Public Rights Project: 2022 Post-Graduate Legal Fellowship

Position Title: Legal Fellow

Position Description: 2022 Post-Graduate Legal Fellowship
State and Local Government Impact Litigation

About Public Rights Project
Public Rights Project is a public interest legal nonprofit launched in 2017 to close the gap between the promise of our laws and the lived reality of marginalized communities. We support state, local, and tribal governments to implement a scalable, community-accountable model to enforce their residents’ legal rights. We work closely with a network of more than 70 governments across the country.

We work with state and local prosecutors' offices, including Attorneys General, District Attorneys, and City Attorneys' Offices. We help these offices identify promising legal theories to enforce their residents' legal rights, and marshal the resources to take action. We also run a fellowship program to embed early-career attorneys in government and to train attorneys currently working in government.

PRP's litigation work includes representing local governments in strategic litigation. For example, PRP filed a case as co-counsel to the cities of Portland and Oakland to challenge the deployment of federal law enforcement in response to racial justice protests during the summer of 2020. We are currently gearing up to file a case on behalf of local governments in Florida to challenge a budgeting provision in HB 1. Public Rights Project also organizes and files amicus briefs on behalf of local governments on issues like housing, reproductive, and workers’ rights. In October, we submitted a brief on behalf of more than 30 local governments in support of challenges to Texas’ SB 8 before the U.S. Supreme Court. Across issue areas, we advocate against state efforts to abusively preempt local government actions that protect historically underserved communities. 
Legal Fellow

PRP is seeking applicants for a post-graduate fellow for the 2022-2023 fellowship year, beginning in September 2022. Fellowships should be at least six months in length with a strong preference for those that are one year or longer. Applicants should be 3Ls or judicial law clerks.

What We’re Looking For
We are looking for candidates with a belief in the power of state and local government to make positive change in the world and a passionate commitment to economic, racial, gender, and environmental justice. A fellowship at Public Rights Project would be ideal for candidates interested in cutting-edge impact litigation, public service, and creative strategies to advance core civil rights, the rights of workers and consumers, and more. Fellows will have an opportunity to work directly with the Legal Director, Staff Attorneys, Legal Fellows, multiple cities and states across the country, and community and nonprofit partners. Fellows will also have an opportunity to contribute to case generation, development, and strategy, shape the direction of Public Rights Project, and gain valuable experience in organizational and program design.
Graduating students do not need funding to be eligible for the position. Students who have secured partial or total funding for the year (or a part of the year) are encouraged to apply. PRP will work with applicants on devising a project should one be required for any outside funding. PRP is also open to sponsoring applicants. 

We welcome applicants from all jurisdictions. All work will be conducted remotely.

Fellow Duties 
The Legal Fellow will be an essential part of PRP’s legal team and work closely with our Legal Director and Staff Attorneys to identify and pursue opportunities for PRP to promote high-impact affirmative litigation by state and local governments. As a small but growing team at PRP, we offer graduate fellows the opportunity to work on, and potentially lead, many aspects of our programs. For example, one of PRP’s core projects in 2021 was supporting advocacy on behalf of workers for Handy, a gig home cleaning and maintenance company, which like many other gig companies classifies its workers as independent contractors. Among other things, our fellow led and managed an amicus effort filed in support of District Attorneys of San Francisco and Los Angeles enforcement action against Handy for alleged employee misclassification.

As another example, our current fellows are working alongside community-based organizations, elected officials, professors, and other advocacy organizations to put together a lawsuit challenging Florida’s Anti-Protest Law (formerly Florida 2021 Legislative Session HB 1- Combating Public Disorder), which seeks to restrict local governments by impairing municipal control of their law enforcement budgets. This is just one example of the type of work PRP is engaging in the area of local preemption, which is strengthened by our partnership with the Local Solution Support Center. 

Not only do fellows develop and grow their legal skills, but fellows are also able to develop supervisory and managerial skills. Fellows run and manage our semester and summer internships, which entails recruiting, interviewing, creating and running programming, and managing the day to day of interns.

Our program offers fellows a unique opportunity to gain skills, engage in community advocacy, and build partnerships--all within an agile, start-up environment.

How to Apply
Interested individuals should apply by submitting the following materials to https://www.tfaforms.com/4945328. 
-Cover letter (no more than 1 page)
-Resume
-Writing sample (no more than 10 pages). Please include a cover page that explains if the work is solely your own or if you received any edits/contributions from others, including a professor or supervisor.

Deadline: We will begin reviewing applications on 12/6/2021 and will review applications received after that date on a rolling basis until the position is filled. Please do not hesitate to apply after 12/6 or reach out to find out if the positions have been filled.

We value diversity and welcome potential interns from all backgrounds. If you require accommodations during the application process please email martha@publicrightsproject.org.

All inquiries should be directed to:
Martha Cardenas, Legal Fellow, via email: martha@publicrightsproject.org. Learn more about PRP on our website.

Deadline: 12/31/2021

Eligibility: 3L, Recent Grads