How you pitch the open positions can have a lot to do with whether law students or attorneys will be interested in them. Eviction RTC is a national movement, and RTC attorneys imme4diately become part of that movement, providing not just front-line defense but also working to change the eviction machine itself in all the ways described in Section 1.4. 

Example: Check out a recruitment flyer from the Heartland Center for Jobs and Freedom.

This includes asking new lawyers what attracted them to their roles and what prepared them to be housing defense attorneys, and inviting them to be liaisons to their law schools. Check out the RTCNYC Coalition Pipeline Working Group’s survey of housing staff attorneys.

Surveying law schools about what they’re doing to inform students about this work: do they have a curriculum in place, doctrinal classes, or clinics? You can also have the law schools create pages about eviction RTC on their websites.

Develop a program for “progressive assistance” by law students: first year law student volunteers review legal papers, second year law students assist clients, and third year law students become certified so that they can appear in court under supervision. 

Have staff alumni reach out to their schools and do presentations.

Network with the public interest coordinator at the area law schools. Specific examples:

• In 2021, Washington’s Office of Civil Legal Aid partnered with Seattle University School of Law on the Housing Justice Collective to create “a sustainable pipeline of diverse, highly competent, and committed lawyer-advocates to represent tenants in unlawful detainer actions in Washington State.” 

• Connecticut’s RTC program administrator applied for and received one of the HUD Eviction Protection Grant Program grants. They then used this grant to provide seed money to support a supervisor and fellows with a caseload at the University of Connecticut Law School. The law school was very receptive because there was funding available. 

• Delaware has a progressive representation rule allowing students to practice under supervision. 

• New Jersey’s Housing Justice Project is a partnership between Seton Hall and Rutgers, though it is not specific to eviction RTC. Building up law school internships that provide progressive assistance opportunities can help instill interest in students. 

• NYC created a law school roadshow to educate students about and promote eviction RTC. 

• Massachusetts added access to justice to the bar exam, and RTC is one of the topics covered. 

• San Francisco: there has been success with the 10-month law fellows program (“unlawful detainer school”) for new graduates (average about 4/year).  They recruit from job fairs. They expect about 50% of the fellows to become staff attorneys.

Spotlight available jobs by participating in job fairs or developing an housing attorney specific jobs board (like this one in NYC).

Hiring paralegals, where permissible, to handle administrative work, which can help spark interest in a career as a housing attorney. While there are career paralegals, many undergrads interested in law school serve as a paralegal for 2- 3 years to get to know the area of law.  Massachusetts hired 50+ paralegals during the pandemic to work on administrative cases and cases involving subsidized housing. Some of the paralegals have now gone on to law school, and will, hopefully, return to doing this work as attorneys. In Philadelphia, paralegals do the intake and workup, handle issues outside of court and administrative hearings if necessary, then pass to the attorney for the housing court case.

Social workers can also be valuable additions to the team. Nonlawyer case managers (who could be recent college graduates) can help with applying for rental assistance or referrals for new housing. Case workers can be much better than lawyers at building client stories.

With both paralegals and social workers, programs must be careful to avoid unauthorized practice of law.

Hiring legal fellows to participate for a limited term with the hope that they can be kept on. One national example is Equal Justice Works’ Housing Justice Program.

Approximately, 80% of EJW fellows stay on at their host organizations after the fellowship ends.

Revising benefits for new attorneys, such as paying for bar classes/registration and paying a stipend for the attorneys to take the bar (with an agreement that they serve for a certain period of time upon passage).

Prior to the pandemic, holding eviction proceedings via Zoom was almost unheard of, but it became a common practice in many states during the pandemic. After the pandemic ebbed, many jurisdictions went back to in-person hearings, some kept holding remote hearings, and some used a hybrid model. Remote hearings can be especially helpful in serving rural or distant parts of the state where it can be difficult to recruit attorneys. Of course, only the courts can decide to hold remote hearings, but advocates can inform the courts about how the pipeline problem is depriving tenants of access to justice, which is a concern that can motivate courts.

The National Housing Law Project has written a guide to advocating for remote hearings.