POSITION SUMMARY:

Founded in 2017, the Lawyering Project (“Project”) is a legal advocacy organization that blends traditional impact litigation with movement lawyering to promote reproductive health, rights, and justice throughout the United States. We are fiscally sponsored by the Tides Center, a 501(c)(3) organization.

Laws that undermine reproductive health, rights, and justice deprive people of moral agency, rob us of control over our bodies, and compound other forms of oppression like racism, sexism, and poverty. Our mission is to eliminate these laws and the harmful impacts they have on people’s lives. We are especially focused on laws that limit the availability or affordability of abortion care; contribute to disparities in reproductive health outcomes; embody gender-based stereotypes; or discriminate against people based on their reproductive decisions.

Our goal is a legal system that enables each of us to make decisions about intensely personal matters like sex, pregnancy, family, and healthcare based on our own beliefs and values, and ensures that we all have the resources we need to carry out those decisions.

We have two legal programs, Access & Innovation and Constitutional Litigation. The Access & Innovation Program ensures that abortion providers can deliver quality medical care to their patients in line with the most recent scientific advancements and supports researchers who are collecting data on innovative approaches to abortion service delivery. The goal of this work is to remove practical barriers to abortion access and support innovation that cannot be addressed through constitutional litigation.

The Access & Innovation Program primarily focuses on:

• Providing pro bono legal assistance to researchers investigating innovative strategies to provide abortion care, such as advising major studies prior to launch or expansion, working with researchers to ensure study designs comply with legal requirements, and assisting researchers in obtaining the necessary approvals and exemptions; and
• Providing technical assistance to abortion providers to ensure they can provide care in evolving regulatory environments, such as helping clinics operationalize telemedicine and other innovative forms of abortion service delivery.

The Constitutional Litigation Program focuses on developing and prosecuting constitutional challenges to restrictive abortion laws. The success of our Constitutional Litigation Program relies on abortion providers’ readiness to provide innovative forms of abortion care, such as telemedicine, should legal barriers be removed. These complementary programs ensure that legal victories translate into meaningful, on-the-ground improvements to abortion access.

The Legal Counsel will primarily support the Access & Innovation Program, advising and representing Access & Innovation clients. The Legal Counsel will also support our Constitutional Litigation Program on an as-needed basis.

The Legal Counsel is an exempt position. Exempt employees are expected to work the appropriate and necessary time in order to complete key assignments and related tasks on schedule.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Conduct legal research, analysis, and writing;
• Advise and represent Access & Innovation clients;
• Supervise, mentor, support, and train less experienced attorneys, support personnel, and law students;
• Stay up-to-date on developments in relevant areas of the law;
• Assist in outreach to clients and maintaining client relationships; and
• Cultivate an organizational culture that aligns with our core values

OTHER DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Conduct legal research, analysis, and writing in connection with litigation;
• Assist with other litigation work on an as-needed basis;
• Assist with the recruitment and orientation of new staff members;
• Assist in maintaining strategic partnerships with allied organizations; and
• Represent the Lawyering Project at conferences, convenings, and speaking engagements

EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE:

The Legal Counsel must have:

• A J.D. or equivalent degree;
• An active license to practice law in a U.S. jurisdiction;
• 3-5 years of relevant legal experience;
• A commitment to advancing reproductive rights and justice

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS AND ABILITIES:

• Knowledge of laws and regulations affecting access to health care, reproductive rights jurisprudence, and the reproductive health, rights, and justice movement;
• Skill in legal research, analysis, and writing; and
• Ability to analyze complex legal issues and write about them succinctly, meet deadlines, be creative and take risks, supervise and mentor less experienced colleagues and law students, work well under pressure, foster and contribute to a collaborative team environment, and cultivate a diverse, equitable, and inclusive work culture that encourages and values differences.

ORGANIZATIONAL RELATIONSHIPS:

The Legal Counsel reports to a Senior Counsel & Director and works closely with other staff members, clients, co-counsel, and allied organizations.

PHYSICAL DEMANDS:

Must be able to travel domestically on an airplane 6-12 times a year. Note that travel is optional during the COVID-19 pandemic and has been largely suspended.

WORK ENVIRONMENT:

This is a full-time position that sometimes requires work during evenings and weekends.  This position may be based anywhere within the United States. The Legal Counsel has the option to work from home or from a rented office space.

SALARY:

The Lawyering Project has a fixed salary scale based on job responsibilities, education, and experience. For example, the salary for a 2017 law school graduate is $108,766. The salary for a 2015 law school graduate is $124,526. A copy of this scale will be provided to any applicant upon request.

We offer a robust benefits package that includes but is not limited to: health insurance (including medical, vision, and dental); disability and life insurance; flexible spending accounts (FSA) for health, dependent care, and transportation; retirement savings plan; paid vacation, holiday, and sick days; and paid parental, family, and medical leave. We also provide reimbursement for state bar membership fees and a professional development stipend. For additional information about our benefits, please reach out to info@lawyeringproject.org.

TO APPLY:

Please submit a cover letter, resume, legal writing sample (5-10 pages), and list of three professional references to jobs@lawyeringproject.org. Please write “Legal Counsel” in the subject line of the email. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis until the position is filled.

To best achieve our mission, the Lawyering Project is committed to cultivating an inclusive and equitable workplace in which differences are acknowledged and valued. In a section of your cover letter containing no more than 200 words, please describe the identities, perspectives, and experiences that you would bring to the Lawyering Project that are important to you and/or relevant to our work.

EEO NOTE:

The Lawyering Project, a project of Tides Center, is an “at-will” and equal opportunity employer. At the Lawyering Project, we believe that a team with varied perspectives and experiences will best enable our organization to thrive and achieve its mission. We are committed to building and maintaining an inclusive work environment that values individual differences. We welcome and encourage applicants with diverse experiences, identities, and backgrounds to apply. We will not discriminate against applicants and employees because of race, religion, sex, national origin, ethnicity, age, mental or physical disability, sexual orientation, gender (including pregnancy and gender expression), color, marital status, veteran status, medical condition, or any other classification protected by federal, state, or local law or ordinance.

We are committed to providing reasonable accommodations to pregnant people and qualified individuals with disabilities, including in the application process. If you need a reasonable accommodation to participate in the application or interview process, please send an email with the subject line “Reasonable Accommodation Request” to jobs@lawyeringproject.org.