Prisoners’ Legal Services (PLS) is seeking a passionate, strategic, empathetic and collaborative Director of Legal Services to join our efforts to protect the rights and dignity of people in prison and oversee the legal work of the organization. 

The Director of Legal Services is a new position that will have primary responsibility for ensuring the quality, rigour and values alignment of the organization’s legal services, legal information, and strategic litigation. The Legal Director works closely and collaboratively with the Executive Director in a shared and distributed leadership model, and collaborates regularly with the Director of Programs. 

About us:

Prisoners’ Legal Services is a non-profit society providing legal assistance to people in federal and provincial prisons in British Columbia. We serve approximately 1,000 clients per year and assist with issues such as solitary confinement, other deprivations of residual liberty and human rights matters. We also engage in strategic litigation and advocacy on the prison justice issues brought forward by our clients to achieve systemic, anti-carceral change. 

We are a team of lawyers and non-lawyers who believe that no one is disposable, and who work alongside and in solidarity with incarcerated people. We witness some of the harshest forms of state violence and use the legal system’s tools to protect our clients from the abuses and degradations of prison. More information about our work is available at https://prisonjustice.org/. 

About the position:

The Director of Legal Services position will include the following responsibilities:  

Management of Direct Legal Services

• Oversee the legal work of advocates, staff lawyers and students to ensure high-quality legal services;
• Liaise with PLS’ referral bar and oversee any contract legal work;
• In collaboration with the Director of Programs, oversee the operation of legal clinic practices, including work distribution, administrative systems, policies and protocols;
• Collaborate with the Director of Programs to mentor and support ongoing education for staff;
• Promote an approach to legal services that is client-centered, anti-carceral, and anti-oppressive;
• Promote and protect the right to counsel and access to justice for PLS clients;
• When needed, provide legal advice and representation to PLS clients.

Strategic Litigation and Law Reform Advocacy 

• Collaborate with the team to identify priority prison law issues;
• Work with the Executive Director and colleagues to develop and implement litigation strategies to advance changes to legal frameworks, laws, regulations and policies;
• With the Director of Programs, facilitate the integration of individual legal services with systemic litigation and advocacy;
• Collaborate with partners including people with lived experience of incarceration, colleagues in the prison law community, and other social justice and advocacy organizations;
• Oversee legal submissions to government, courts and administrative tribunals.

Education and Outreach

• Make presentations at conferences and public forums;
• In collaboration with the Director of Programs, maintain and update PLS’ public legal education materials and internal legal resources for staff;
• In collaboration with the Director of Programs, provide legal information and education to lawyers, students and others on prison law issues and the rights of incarcerated people.

Organizational Leadership and Management

• Supervise staff lawyers and legal clinic advocates;
• Oversee the supervision of articling and law students, and provide direct supervision as-needed;
• Oversee compliance with Law Society, legal and contractual obligations;
• Assist the Executive Director with organizational management responsibilities, including hiring and personnel matters, liaising with the board and staff union, budgeting, and work planning;
• Work with the Executive Director to promote positive funder relationships and quality reporting;
• Work with the Executive Director and other members of the team to develop, pursue funding for and implement new programs and initiatives;
• Carry out any other duties requested by the Executive Director and the Board.

As a new position in the organization, the Director of Legal Services will have the opportunity to collaborate with the Executive Director and others to shape and refine the role as needed. 

Qualifications and Skills

• Called to the bar in BC (or ability to join the BC bar), with at least 5 years of experience as a lawyer, and qualified to supervise articling students; 
• Familiarity with administrative, human rights and/or Charter law (especially ss 7, 12 and 15); 
• Strong writing, legal research, negotiation, oral advocacy and public speaking skills;
• Strong preference for experience (lived, professional and/or volunteer) advocating for criminalized people in a legal context or otherwise;
• Commitment to high-quality, anti-carceral, collaborative and client-centered legal services;
• Strong preference for prior experience, official or unofficial, in a leadership role;
• A humble, collaborative and non-hierarchical approach to management and supervision; desire to mentor, lift up, promote and care for the team;
• Strong strategic visioning, planning and implementation skills, and an interest in using the law to achieve systemic change;
• Commitment to social justice and uplifting the expertise of people with lived experience of incarceration, and a critical and anti-colonial approach to carceral and legal systems;
• Excellent judgment in matters of ethics, confidentiality and professionalism;
• Intellectual curiosity, creativity and flexibility;
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills and the ability to work with people in prison, lawyers, prison and parole officials, community partners, and others; 
• Strong organizational and time management skills and attentive to detail;
• Ability to care for yourself and colleagues amidst challenging work;
• Ability to travel within BC and Canada on occasion;
• Multi-lingual an asset, particularly the ability to read French.

Working Conditions:

This is a primarily in-person position based at our office in an elevator building in Burnaby, BC, with some opportunities for remote work. Office hours are approximately 8:30-4:30 Monday - Friday, with periodic work outside these hours. The Director of Legal Services will have their own office within our communal office space. There is a gender-neutral accessible washroom. 

The position requires phone communication, in-person and virtual meetings and hearings, and travel to prisons in the Lower Mainland and Fraser Valley. Travel to other parts of BC and Canada may be required on occasion. A driver’s licence and as-needed access to a vehicle strongly preferred. 

PLS staff are unionized; the Director of Legal Services is one of two positions outside the bargaining unit.

Salary: $94,926.96 - $147,088.37/year, depending on year of call, plus a comprehensive benefits package; $94,926.96 for a 5-year call, $122,777.21 for a 10-year call. Additional benefits include 20 paid vacation days, wellness days, law society fees and professional development opportunities. Limited relocation funding may be available. 

How to apply:

We are committed to upholding the values of equity, diversity, inclusion and social justice. We welcome and encourage applications from members of marginalized communities or communities that experience structural discrimination, including but not limited to Indigenous people, racialized people, people with (dis)abilities, and people of minority gender identities and sexual orientations. 

As an employer, we strive to create an inclusive and barrier-free recruitment and selection process; please contact to request accommodations.

Interested applicants should submit a cover letter and résumé to:                 

Nicole Kief, Executive Director

Prisoners’ Legal Services/West Coast Prison Justice Society

Please note “Director of Legal Services” in the subject line.

Closing date: September 15, 2025