Deputy Director

Deputy Director – Legal Services

Position Type: Full-time Exempt

Location: Flexible, Minneapolis or St. Cloud

Introduction:

Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid (MMLA) is seeking a strategic, systems-oriented leader to serve as Deputy Director – Legal Services, a senior leadership role responsible for overseeing the quality, consistency, impact, and effectiveness of legal services delivery throughout the organization.

The Deputy Director- Legal Services serves as a key organizational leader responsible for supporting Managing Attorneys and Supervising Attorneys, strengthening supervision practices, ensuring high-quality legal advocacy, and advancing operational systems that enable staff to do their work effectively. This position will coordinate the broad range of legal services under our comprehensive model of delivery across the organization, so legal services are as efficient and impactful as possible, given MMLA’s limited resources and high demand for services. The position will be located in either the Minneapolis or St. Cloud office but will require regular office hours in both offices and frequent travel to our locations statewide.

In organizing the delivery of legal services across the organization, this position will also be responsible for assuring MMLA meets its commitment to community-based legal services . This position represents a shift from geographically focused leadership to organization-wide oversight of MMLA’s delivery of legal services, ensuring that all legal units, across practice areas and locations, are functioning cohesively, effectively, and in alignment with MMLA’s mission, standards of excellence, history and traditions, and organizational priorities. This role will include budget, staffing, and resource allocation recommendations to accomplish the objective of defining appropriate legal services in relation to the communities served by MMLA, both urban and rural areas. This position will be responsible for ensuring legal services reflect the communities served by MMLA, by giving extensive autonomy, direct participation, and independent judgment for staff within each office, program, unit, and clinic as to the legal services to be provided to the defined community, within the parameters of organization-wide prioritized legal needs and coordinated legal services delivery. The Deputy Director-Legal Services will work in close collaboration with the Deputy Director-Litigation to ensure MMLA, through its approaches to legal services delivery; staff, volunteers, and supervision; and client education and engagement, is effectively providing the best legal services possible. In this role, the Deputy Director-Legal Services will lead on the strategic guidance and decision making as to how our legal services are best provided to which clients and communities in the most helpful ways and locations (what, where, and how), to deliver on our goal of equal justice for all. Through this leadership, this position will improve our ability to “say yes” to clients with high priority legal needs, and clarify our limited responsibilities to those we cannot, helping both client communities and partners fully appreciate and understand this necessary approach and the limits on staff, resources, and organizational capacity. As part of the executive leadership team, this role collaborates closely with the Executive Director to drive strategic direction, enhance organizational effectiveness, and ensure long-term sustainability. In the Executive Director’s absence, it acts as the primary external representative of the organization. Leadership development is a central component of this role.

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Primary Responsibilities:

Organization-Wide Legal Operations Oversight

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Oversee the delivery of legal services across all practice areas and geographic locations

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Ensure consistency, quality, and impact of legal advocacy and service delivery

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Develop and refine systems that support strong case management, supervision, and legal outcomes

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Identify gaps, trends, and areas for improvement across practice areas

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Identify strategic areas for collaboration between practice areas to increase impact of legal services in service of MMLA’s mission

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Ensure services align with MMLA’s mission, racial justice values, and funding requirements

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Assure MMLA meets its commitment to community-based legal services through budget, staffing, and resource allocation recommendations to accomplish the objective of defining appropriate legal services in relation to the communities served by MMLA, both urban and rural.

Supervision Infrastructure & Managing Attorney Leadership

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Directly supervise Managing Attorneys and/or Supervising Attorneys responsible for legal practice area oversight

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Ensure consistent application of supervision practices across the organization, including:

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Regular meetings and check-ins

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Performance evaluations and feedback practices

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Support Managing Attorneys in their roles as program leaders, supervisors, and operational managers

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Strengthen leadership capacity at all supervisory levels

Personnel Management & Union Environment Oversight

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Partner with HR and leadership to oversee personnel practices across legal staff

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Ensure supervisors are effectively managing staff within a unionized environment, including:

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Compliance with collective bargaining agreements

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Consistent application of evaluation, discipline, and workload practices

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Provide guidance on complex employee relations issues, including grievances, performance management, and workplace concerns

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Ensure fair, consistent, and well-documented management practices organization-wide

Operational Systems & Administrative Leadership

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Oversee and improve organizational systems supporting legal work along with Managing Attorneys and Supervising Attorneys, including:

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Caseload standards and requirements by practice area

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Case management processes

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Workflows and case assignment systems

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Timekeeping and compliance practices

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Ensure operational processes allow staff to meet client needs efficiently and ethically

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Partner with finance, grants, and operations teams on system improvements that support legal work

Strategic Leadership & Organizational Planning

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Serve as a key advisor to the Executive Director and member of the Management Committee

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Participate in and help lead organizational planning, restructuring, and strategic initiatives

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Identify long-term needs for staffing, program structure, and service delivery models and work to build responsive organizational systems

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Support communication and alignment across units and reduce silos

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Provide staff within each office, program, unit, and clinic extensive autonomy, direct participation, and independent judgment with decisions about the legal services to be provided to a defined community, within the parameters of organization-wide prioritized legal needs and coordinated legal services delivery

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Budget, Grants, & Resource Alignment

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Partner with finance and grant leadership to ensure resources are aligned across units

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Support budget planning and is the key decision-maker impacting the delivery of legal services organization-wide

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Make budget, staffing, and resource allocation recommendations to accomplish the objective of defining appropriate legal services in relation to the communities served by MMLA, both urban and rural areas

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Ensure program structures align with funding requirements and sustainability goals

External Leadership & Organizational Representation

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Represent MMLA in professional, community, and legal networks

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Strengthen relationships with courts, agencies, and legal partners

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Support visibility and credibility of MMLA’s legal work, including with public and policymaking bodies

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Collaborate on development and implementation of external communications strategies and activities

Succession Planning & Leadership Development

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Actively participate in leadership development opportunities and executive-level decision-making

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Build deep understanding of organizational operations, governance, and strategy

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Support continuity planning for executive leadership

Knowledge, Skills, Abilities, and Other Characteristics

Knowledge

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Deep knowledge of civil legal services and public interest law

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Understanding of supervision systems, program management, and organizational leadership

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Knowledge of legal ethics, compliance, and funding requirements

Skills

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Strong executive-level leadership and decision-making skills

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Ability to manage and influence through multiple layers of leadership

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Excellent communication, collaboration, and conflict resolution skills

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Strong organizational and systems-thinking capabilities

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Proficiency in Microsoft Suite (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Teams, SharePoint)

Abilities

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Ability to oversee complex, organization-wide operations

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Ability to align multiple units and leaders around shared goals

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Ability to lead in a unionized, policy-driven environment

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Ability to balance strategic thinking with operational execution

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Ability to manage ambiguity and drive organizational change

Other Characteristics

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Experience managing organization change and building consensus across stakeholder groups

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Commitment to MMLA’s mission, racial justice values, and serving low-income communities

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Ability to travel frequently between additional locations statewide, including St. Cloud, Minneapolis, St. Paul, and Willmar.

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Collaborative, transparent, and equity-centered leadership style

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High level of integrity, judgment, and accountability

Required Qualifications:

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Licensed to practice law in Minnesota or able to obtain license.

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Minimum of 5–6 years of leadership/supervisory experience

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Demonstrated experience managing or overseeing legal programs or teams

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Experience with budgeting, grants, or organizational operations

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Dedication to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) principles

Preferred Qualifications:

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Experience managing multiple legal units or practice areas

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Experience working in a unionized environment

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Experience in legal services, nonprofit, or public interest law

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Experience with organizational strategy, restructuring, or system-wide initiatives

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Experience developing supervisors or senior leaders

Compensation Information:

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Deputy Director Salary Line

Salary Determination: Salary is based on relevant prior experience and aligned with our organizational salary matrix. Candidates are placed on the schedule according to years of directly related experience to ensure consistency and equity. Range of salary: $88,817-$126,041.

Language Proficiency Credit: For client-facing roles (e.g., attorneys, legal assistants, intake staff), fluency in a relevant non-English language or ASL may count as one additional year of experience. Fluency must be certified at Intermediate High or above, with sufficient oral and written skills to perform all job duties without an interpreter. Assessment is conducted by an external testing service.

Language Requirement (if applicable): If a role requires fluency in a specific language or ASL, candidates must achieve a certified rating of Intermediate High or above in both oral and written communication. Offers are contingent on meeting this standard; failure to do so may result in withdrawal of the offer.

Other Information:

Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid is an Equal Opportunity employer. The terms and conditions of employment, including wages, benefits, and job security, may vary based on union status. Positions within our organization may be governed by collective bargaining agreements and union representation, while others are not.