The LEGAL SERVICES CENTER OF HARVARD LAW SCHOOL seeks an attorney to join our Veterans Legal Clinic as the DAV Charitable Service Trust Fellow. Working under the mentorship of experienced veterans’ advocates, the Fellow will provide legal representation to low-income veterans who have urgent unmet civil legal needs. The Fellowship is designed as a supportive training ground for a recent law school graduate or other early-career attorney who is interested in advocating on behalf of the veteran community.
The Fellow will work in one of two projects within the Clinic, either the Veterans Justice Project or the Estate Planning Project. Fellowship applicants should specify in their application materials whether they are interested in one Project or would be open to working in either Project.
The Veterans Justice Project uses litigation to advance the rights of veterans who are vulnerable and marginalized, such as veterans with mental health conditions, Military Sexual Trauma survivors, veterans who experienced discrimination during their military service, unhoused veterans, and incarcerated veterans. The docket of the Veterans Justice Project includes discharge upgrade cases before Department of Defense tribunals and in federal court, administrative and federal court challenges to VA benefit decisions and policies, administrative and state court challenges to Massachusetts veterans benefit decisions and policies, and other case types where important rights are at stake for the veteran community. The Project combines individual representation cases with impact litigation cases. More information about the work of the Veterans Justice Project can be found here.
The Estate Planning Project helps veterans exercise maximum control over family, health, and financial decision-making to promote their dignity and independence by drafting wills, health care proxies, powers of attorney, funeral/memorial and medical advance directives, and special needs trusts, as well as representing veterans facing VA fiduciary appointments. The Estate Planning Project also provides community education detailing how estate planning tools are beneficial for every individual and family, and especially for lower-income communities. Veterans represented by the Estate Planning Project include older veterans living with chronic or terminal illness, younger veterans who deployed in the post-9/11 era, veterans living with the invisible wounds of war, and those whose chosen families are not the family they were born into or raised by. More information about the work of the Estate Planning Project can be found here.
The Fellow will have the opportunity to maintain their own docket of cases and will participate in the process of shaping that docket during the Fellowship, including on questions of responding to areas of acute community need and pursuing systemic reform matters. The Fellow’s docket will be composed of a mix of cases the Fellow is handling on their own and cases the Fellow is co-counseling with other Clinic attorneys. The Fellow will be supervised by a senior attorney within their chosen project(s) and will receive ongoing mentorship from both their attorney supervisor and the other attorneys in the Clinic. The Fellow will be provided opportunities for professional development, including attending trainings, conferences, and other programs. The Fellow will be fully integrated into the Clinic, including through inclusion in regular team meetings to discuss case prioritization, emerging legal issues, community partnerships, and strategic planning. Likewise, the Fellow will be enmeshed into the work of the Legal Services Center and its community of advocates. While the Fellow will not have formal teaching or student supervision responsibilities within the Clinic, the Fellow will have many opportunities to attend class sessions, case rounds discussions, and in-house trainings. In addition, there will likely be opportunities for the Fellow to work on case teams that include students.
Fellowship Terms
The Fellowship is for a two-year appointment, with the possibility of renewal for a third-year contingent on organizational needs, the availability of funding, and the mutual interests of the Veterans Legal Clinic and the Fellow. The precise start date of the Fellowship is flexible, but applicants should be able to commence their work as a Fellow at some point between July and October 2024. The Fellow will work in-person at the Legal Services Center’s community-based location in the City of Boston. Salary is commensurate with experience, with the expected annual salary range between $70,000-$80,000. Fellows are classified as University employee postdocs who are eligible to access a wide range of University benefits and resources, as described more fully here.
Fellowship Requirements
Applicants must have received a J.D. within the last five years. Applicants must be a current member of the Massachusetts bar in good standing or be eligible to receive temporary admission pursuant to Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Rule 3:04 followed by full bar admission via reciprocity with another state’s bar or sit for the summer 2024 or winter 2025 Massachusetts bar exam. Prior experience working on behalf of veterans is helpful, but not required. As described in more detail below, applicants should state in their materials whether they are interested in working in either the Veterans Justice Project or the Estate Planning Project or are open to working in either Project.
How To Apply
Applications will be considered on a rolling basis, with an application close date of May 31, 2024. Interested applicants are strongly encouraged to apply as early as possible to ensure their candidacy can receive full consideration. To apply, please send a resume, a list of three professional references, a legal work-product writing sample, and a detailed cover letter to LSCfacultyassistant@law.harvard.edu (please put “DAV Fellowship Application, Veterans Legal Clinic” in the subject line of your email).
Cover letters should, at a minimum, address the following topics: any prior experience working on veterans issues; the nature of the applicant’s interest in advocating for the veteran community, the applicant’s commitment to a public interest legal career; and whether the applicant is interested in working within the Veterans Justice Project or the Estate Planning Project or is open to working in either Project, and the reasons for the applicant’s interest.
Harvard Law School is an equal opportunity employer that does not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, disability, gender, nationality, ethnicity, sexual orientation, veteran status, or other prohibited category. We strongly encourage women, people of color, veterans, LGBTQ+ individuals, people with disabilities, and all qualified persons to apply for this position.
About the Veterans Legal Clinic and the DAV Charitable Service Trust Fellowship
Founded in 2012, the Veterans Legal Clinic advocates for the rights of marginalized and underserved veterans and their families to ensure that they have access to the health care, income supports, benefits, recognition, and opportunities necessary to their wellbeing. The Clinic—one of six clinics based at the Legal Services Center of Harvard Law School—uses creative legal strategies to vindicate the rights of individual veterans and to pursue systemic reforms within the institutions and programs that are designed to support the veteran community.
The Veterans Legal Clinic is extraordinarily privileged to partner with the DAV Charitable Service Trust, whose generous support makes the work of the Clinic possible. In recognition of the Trust’s commitment to the Clinic’s mission and its support of this Fellowship, the attorney fellow will be designated as the DAV Charitable Service Trust Fellow.
The mission of the DAV Charitable Service Trust is to empower veterans to lead high-quality lives with respect and dignity. To carry out this mission, the Trust supports physical and psychological rehabilitation programs; enhances research and mobility for veterans with amputations and spinal cord injuries; benefits aging veterans; aids and shelters homeless veterans; and evaluates and addresses the needs of veterans wounded in recent wars and conflicts. For those of every era, the Trust also supports programs that benefit the caregivers and families of ill and injured veterans.
About the Legal Services Center
Founded in 1979, the Legal Services Center of Harvard Law School (LSC) of Harvard Law School is located at the crossroads of Jamaica Plain and Roxbury in the City of Boston. LSC’s longstanding dual mission is to pursue justice for community members of limited means while educating Harvard Law Students for practice and professional service. Through six clinics—Consumer Protection, Family Justice, Tax Litigation, Housing, LGBTQ+ Advocacy, and Veterans Law and Disability Benefits—and numerous projects and pro bono initiatives, LSC advocates and student attorneys provide essential legal services to community members from nearby neighborhoods in Boston, to residents of Greater Boston and Massachusetts, and in some instances, where cases present unique law reform opportunities, to clients from across the country.
Across its many practice areas, LSC works to improve the lives of individual clients, to seek systemic change for the communities it serves, and to provide clinical law students with a singular opportunity to develop fundamental lawyering skills within an immersive and community-based, legal services practice setting. LSC’s clinics use a variety of advocacy tools—including high-volume civil legal services, cutting-edge litigation and policy advocacy, and innovative outreach and community legal education strategies. Central to LSC’s model of legal advocacy and clinical education is an understanding that legal crises do not arise in isolation, that many clients face multiple and intersecting legal and non-legal needs, and that a holistic approach to lawyering best serves client and community interests. LSC actively partners with a diverse array of community groups, prioritizes cooperation and inter-disciplinary work, including through two medical-legal partnerships, and regularly adapts its practice areas to meet the changing legal needs of client communities. To learn more about LSC and its individual clinics, projects, and initiatives, please visit here.