Habitability Attorney

Habitability Attorney | Fully Remote, California | $145,000 to $210,000
Nine hundred dollars to fix the unit. Six figures to fight the fee claim that turns up with it.
Mould, vermin, water intrusion, a failure to repair that went on far too long, a rent ordinance drafted to be argued over, and a fee shifting provision sitting under all of it making the small cases expensive. That gap is the practice area, and it's the reason these files get fought at all instead of being settled on sight.
You'd run your own caseload in Superior Court, start to finish, for owners, landlords and management companies. Two years of litigation and up, fully remote anywhere in California, and the band runs $145,000 to $210,000. There's a discretionary bonus and equity eligibility on top of that, with the 401k match, medical, dental, vision, life, disability and a generous holiday allowance behind it.
Habitability is a named practice here, with its own caseload, and it sits alongside construction defect and coverage in the same team, so one building can throw up all three and you get to see how they interact instead of handing two of them down the corridor.
Why this firm:
Habitability as its own specialism, with the work that goes with it
Construction defect and coverage in the same team, so a bad building stays one problem
Fully remote, hybrid or flexible, anywhere in the state
What you'll be doing:
Habitability, wrongful eviction and premises liability defence
Discovery, pleadings, dispositive and pre trial motions
Rent stabilisation and tenant protection ordinance arguments in San Francisco, Alameda and LA County
Multi plaintiff tenant groups, and the code enforcement records, repair logs and maintenance files that decide them
Preparing property managers and maintenance staff to give evidence
Mould claims, where the defence runs on indoor spore counts against the outdoor baseline
Civil Code 1942.4 and warranty of habitability theories, and the punitive damages exposure that rides along with them
Court appearances, depositions and mediations
What you'll have:
2 or more years of litigation, a JD from an ABA accredited school and admission to the California Bar
Enough local ordinance knowledge to know which city you're in
Next Steps:
Worst case, you spend 15 minutes on the phone with a recruiter and find out your current job is better than you thought it was.
https://calendly.com/arranjaiswal/15min, or 646 540 9647 if you’d rather not wrestle with a booking link.
I’m Arran Jaiswal at Distinct North America. There are 100 plus recommendations at the bottom of my LinkedIn page if you’re the checking sort.

Work arrangement
Yes