Law Clerk (Summer 2027)

Overview

A nonprofit legal advocacy organization is seeking to hire four Law Clerks for Summer 2027, one in each of its four project areas. These projects focus on systemic justice issues including access to civil courts, criminalization of poverty, students' civil rights, and environmental enforcement.

Responsibilities

• Conduct legal research and writing to support high-impact litigation and advocacy efforts.
• Assist attorneys, law fellows, and cooperating counsel in developing new cases and managing ongoing litigation.
• Participate in case review and contribute to brainstorming sessions on legal theories and strategies.
• Work primarily within one project area but may assist in other areas as needed.

Project Areas

• Access to Justice Project: Focuses on dismantling barriers in the civil court system such as forced arbitration, limits on collective actions, strict standing requirements, and court secrecy to ensure fairness for less powerful individuals.
• Debtors’ Prison Project: Aims to end the criminalization of poverty and reduce incarceration by challenging practices that jail people for inability to pay and combat the use of impacted individuals as revenue sources.
• Students’ Civil Rights Project: Works to create safe, equitable learning environments free from discrimination based on race, sex, sexual orientation, and gender identity, using litigation and advocacy to secure systemic change.
• Environmental Enforcement Project: Enforces environmental laws through litigation to fight climate change, promote environmental justice, and hold polluters accountable.

Location

Law Clerks may work in-person at the organization's headquarters in Washington, D.C., or remotely with some limitations. They will support attorneys both in the D.C. office and remotely across the country.

Qualifications

• Currently enrolled in law school and eligible for a law clerk position.
• Strong legal research and writing skills.
• Interest in public interest law and systemic justice issues.

Additional Information

This is a summer position for 2027. Law clerks will be involved in meaningful litigation and advocacy efforts aimed at achieving social and economic justice through the legal system.