Access to Justice Outreach Attorney/Attorney Organizer
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WASHINGTON, D.C. (preferred), OAKLAND, CA, or remote
Public Justice is a public interest legal advocacy organization that takes on the biggest systemic threats to justice of our time—abusive corporate power and predatory practices, the assault on civil rights and liberties, and the destruction of the earth’s sustainability. We connect high impact litigation with strategic communications and the strength of our partnerships to fight these abusive and discriminatory systems and win social and economic justice.
The Access to Justice Project at Public Justice seeks to hire an attorney with strong networking, coalition-building, and strategic communication skills to design and execute an outreach and organizing strategy, in conjunction with our existing team of attorneys and communications professionals, that will identify and build relationships with key allies and expand the reach of our educational and advocacy materials.
Access to Justice Project Overview
The Access to Justice Project uses litigation, advocacy, and organizing to help people harmed by corporate or governmental abuses by fighting against procedural and structural barriers that prevent them from seeking systemic change and vindicating their rights in transparent and publicly accountable forums. The Project leads the nation in victories for workers and consumers against efforts to force their claims into arbitration, preserves public access to court records and discovery materials, combats narrow applications of Article III standing that keep individuals and organizations from pursuing justice in federal court, works to preserve the viability of disparate-impact liability as a means of proving and remedying systemic discrimination, identifies and seeks to dismantle barriers to accessing justice in the civil court system for people who are incarcerated or in immigration detention facilities, and fights to preserve the class-action device as it is often the only route to force structural change.
The Role
The Access to Justice Project works in partnership with a network of litigators, organizations, and other allies who share our goal of a just and equitable civil court system. This network informs and magnifies our work in various ways: as a source of new cases; as a source of client stories for advocacy campaigns; and as a conduit through which to distribute educational materials for the benefit of others litigating in our strategic areas of focus. Most important, this network serves as thought partners and “eyes and ears” on the ground, making us aware of newly emerging barriers to historically disadvantaged communities’ ability to access the civil courts and helping us brainstorm responses to those emerging threats.
We seek to expand our existing networks which are primarily class action and personal injury attorneys to include civil rights, legal aid, and worker center organizations. We are seeking a dynamic self-starter who can take the lead in developing and execute an outreach and coalition-building strategy to address these gaps in our network in collaboration with the attorneys on the Access to Justice Project and Public Justice’s communications team:
- Identifying key gaps in our existing network (particularly around those litigating civil rights cases) and making connections with lawyers, organizations, and firms that address the areas in which our current network is underinclusive, finding ways that we can both help and learn from those new partners while also connecting them to advocacy efforts on issues of mutual concern like Article III standing and court secrecy;
- Attending conferences at which Public Justice is not already well-known to share information about what the Access to Justice Project does and learn about the emerging threats and barriers that lawyers in different practice areas are experiencing, with an eye both towards expanding the Access to Justice Project’s partnerships and identifying new strategic areas of focus that may inform our work;
- Identifying new speaking and publication opportunities, both for the outreach attorney themself and for other subject matter experts on the Access to Justice team, to expand our reach within the legal community;
- Compiling brief banks and other educational materials in areas where the Access to Justice team has litigated extensively (such as forced arbitration and federal preemption) and identifying new legal audiences who would find these materials useful; and
- Connecting with civil rights, legal aid, and worker center attorneys to identify doctrinal obstacles to the use of class actions and injunctions to obtain widespread relief, and jointly developing cases to combat those obstacles.
- Please note that we do not anticipate that the person in this position will be involved in litigating cases, though work on amicus briefs is possible.
Qualifications
- J.D. degree and at least three years of post-law school experience, which can include a clerkship or fellowship.
- Excellent analytical, writing, and speaking skills and the ability to modulate writing and speaking style for different types of audiences.
- Excellent outreach and networking skills.
- Ability to juggle multiple tasks at a time and work in a fast-paced environment.
- Self-motivation and proven ability to work independently and as part of a team.
- Ability to develop a long-range plan and to set intermediate goals towards achieving those long-range objectives, including the ability to be flexible and shift goals as necessary.
- Familiarity with, or interest in and ability to quickly gain familiarity with, the Access to Justice Project’s areas of substantive focus.
- Sensitivity to the needs and concerns of, and ability to work well with, individuals and groups from diverse cultures, backgrounds, and identities.
- Excellent attention to detail and commitment to follow-through.
- Strong organizational skills.
- Healthy sense of outrage and desire to change the world for the better.
- Community or labor organizing experience a plus.
- Existing connections to the legal aid or civil rights legal community is preferred.
We offer a mission-focused work environment, a teamwork and community-oriented approach, and a competitive compensation package. We recognize and support healthy work-life balance policies, including operating on a four-day work week year-round. We also offer a generous benefits package, including three weeks of paid vacation, two weeks of sick leave, and two personal days each year, all federal and some local holidays, employer-paid health, dental and vision insurance premiums, and a 401(k) plan. Our attorneys are paid on a salary scale based on years out of law school. The starting annual salary for an attorney 3 years out of law school is $79,000. Public Justice requires those working in its offices to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19. Reasonable accommodations to this requirement, including remote work, based on disability or a sincerely held religious belief will be considered.
Applications
Your application should consist of two electronic files: (1) your cover letter, resume, law school transcript, and references in a single .pdf file; and (2) a writing sample in another .pdf file, comprised of a legal brief or persuasive memo for which you were the primary author (please note the contributions of others). In your cover letter, please specify whether you are applying to work in the Washington, D.C., office, the Oakland, CA, office, or remotely. Candidates applying to work in D.C. are preferred.
Please send your application to staffattorney@publicjustice.net. Reference “Access to Justice Project Attorney Organizer” in the subject line. The application deadline is March 31, 2023, at which point applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis until the position is filled. For more information on Public Justice, please visit our website at www.publicjustice.net.
Public Justice EEO Statement
Public Justice is an equal opportunity employer and values a diverse workplace. We strongly encourage applications from people with disabilities; people of color, including bilingual and bicultural individuals; LGBTQ+ individuals; people of all genders; veterans; incarcerated individuals, and people of all ages. Public Justice is committed to providing reasonable accommodations to individuals with disabilities. If you require reasonable accommodations during any part of the hiring process, please email lhughes@publicjustice.net.
Background Check Policy
As an organization dedicated to protecting the rights of workers, Public Justice takes our duty to respect and honor the dignity of every employee seriously and balances this commitment with our responsibility to ensure a safe working environment for our team. As part of both these commitments, we will ask potential employees who have received a conditional offer of employment to consent to a narrowly tailored background check process. This process is limited only to specific inquiries regarding convictions related to financial fraud and violent crimes. We do not request, review or consider any information related to other matters, including consumer credit checks, non-violent drug offenses, sex work, or other past convictions with no history of violence, nor do we condone or participate in “dead naming” transgender applicants as part of this process. Public Justice strongly supports equal employment opportunities for all qualified applicants regardless of any past history unrelated to job performance or skills. Questions about our background check process should be addressed to Leroy Hughes by email at lhughes@publicjustice.net.