Post-Graduate Fellow
Date Opened: February 2023
FLSA: Exempt, Full-Time (35 hours/week)
Compensation: School Funding + LCCRSF can raise to $70,000 a year
Duration: One year
Reports to: Senior Staff Attorney
Location: Currently remote, with San Francisco office open as an option. Must reside in California. Hybrid remote/office likely in future.
Are you a graduating law student looking to start your career working on cutting-edge civil rights issues in either economic or immigrant justice? If so, we invite you to consider joining our team at the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area (LCCRSF). At LCCRSF, we run an integrated advocacy team where we build campaigns that combine direct services, impact litigation, and political advocacy to protect and promote civil rights. Our civil rights work seeks to build power for communities of color, low-income people, immigrants, and refugees in the Bay Area and throughout California.
More About You
We are searching for a creative and compassionate graduating law student, skilled in or ambitious about movement lawyering, to join our Immigrant or Economic Justice team as a Post-Graduate Fellow. Funding for the post-graduate fellowship must be secured through the student’s law school.
We are searching for candidates who are committed to dismantling inequities in our society. A strong candidate will be able to take ownership over their projects and assignments, value healthy collaborative dynamics, and are eager to help shape the strategic vision for our team. This is an opportunity to build upon burgeoning litigation and advocacy skills with an enthusiastic team, a team with an ambitious vision for the future of our society.
The ideal candidate will also be able to demonstrate their commitment to movement lawyering through strong relationships and history with the communities we serve or with specific experience in organizing and movement work.
About LCCRSF
As one of the most enduring civil rights institutions on the West Coast, LCCRSF works to dismantle systems of oppression and racism and to build an equitable and just society. Formed in 1968 to bridge the legal community and the Civil Rights Movement, we’re known for advancing the rights of people of color, immigrants, refugees and low-income individuals. We also invest in legal fellows and support a network of over 1,000 active pro bono attorneys who work in solidarity with us.
Our goal is to make this work sustainable, to take care of each other and our communities, and to rest so we can be fierce in the face of power through our core issue areas of Racial Justice, Immigrant Justice, Economic Justice, and Educational Justice. Learn more at www.lccrsf.org.
Economic Justice-Your Work
A fellow for our Economic Justice team would work on policy and legal advocacy to advance public banking, government contracting equity, and commercial tenant rights. Our team works in coalition to help close the racial wealth gap by conducting legal research, negotiating, drafting local and statewide policies and spearheading educational workshops targeted at entrepreneurs of color. Our policy and legal advocacy is driven by our partners on the ground, as well as data gathered from our direct legal services program, Legal Services for Entrepreneurs. Our policy and legal advocacy on behalf of government contracting equity and commercial tenants’ rights will develop both new law in California and a foundation of knowledge that may support emerging impact litigation efforts to defend and advance equity policies.
Immigrant Justice-Your Work
A fellow for our Immigrant Justice team would work on a cutting-edge docket of immigrant justice litigation and advocacy. Our team leads a national effort to hold the government accountable for separating families at the border, coordinating litigators across over 30 lawsuits nationwide and representing seven Bay Area families in their own lawsuits seeking justice and accountability. A fellow also would work alongside members of our community who have been detained by ICE and, from inside detention, are organizing and advocating for their liberation. Our team litigates against ICE and the corrupt private, for-profit prison companies it contracts with to protect detained people from harm and secure their release. We work in coalition with a creative, committed group of advocates in Northern California
Salary, Benefits, Work location
This position is full-time, exempt, with an annual salary of $70k annually if the applicant receives a law school fellowship. The position reports to a Senior Staff Attorney. Full benefits package includes 100% paid medical + 80% for dependents, 403b retirement with employer match after one year, generous vacation, sick time, and paid holidays including winter break, quarterly wellness bonus, phone and internet reimbursement, FSA (flexible spending account) and pre-tax transit benefits.
Our office is located on the Embarcadero in downtown San Francisco, close to many transit options. We’re currently remote with our office available for optional use. We do not yet have a target date for return to the office, but we expect to offer at minimum part-time remote. While remote, employees may not work outside CA for more than 30 consecutive days at a time. Employees must be fully vaccinated for in-person work.
General working hours are 9am-5pm M-F. LCCRSF is woman- and minority-led, with about 30 staff. We are flexible, family-friendly, and value health, wellness and balance. We follow ADA guidelines – reasonable accommodation may be made to enable individuals with different abilities to perform the essential functions
Minimum Qualifications or Equivalent Experience
- J.D. from an ABA-accredited law school
- Scheduled to take the CA Bar exam
- Knowledge of and demonstrated interest in economic justice and civil rights
- Excellent oral and written communication skills
- Demonstrated success in building and maintaining relationships with people from a variety of backgrounds
- Solution-oriented mindset, including the ability to work independently and on a team, and demonstrated willingness to take initiative while juggling several priorities
- Connection to low-income communities of color and/or immigrant communities, ideally in the San Francisco Bay Area
- Strong project and time management skills, including demonstrated capacity to manage and prioritize competing projects
- Proficiency in a foreign language (particularly Spanish, Cantonese, or Mandarin) is desired but not required
To Apply
Job is open until filled and applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis. Applicants should submit 1) a thoughtful cover letter including which practice they are most interested in; 2) a resume; and, 4) three professional references by email to careers@lccrsf.org (put “Post-Graduate Fellow” in the subject line.) Questions can also go to that email.
In your cover letter, in addition to describing your interest in the position and qualifications, please respond to the following question: What in your background and experience has prepared you to work for an organization dedicated to advancing racial equity and justice? Feel free to think broadly about your response, applying professional or personal experiences.
Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area thrives as an affirmative action/equal opportunity employer. BIPOC, LGBTQ+ candidates, people of all gender identities, persons with disabilities and individuals over 55 are encouraged to apply.