Senior Counsel or Senior Staff Attorney, Litigation

Overview

Position location - Washington, DC;
San Francisco, CA; or Northeast Corridor between New York, NY metropolitan area and Washington DC metropolitan area (Hybrid or Remote).

Equal Rights Advocates (ERA) is a national civil rights organization founded in 1974 to expand economic and educational access and opportunities for women and girls. ERA advances gender justice through impact litigation, policy advocacy, public education, and direct legal services. Our team works at the state, multi-state, and national levels to promote gender equity and racial justice, expand economic security, and grow community power.

ERA’s legal initiatives include campaigns such as Equal Pay Today, the Women’s Agenda Initiative, the Stop Harassment State Network, the Stronger California Women’s Economic Security Campaign, and End Sexual Violence in Education. ERA’s home base is in San Francisco, with team members also located in Washington, D.C., and other locations. For more information on Equal Rights Advocates, please visit our website.

The Opportunity

ERA is looking for an Attorney/Counsel with proven litigation experience in employment law and in the civil rights space. As a Senior Counsel or Senior Staff Attorney, you will be responsible for engaging in all aspects of impact and individual litigation, developing new cases for litigation, assisting in crafting litigation strategy, drafting and reviewing amicus briefs, and developing and maintaining litigation relationships to advance ERA’s mission.

You may also be involved in defending against threats to the civil rights of workers and students. This position offers a unique opportunity to develop and engage in high-impact litigation on key civil rights, economic security, and gender justice issues in a thriving organization with creative and dedicated staff and a supportive work environment.

The Senior Counsel or Senior Staff Attorney will report to ERA’s Director of Litigation.

Primary Responsibilities

• Conduct cutting-edge impact and individual litigation, including legal research; investigating facts, working with clients; drafting pleadings, briefs and legal memoranda; engaging in discovery and motion practice; and conducting evidentiary hearings and oral arguments in court.

• Identify and develop new matters for litigation by conducting factual, legal and strategic analyses and formulating relevant theories and materials.

• Draft amicus briefs and review amicus briefs drafted by others for possible ERA involvement.

• Develop collaborative partnerships with other advocacy groups, legal services providers, plaintiffs’ attorneys, law firms, and other partners by participating in task forces and coalitions, attending conferences, and co-counseling lawsuits.

• Provide legal and strategy analysis, technical assistance, and thought leadership on substantive issues related to ERA’s mission to attorneys, government agencies, officials and staff, the media, worker and student organizations, and grassroots advocates when called upon by ERA leadership, departments, and programs.

• Assist in supervision of law student interns and provide occasional assistance to attorney fellow, as needed.

• Review public-facing legal training materials, resources, self-help tools, and “Know Your Rights” materials.

• Work closely with ERA’s legal and non-legal program staff to develop and implement communication strategies that promote and magnify the impact of ERA’s legal work.

• Assist ERA’s development team in drafting applications or reporting on grants that support the organization’s legal work, as needed.

• Occasional travel, as needed, for litigation, meetings, conferences, and other advocacy or professional development activities.

• Engage in special projects and other duties as assigned by ERA supervisory staff.

Candidate Profile

Required Qualifications:

• J.D. and at least one active bar membership;

• A minimum of four (4) years of post-J.D. litigation experience, including drafting case documents and engaging in discovery and motions practice, including at least 3 years of experience litigating employment discrimination cases;

• Demonstrated commitment to social, gender, and racial…