Senior EOIR Removal Defense Paralegal / Team Lead

Full-Time | Remote | U.S. Immigration Law Firm

We are seeking an experienced EOIR Removal Defense Paralegal for a role that combines substantive casework with team leadership and department administration.

The Team Lead will oversee a team of approximately three Removal Defense Paralegals while maintaining a limited personal caseload of approximately 5–15 EOIR matters.

The limited personal caseload is intentional. Most of the Team Lead's time will be dedicated to managing and supporting the paralegal team, monitoring the department's overall caseload, managing deadlines and workflows, reviewing work, conducting case audits, maintaining department organization, and ensuring cases continue progressing appropriately.

This position requires someone with strong hands-on EOIR removal defense experience who understands the work well enough to manage others, identify problems, maintain quality standards, and step in when additional case support is needed.

Primary Responsibilities

1. Team Leadership & Supervision

The Team Lead will oversee a team of approximately three Removal Defense Paralegals.

Responsibilities include:

• Assigning and monitoring work
• Managing team workloads and case distribution
• Reviewing upcoming hearings and deadlines with the team
• Conducting regular case and task audits
• Identifying overdue or incomplete work
• Following up with team members to ensure assignments are completed
• Reviewing work for completeness and quality before attorney review when appropriate
• Training and supporting paralegals
• Answering procedural and workflow questions
• Helping team members prioritize competing deadlines
• Ensuring firm procedures, SOPs, and checklists are followed
• Holding team members accountable for deadlines and assigned responsibilities
• Identifying recurring performance or workflow problems
• Escalating significant issues to attorneys or management
• Redistributing work when a team member is overloaded or unavailable
• Stepping into urgent matters when additional senior-level assistance is required
• Maintaining a culture of ownership, accountability, and proactive case management

The Team Lead should have visibility into what is happening across the team's caseload and should proactively identify problems rather than relying solely on individual paralegals to raise them.

2. Personal EOIR Caseload

The Team Lead will maintain a limited personal caseload of approximately 5–15 EOIR matters.

The caseload may include:

• Master Calendar Hearing matters
• Individual/Merits Hearing preparation
• Defensive asylum, withholding of removal, and CAT
• Cancellation of Removal
• Adjustment of Status before EOIR
• Detained removal proceedings
• Bond and custody matters
• VAWA-related removal defense matters
• Motions to Reopen and Reconsider
• Motions to Change Venue
• Motions to Continue
• Motions to Substitute or Withdraw Counsel
• Prosecutorial Discretion requests
• BIA-related matters
• Other EOIR motions and applications

Responsibilities may include preparing forms, motions, declarations, exhibits, indexes, supporting documentation, and court filing packages for attorney review.

The Team Lead may also be expected to assist with emergency filings, unexpected staffing gaps, complex or time-sensitive matters, and other situations where additional senior-level support is needed.

The personal caseload will intentionally remain smaller than that of the other paralegals because team management and department administration will comprise a significant portion of this position.

3. EOIR Department Administration

The Team Lead will be responsible for helping manage the day-to-day administration and organization of the Removal Defense Department.

Responsibilities include:

• Maintaining oversight of the department's overall EOIR caseload
• Maintaining and auditing the master EOIR hearing and deadline calendar
• Tracking Master Calendar Hearings, Individual Hearings, bond hearings, filing deadlines, attorney appearances, and other critical dates
• Establishing internal preparation deadlines well in advance of court deadlines
• Monitoring ECAS and EOIR case information for hearing changes, court orders, scheduling updates, and other developments
• Ensuring court notices, IJ orders, DHS filings, and other correspondence are properly saved and routed
• Monitoring attorney calendars for hearing conflicts and potential coverage needs
• Maintaining appropriate oversight of detained and other urgent cases
• Tracking motions, applications, exhibits, briefs, biometrics, filing fees, supporting evidence, and other outstanding requirements
• Ensuring Proofs of Service and filing confirmations are properly maintained
• Overseeing the opening, assignment, transfer, reassignment, and closing of EOIR matters
• Ensuring newly retained EOIR cases are properly onboarded and assigned
• Coordinating case handoffs between attorneys, paralegals, intake, case management, and other departments
• Maintaining department templates, checklists, SOPs, filing procedures, and workflows
• Identifying administrative bottlenecks and recommending solutions
• Ensuring cases do not remain inactive because a task has not been assigned, completed, or followed up on

4. Deadline & Case Progression Management

A major responsibility of the Team Lead will be ensuring cases across the department continue moving forward.

The Team Lead should regularly be able to determine:

• What hearings are approaching?
• What applications or filings are due?
• What needs to be completed in the next 30, 60, and 90 days?
• Which Individual Hearings require preparation to begin?
• Which cases have not progressed recently?
• Which cases are missing documents or evidence?
• Which cases are waiting on client action?
• Which clients require additional follow-up?
• Which team members have overdue work?
• Which attorneys require upcoming case preparation?
• Which detained matters require immediate attention?
• Which matters are at risk of becoming emergencies?
• What is the next required action on each case?

The goal is to operate proactively and identify problems before they become urgent.

5. Attorney Support & Hearing Preparation

The Team Lead will help ensure attorneys are appropriately prepared for upcoming hearings.

Responsibilities include:

• Monitoring upcoming attorney hearing schedules
• Ensuring cases are prepared sufficiently in advance
• Coordinating exhibit preparation and filing
• Ensuring declarations and supporting evidence are obtained timely
• Identifying missing evidence before attorney preparation begins
• Preparing case summaries and procedural histories when appropriate
• Coordinating client preparation appointments
• Identifying cases requiring attorney strategy meetings
• Escalating complicated legal or procedural issues
• Ensuring attorneys are informed of significant case developments

Attorneys should not need to repeatedly chase the paralegal team to determine whether a case is prepared or what remains outstanding.

6. Client Management & Quality Control

The Team Lead will help ensure appropriate and timely client communication throughout the department.

Responsibilities include:

• Communicating with clients regarding procedural requirements and case preparation for personally assigned matters
• Monitoring outstanding client document requests across the team
• Ensuring paralegals are appropriately following up with clients
• Reviewing cases involving repeatedly unresponsive clients
• Ensuring significant client communications are documented
• Helping address escalated client concerns
• Ensuring hearing and appointment reminders are provided
• Identifying communication breakdowns before they affect case preparation
• Escalating client complaints or urgent issues appropriately

The Team Lead must understand the distinction between providing procedural information and legal advice and know when questions must be referred to an attorney.

7. Case Management & Data Accuracy

The Team Lead will help ensure Lawmatics, Docketwise, Microsoft 365, and other firm systems accurately reflect what is happening across the Removal Defense Department.

Responsibilities include:

• Ensuring case statuses are current
• Ensuring hearing dates and deadlines are entered correctly
• Ensuring tasks have appropriate owners and due dates
• Monitoring overdue tasks
• Ensuring case notes are complete
• Ensuring important documents and notices are properly saved
• Identifying files with incomplete or inaccurate information
• Ensuring completed matters are properly closed
• Maintaining consistent documentation and case-management practices across the team

8. Reporting & KPIs

The Team Lead will assist management in monitoring the performance and overall health of the Removal Defense Department.

This may include tracking and reporting on:

• Upcoming hearings
• Upcoming filing deadlines
• Overdue tasks
• Detained cases
• Cases requiring attorney attention
• Cases awaiting client documents
• Cases that are not progressing
• Individual paralegal workloads
• Task completion
• Deadline compliance
• Case audit results
• Client follow-up
• Filing accuracy
• Department productivity

The Team Lead should be comfortable using reports and data to identify problems and areas requiring additional attention.

Systems & Technology

Candidates must be comfortable working in a fully remote, technology-driven environment.

Experience with the following is preferred:

• Docketwise
• Microsoft 365
• Adobe/PDF document preparation
• ECAS
• EOIR Automated Case Information
• USCIS online systems

Strong general technology skills and the ability to quickly learn new systems are required.

Required Qualifications

Candidates must have:

• Prior U.S. immigration paralegal experience
• Substantial EOIR/removal defense experience
• Strong knowledge of EOIR procedures and terminology
• Experience preparing immigration court filings
• Experience managing court deadlines and hearing calendars
• Experience supporting attorneys in removal proceedings
• Strong written and spoken English
• Excellent attention to detail
• Strong administrative and organizational abilities
• Ability to manage multiple priorities simultaneously
• Ability to prioritize detained and urgent matters
• Ability to work independently in a remote environment
• Ability to supervise, train, and support other team members
• Ability to hold team members accountable in a professional manner
• Strong client-service skills
• Strong problem-solving skills
• Ability to recognize problems and escalate them appropriately

Strongly Preferred Experience

Preference will be given to candidates with experience involving:

• Detained removal defense
• Bond proceedings
• Defensive asylum
• Cancellation of Removal
• Adjustment before EOIR
• VAWA-related removal matters
• BIA appeals
• Motions to Reopen
• Individual Hearing preparation
• Exhibit and evidence preparation
• High-volume EOIR caseloads
• Team supervision or coordination
• Department administration

Spanish proficiency is a plus but is not required.

Who We Are Looking For

The right candidate is an experienced EOIR paralegal who can successfully balance their own limited caseload with responsibility for the organization and performance of the larger team.

You should be someone who can look across the department and immediately begin asking:

• What is due?
• What is missing?
• What is overdue?
• Who is responsible for it?
• What does the attorney need?
• What are we waiting on from the client?
• Which cases are not progressing?
• Does anyone on the team need assistance?
• What could become a problem if we do not address it now?

We are looking for someone who is:

• Proactive
• Highly organized
• Deadline-driven
• Accountable
• Comfortable holding others accountable
• Calm under pressure
• Detail-oriented
• Resourceful
• Comfortable managing competing priorities
• Able to lead while remaining hands-on
• Capable of identifying problems before they become emergencies

Work Schedule & Availability

This is a full-time remote position supporting a U.S.-based immigration law firm.

The standard coverage schedule is 7:00 AM to 5:00 PM Eastern Time, with two 30-minute breaks during the workday.

We offer flexibility in how the latter portion of the workday is structured.

The Team Lead may generally log out from regular active work at 3:00 PM Eastern Time, provided that their responsibilities for the day are appropriately managed. From 3:00 PM to 5:00 PM Eastern Time, the Team Lead must remain reasonably available and responsive if needed for team support, urgent case matters, attorney requests, deadline issues, or other time-sensitive department needs.

The expectation is:

• Regular working hours begin at 7:00 AM Eastern Time
• Two 30-minute breaks are provided during the workday
• Regular active work may generally conclude at 3:00 PM Eastern Time
• The Team Lead must remain reachable and available for team or urgent department needs until 5:00 PM Eastern Time
• Occasional flexibility may be required when urgent EOIR matters, hearings, filings, or team issues arise
• The Team Lead is expected to manage their schedule responsibly so that personal casework, team-management responsibilities, and department administrative duties are completed timely

The purpose of the extended availability window is to ensure that the three paralegals being supervised and the attorneys they support have access to the Team Lead when an issue arises later in the business day.

Remote Work Requirements

The employee must have:

• Reliable high-speed internet
• Reliable computer equipment
• A professional and quiet workspace
• Ability to participate in video meetings
• Excellent remote communication habits
• Ability to work and remain available during the required Eastern Time schedule

How to Apply

Please submit your resume together with a brief explanation of your EOIR/removal defense experience.

Your application should specifically answer:

1. How many years of U.S. immigration experience do you have?
2. How many years of EOIR/removal defense experience do you have?
3. What types of EOIR cases have you personally handled?
4. Have you worked on detained cases?
5. Have you prepared cases for Individual Hearings?
6. Have you prepared EOIR motions and exhibit filings?
7. Have you supervised, trained, or coordinated the work of other immigration paralegals?
8. Have you been responsible for managing a department calendar or auditing caseloads?
9. Which immigration and case-management systems have you used?
10. Are you able to work the required Eastern Time schedule?
11. What is your expected monthly compensation?

Candidates without meaningful EOIR/removal defense experience may not be considered.