as Assigned

• Participate in continuous professional development

• Continuously learn about forms of bias in the workplace and demonstrate affirmative behaviors that support an inclusive work environment

• Other duties as assigned

QUALIFICATIONS

Required qualifications:

• An advanced education degree and 3+ years of related work experience or an equivalent combination of post-secondary education and related work experience

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS AND ABILITIES

Position Based Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:

• Development and management of data-entry systems and procedures

• Technological proficiency in the Microsoft suite of applications

• Knowledge of one or more programming languages (e.g., Python, R)

• Library cataloging, data-entry, or archival work experience

• Experience working with databases and information management

• Familiarity with version control systems (e.g., Git)

Organizational Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:

• Commitment to Legal Aid Society's mission to secure equal justice before the law for all New Yorkers

• Interpersonal and communication skills that enable healthy and productive working relationships

• Ability to perform duties with the highest regard for confidentiality, integrity, and respect

• Commitment to Legal Aid Society's mission and values

Physical, environment, travel, and other duties required:

• Mostly sedentary, significant time using a computer and monitor; communicating and meeting using video

• May or will require travel within NYC, across the five-borough region

* For positions noted as essential, this will require either remote or in-person work during times of closure or otherwise non-typical business hours which may include evenings and weekends and during unforeseen events such as inclement weather or poor air quality conditions.

SALARY AND BENEFITS

The salary range represents a good faith estimate of the range we expect to pay for this role. The actual salary offered may vary depending on many factors, including but not limited to job-related knowledge, skills, and experience, as well as collectively bargained salary steps for unionized roles.

Salary Range: $72,000 - $77,000

The Legal Aid Society offers a generous benefits package including health insurance, paid vacation, disability, and life insurance, and more. Click here to read more about benefits.

Higher Education and Loan Forgiveness

The Legal Aid Society is a qualified employer for the purposes of the Public Service Loan Forgiveness. This position allows an employee to take advantage of PSLF and other State and Federal loan forgiveness programs. Additionally, employees who are New York residents may be eligible for assistance from New York state to assist with loan repayments, depending on years of practice. To learn more, click the links below.

studentaid.gov

hesc.ny.gov/loan-forgiveness-programs

WORK AUTHORIZATION

All applicants must be legally authorized to work in the United States for any employer without sponsorship for a work visa or permit. We are currently unable to sponsor employment visas or permits. (However, for citizens of Canada and Mexico, LAS will provide a letter documenting employment status that is needed to obtain a TN visa.)

HOW TO APPLY

All applications must be completed online via the career portal. We do not accept emailed applications. Submit the following documents as a combined PDF:

• Cover Letter

• Resume

For technical difficulties or questions regarding this posting, please email jobpostquestions@legal-aid.org.

EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY

As an Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) Employer, The Legal Aid Society prohibits discriminatory employment actions against and treatment of its employees and applicants for employment based on actual or perceived race or color, size (including bone structure, body size, height, shape, and weight), religion or creed, alienage or citizenship status, sex (including pregnancy), national origin, age, sexual orientation, gender identity (one's internal deeply-held sense of one's gender which may be the same or different from one's sex assigned at birth); gender expression (the representation of gender as expressed through, for example, one's name, choice of pronouns, clothing, haircut, behavior, voice, or body characteristics; gender expression may not conform to traditional gender-based stereotypes assigned to specific gender identities), disability, marital status, relationship and family structure (including domestic partnerships, polyamorous families and individuals, chosen family, platonic co-parents, and multigenerational families), genetic information or predisposing genetic characteristics, military status, domestic violence victim status, arrest or pre-employment conviction record, credit history, unemployment status, caregiver status, salary history, or any other characteristic protected by law.

OUR COMMITMENT TO DIVERSITY, EQUITY, AND INCLUSION

The Legal Aid Society is committed to a work culture of zealous advocacy, respect, diversity and inclusion, client-oriented defense, access to justice and excellent representation. We are dedicated to building a strong professional relationship with each of our clients (people), to understanding their diverse circumstances, and to meeting their needs. Our ability to achieve these goals depends on the efforts of all of us and our ability to build strong relationships with our colleagues. Every member of our community is expected to continuously learn about the dynamic, evolving, and emerging field of knowledge of identity, bias, and systemic forms of oppression and participate in productive efforts to dismantling bias in all forms.