Advocacy Fellow

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Advocacy Fellow
Duties: Represents the Center’s commitment to helping to train aspiring civil rights advocates and providing a pathway for those seeking to transition into the field. Will report to the Executive Director of the Center for Law and Equality. Work includes involvement in civil rights litigation and policy; its research includes work on book projects and other scholarship; and its education efforts include its work with students and outreach to the general public. The Center engages in various forms of advocacy, including serving as counsel in affirmative civil litigation, representing individuals in post-conviction petitions, and filing amicus briefs in state and federal court on relevant civil rights and criminal justice issues. Recent notable work by the Center includes success at trial challenging Arizona ban on ethnic studies programs; two civil lawsuits filed in Alaska challenging the use of psychiatric medication and hospitalization of Native Alaskan children in foster care; representation of prisoners in post-conviction petitions seeking to overturn unconstitutional sentences based on juvenile and late adolescent conduct; and amicus briefs filed in various district and circuit courts, and the United States Supreme Court, challenging the Executive Branch’s exercise of power related to immigration (travel ban, DACA rescission) and use of the census. Assist with Task Force on Race and Washington’s Criminal Justice System. Help to develop, oversee, and support the Center’s litigation and advocacy efforts, including its current direct representation cases in Alaska involving the treatment of Alaska Native foster children, including one case currently scheduled for trial, August 2021. Further develop the Civil Rights Amicus Brief Project, including Researching and drafting amicus briefs on civil rights and criminal justice issues; Engaging communities through sign-on strategies; Developing and sustaining relationships with other advocacy organizations to support their work via amicus contributions. Assist in the Civil Rights Clinic. The clinic is a 6-unit course offered twice each academic year. May co-teach classes and supervise clinic students on litigation and advocacy efforts. In the past, these efforts have included direct representation in federal district and appellate courts, amicus briefs before the Washington Supreme Court and the United States Supreme Court, and advocacy reports. The clinic is currently capped to 4 students each semester who are supervised by Robert Chang and Assistant Directors Melissa Lee and Jessica Levin. Any work the fellow does with the clinic would be done as part of this supervisory team. Supervise student fellows and summer interns working on Center cases and projects.

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