Legal Fellowship Opportunities for 2014

Since 1972, the National Women’s Law Center has led the way in expanding the possibilities for women and girls in our country. The Center uses the law in all its forms: getting new laws on the books; litigating ground-breaking lawsuits all the way to the Supreme Court; and educating the public about how to make the law and public policies work for women and their families. The Center’s experienced staff take on the issues that cut to the core of women’s and girls’ lives in health and reproductive rights, education, employment, and family economic security, with special priority given to the needs of low-income women and their families. The Center is now recruiting rising third-year law students, judicial clerks, and other recent law school graduates interested in applying for Skadden, Equal Justice Works, or other law fellowships to begin in September 2014, to discuss their interest in basing a fellowship project at the Center. Applications will be considered on a rolling basis with priority given to those received earliest.

Description

The fellow will support the Center’s work in one or more of the following program areas: Health and Reproductive Rights, Family Economic Security, or Education and Employment.  Some specific project ideas are described below, but applicants may draft their own project descriptions for consideration.  Responsibilities may include researching and analyzing policy and legal issues; drafting a variety of materials, such as memos, fact sheets, reports, comments on regulations, and legal briefs; and working with national and state-based coalitions.  Excellent benefits, including 4 weeks of vacation.

Qualifications

Law degree required.  Experience working in a research, advocacy, or policymaking environment preferred.  Must have excellent analytical, oral and written communications and organizational skills, attention to detail, and a commitment to women’s issues. 

Application Procedure

If you are interested in joining the NWLC team, submit a cover letter, resume, transcript, writing sample, and three references.  Electronic submissions are preferred.   Please send materials to humanresources@nwlc.org and include position title in the subject line.  Hard copies may be addressed to:  Human Resources Department, National Women's Law Center, 11 Dupont Circle NW, Suite 800, Washington, DC 20036, FAX: 202-588-5185. 

Project Ideas for 2014

Ensuring Pregnant and Parenting Students’ Access to Post-Secondary Education and Improving Their Chances for Success

Over 40 years after the passage of Title IX, which prohibits sex discrimination – including pregnancy discrimination – in federally funded education programs and activities, pregnant and parenting post-secondary students still face discriminatory barriers that push them off track and out of school. Even without such discrimination, many post-secondary pregnant and parenting students have challenges in their way – child care, transportation, housing, financial hardship, health care, etc. – that make it hard for them to prioritize or focus on their education. Only 2% of young teen mothers (those who have a baby by age 18) graduate from college by age 30, yet in the current economy and given the persistent gender wage gap, women who do not get a post-secondary education have dim prospects for economic security. This project will focus on improving access and outcomes for post-secondary pregnant and parenting students at community colleges, at public, private, and for-profit colleges and universities, and in post-secondary career and technical education programs. To achieve this goal, the fellow will (1) engage in outreach to pregnant and parenting post-secondary students and service providers who work with them, to educate them about the rights of pregnant and parenting students; (2) advocate for federal and state policies that will help improve their educational outcomes and future economic security; (3) engage in technical assistance and public education to promote Title IX compliance and supportive policies and programs in post-secondary schools; and (4) bring federal court cases and/or regulatory enforcement actions to challenge discriminatory policies and practices.

Athletic Opportunities for Girls and Women of Color

This project will focus on improving athletic opportunities for girls and women of color, who participate in sports at far lower rates than white girls and are often underrepresented in school sports programs relative to their share of the student population.  To achieve this goal, the fellow will engage in a number of activities, including researching athletic participation rates among girls and women of color; advocating for federal and state policies that will help increase athletic opportunities for this population; engaging in technical assistance and public education to promote Title IX compliance in schools; and bringing federal court cases and/or regulatory enforcement actions to challenge discriminatory policies and practices.

Bullying & Harassment in Schools

This project would focus on improving protection against gender-based bullying—with a focus on students who are especially vulnerable to bullying because they fail to conform to classic sex stereotypes—and remedying such harassment by seeking enhanced enforcement of Title IX.  To that end, the fellow will engage in direct representation and provide public education and technical assistance, using a broad set of legal tools.  Later in 2013, partnering with a leading National LGBT rights group, the Center is launching a campaign to help LGBT and gender nonconforming students find relief from bullying and harassment in schools using Title IX protections, and the fellow would be part of that effort.  Through a combination of public education, legal assistance, and advocacy, the fellow will work to inform students and parents about these legal rights, identify ways to tackle this pervasive problem, empower students to raise their voices and become advocates for a safer school environment, and strengthen existing Title IX legal protections.  The fellow will also be involved in legislative and administrative efforts to improve legal protections against bullying and harassment in schools and improve school climate more broadly.

Improving Working Conditions for Low-Wage Workers with Caregiving Responsibilities in Washington, D.C.

Low-wage workers with caregiving responsibilities often have a hard time holding onto their jobs, much less advancing, because of caregiver discrimination and challenging scheduling practices. For example, when parents in low-wage jobs have to miss work because they can’t arrange child care at the last minute, they often lose pay and some are fired. Some working parents find that after they have a child, their prospects for moving up on the job are shot, and their work hours are cut drastically. Having schedules regularly assigned with little or no notice, being required to work last-minute overtime but not getting paid at the overtime rate, and having very little ability to make changes to assigned schedules are all regular features of low-wage jobs that are especially difficult for workers with caregiving responsibilities. D.C. is one of only two states to have a family responsibilities discrimination law which can be used to challenge employer decisions to deny opportunities to workers with caregiving responsibilities and employer policies that have a particularly negative impact on workers with caregiving responsibilities, such as unpredictable and inflexible schedules. D.C.’s wage and hour laws, including the reporting time pay and split shift pay provisions, can also be enforced to protect these workers from unfair scheduling practices. D.C. is one of a handful of states to have these protections as well, but they are not widely known, and they are under-enforced.

This project will focus on improving working conditions for workers with caregiving responsibilities in Washington, D.C. This goal will be achieved by:

• Working with grassroots workers’ rights organizations in D.C. to shine a light on the impact of caregiver discrimination and difficult scheduling practices on low-wage workers with caregiving responsibilities;
• Educating workers with caregiving responsibilities in the D.C. area about the important legal protections available under D.C. law to address these challenges;
• Enforcing caregivers’ rights in the workplace under these laws with administrative agencies and in court; and
• Seeking changes in employer policy and practice and agency policy at the local level to improve working conditions for caregivers.