GEORGIA STATE UNIVERSITY’S COLLEGE OF LAW seeks highly qualified applicants for a full-time clinical faculty position in its interdisciplinary Health Law Partnership (HeLP) Legal Services Clinic.  The successful candidate may also be appointed as Director of the Health Law Partnership.  Launched in 2004, HeLP is a community-based medical-legal collaboration among the law school, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, and the Atlanta Legal Aid Society (see www.healthlawpartnership.org). HeLP provides legal assistance to low-income families and their children who are patients at Children’s hospitals on civil matters that have the potential to improve children’s health and quality of life, such as laws related to public benefits, family welfare, housing, education, consumer rights, employment, disability, and permanency planning.  The HeLP Clinic, Launched in 2007, teaches interdisciplinary collaborative problem-solving to students of law, medicine, and graduate students of social work, bioethics, and public health (see http://law.gsu.edu/clinics/help-legal-services-clinic/).

Appointment could begin as early as spring 2018.    The position is a non-tenure track twelve-month clinical faculty appointment, with faculty status, a renewable contract, and job security commensurate with tenured faculty.  Clinical faculty have voting rights and serve on faculty committees at the College of Law.  Clinical faculty also teach non-clinic courses consistent with their expertise and interests. 

Responsibilities of the position include:

·       Supervising law students in casework and clinic projects;

·       Supervising students from other professions and coordinating with other Georgia State University units and other academic institutions in Atlanta for the participation of non-law graduate students in the HeLP clinic;

·       Sharing responsibility for developing and teaching seminar sessions;

·       Performing administrative responsibilities associated with the HeLP and HeLP Clinic;

·       Overseeing HeLP and related functions, including coordinating with HeLP partners;

·       Collaborating with HeLP partners and others in the education of medical and other partners and constituents, and conducting research and policy advocacy consistent with the mission and components of HeLP.   

Qualifications for the position include:

·       A J.D. degree from an ABA-accredited law school and a strong academic record;

·       Excellent experience in legal practice and lawyering skills;

·       Membership in or ability to become a member of the State Bar of Georgia; 

·       5 plus years of post-J.D. legal experience;

·       Demonstrated commitment to social justice and an interest in clinical teaching;

·       A proven record of (or clear demonstrated potential for) successful teaching and professional engagement;

·       Prior medical, health-related, or legislative and policy experience a plus.

Part of a comprehensive research university, the College of Law is a dynamic urban-centered law school located in the heart of Atlanta with approximately 650 full- and part-time law students.  The clinic is located in the Center for Clinical Programs, an in-house suite of clinic offices located in the new college of law building. 

We encourage applications from candidates who would diversify our faculty.  Georgia State University, a unit of the University System of Georgia, is an equal opportunity educational institution and an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer.  As required by Georgia State University, an appointment is contingent upon successful completion of a criminal background investigation.

Applications will be reviewed until the position is filled.

Required Documents:

• Letter of interest
  
• Curriculum Vitae
  
• Complete law school transcript
  
• At least two letters of reference
  
• Sample of Written Work (max. 10 pages)
  

Please submit applications to:

Prof. Leslie Wolf

Director, Center for Law, Health and Society, Center for Law, H

Chair, Faculty Recruitment Committee

College of Law, Georgia State University

P.O. Box 4037

Atlanta, GA 30302-4037

Telephone:  404-413-9164

E-mail: lwolf@gsu.edu

MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF LAW invites applications for a two-year position in its Immigration Law Clinic, starting Summer 2018. In coordination with Immigration Law Clinic faculty, the Fellow will supervise students in representing clients and in advocacy projects, teach clinic seminar classes, evaluate students and participate in the general development and functioning of the clinic. In anticipation that the Fellow will pursue opportunities to enter a career in law teaching, the law school will support the Fellow’s efforts at scholarly development including research and conference travel support.

MSU’s Immigration Law Clinic provides opportunities for students to learn the practice of law in a well-supervised and academically rigorous program. The direct representation of clients is the core of the students’ experience in the clinic, and the clinic seeks to maintain a diverse and challenging docket. The clinic selects cases with attention to pedagogical concerns, community need, and impact to provide students with opportunities to engage as attorneys in a variety of contexts.

Current cases include removal defense for non-detained and detained noncitizens, affirmative applications before USCIS, appellate matters before the Board of Immigration Appeals and the U.S. Courts of Appeals, and policy advocacy.

Applicants must have a JD degree from an ABA-accredited law school and membership in a state bar.  Preference will be given to applicants with experience representing noncitizens, strong academic records and writing ability, and a demonstrated commitment to public interest law. Only those selected for an interview will be contacted. The fellow will receive an annual salary of $50,000.00, together with generous benefits.

Initial screening of applications will begin immediately and will continue until an appointment is made. For best consideration, applications should be submitted by January 31, 2018. To apply, please submit a curriculum vitae, law school transcript, and cover letter explaining your interest in the position to:

Veronica Tobar Thronson, veronica.thronson@law.msu.edu
Clinical Professor of Law
Director, MSU Law Clinic and
Director, Immigration Law Clinic 

Questions can be directed to Veronica Thronson, veronica.thronson@law.msu.edu, or David Thronson, david.thronson@law.msu.edu.

Michigan State University College of Law is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer. The College of Law does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, genetic information, gender, gender identity, religion, national origin, political persuasion, sexual orientation, marital status, disability, height, weight, veteran status, age or familial status. The College of Law actively encourages applications from underrepresented ethnic populations, women, veterans, person defined under the ADA and the LGBT community.

CORNELL LAW SCHOOL is looking to hire a First Amendment Clinic Fellow for the fall semester of 2018.

Founded in 1887, Cornell Law School is a top-tier law school, currently ranked 13th by U.S. News & World Report. We offer a 3-year JD program for about 200 students per class, a one-year LLM program for about 90 students from countries throughout the world, and a doctoral (JSD) program for about 2-3 new students per year. Cornell Law School has 41 tenured and tenure-track faculty, including 20 with chaired faculty positions; and 15 clinical professors in the legal research and writing program and in clinics at the local, national, and international level. Our faculty is consistently ranked among the top in the country for scholarly productivity and influence, and has pre-eminence in many areas, including quantitative and qualitative empirical legal studies, international and comparative law, and robust doctrinal scholarship in core fields. Our school is committed to being recognized as the leader among law schools at combining inspiring theoretical, doctrinal, and experiential teaching with cutting-edge scholarship in a supportive, intellectually rich community, so that our graduates can achieve excellence in all facets of the legal profession.

Reporting to the Director of the First Amendment Clinic at Cornell Law School, the First Amendment Clinic Fellow will collaborate with the Director to support the management and activities of our newest clinical initiative, which will launch in the fall semester of 2018. It is anticipated that the Clinic will focus on two core First Amendment objectives: (1) litigating and supporting cases and other legal proceedings that further the cause of free speech and aid the news-gathering process; and (2) cultivating a new group of diverse lawyers who are educated about the freedom of speech embodied in the First Amendment and prepared to pursue careers defending free speech principles.

Responsibilities include the following:

• Serve as the day-to-day manager of the clinic.
• Provide supervision to students in the Clinic, including feedback, mentoring, and training.
• Manage ongoing cases, ensuring that the work is done in a timely and professional manner.
• Assist with the organization and teaching of the Clinic, focusing on substantive knowledge of First Amendment doctrine and the litigation process, as well as effective legal writing, advocacy, and client relations skills.
• Help develop the focus of cases the Clinic will work on, such as access to information, protection of sources and the news-gathering process, general libel and privacy defense, and digital information rights.
• Collaborate with the Director on programming to bring free speech issues to the broader Law School and University communities.
• Support the research and writing of policy papers with the goal of influencing the public debate on free speech matters as well as amicus briefs in cases in which important free speech rights are at issue.
• Help maintain relationships within the legal and journalism community, including regional (New York and surrounding states) news platforms and journalists, law firms and advocacy organizations that focus on free speech and related fields, and First Amendment clinics at other law schools.
• Assist in managing the financial resources for the program, including monitoring financial activities and transactions.

This is a full-time position for a period of two-years, and is benefits eligible. Reappointment for an additional one-year term is possible based on performance and funding availability.

Requirements: The Fellow must be a law graduate, with practice experience and background in constitutional law.

Interested candidates should apply via: academicjobsonline.org/ajo/jobs/10601

Further Info:

http://www.lawschool.cornell.edu/spotlights/first-amendment-clinic.cfm

Liz Flint

Liz.Fllint@cornell.edu, 607-255-2101

Cornell Law School

G58A Myron Taylor Hall, Ithaca, NY 14853

Employment Assistance:

If you require an accommodation for a disability in order to complete an employment application or to participate in the recruiting process, you are encouraged to contact Cornell University's Office of Workforce Policy and Labor Relations at voice (607) 254-7232, fax (607) 255-0298, or email at equalopportunity@cornell.edu.

Applicants that do not have internet access are encouraged to visit your local library, or local Department of Labor. You may also visit the office of Workforce Recruitment and Retention Monday - Friday between the hours of 8:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. to use a dedicated workstation to complete an online application.

THE GEORGETOWN LAW CENTER is hiring an individual to serve as a clinical teaching fellow and supervising attorney for two years for its Health Justice Alliance Law Clinic. 

Clinic Description

The Health Justice Alliance Law Clinic is part of a new medical-legal partnership between Georgetown Law Center and Georgetown University Medical Center. Launched in August 2017, the Law Clinic integrates law students directly into Georgetown community-based health clinics serving children and families living in poverty in Washington, D.C. Law students provide civil legal services to address barriers that affect patient health and well-being in collaboration with medical students, physicians, and other healthcare providers.

Patients at these clinics face multi-generational, complex, civil legal needs, many of which negatively impact their health and well-being. Among the needs currently being served are those related to education, housing, family law, and public benefits, including access to health insurance. By partnering directly with healthcare providers, who help identify when patients have unmet legal needs, the Law Clinic is implementing an upstream legal services approach that fills an important access to justice gap in D.C. and works to treat legal issues before they escalate into more serious legal crises. By meeting patients’ medical and legal needs in places where they already have trusted relationships; the HJA Law Clinic offers a unique and especially effective method for reducing the barriers to justice that often confront people living in poverty.

 Description of the Fellowship

The fellowship starts in the summer of 2018 and ends in the summer of 2020. The two-year fellowship is designed for a lawyer interested in developing teaching and supervisory abilities in a setting that emphasizes a dual commitment—clinical education of law students and poverty lawyering in the context of a medical-legal partnership and in the areas of civil legal aid identified above. Successful completion of the fellowship results in the award of an L.L.M. in Advocacy from Georgetown University.

Fellows have several areas of responsibility, with an increasing role in the clinic and student supervision as the fellowship progresses.  Over the course of the two years, the fellow will:

Directly represent clients that are referred by our health care partners;

• Supervise students in casework and clinic projects;
• Share responsibility for designing and teaching seminar sessions;
• Assist with administrative and case handling responsibilities of the clinic;
• Participate in a clinical pedagogy seminar and other activities for the L.L.M., which is designed to support an interest in clinical teaching and legal education;
• Collaborate with law and medical students and faculty on research, policy, education, advocacy, and/or other projects designed to increase access to justice and health for underserved D.C. residents.

Fellows receive an annual stipend, health and dental benefits, and all tuition and fees in the L.L.M. program. As full-time students, teaching fellows qualify for deferment of their student loans. In addition, teaching fellows may be eligible for loan repayment assistance from their law schools.

Qualifications

The Health Justice Alliance seeks a prospective fellow with:

• Experience representing low-income clients (preferably in the areas of legal need identified above);
• Ideally 3-5 years of post-J.D. legal experience;
• Membership to the District of Columbia Bar (Fellows who are not members of the D.C. Bar must apply for admission by waiver upon accepting the fellowship offer);
• Demonstrated commitment to social justice and an interest in clinical teaching; and
• Prior medical, health-related, or mental health-related experience a plus.

Application Instructions:

Please submit a letter of interest, résumé/CV, complete law school transcript, a list of at least three references, and a writing sample (max. 10 pages) to HealthJusticeAlliance@georgetown.edu by Friday, January 19, 2018. If you have any questions please contact Vicki Girard at vwg@law.georgetown.edu or Yael Cannon at yc708@law.georgetown.edu. 

Note: Georgetown Law Center is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity employer and undertakes special efforts to employ a diverse workforce.

THE JAMES E. ROGERS COLLEGE OF LAW AT THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA in Tucson, Arizona, is hiring a fellow for its Bacon Immigration Law and Policy Program to begin in May or June of 2018. The position is open to recent law graduates, with a preference for attorneys with at least two years of practice experience. The position is for one year, with a potential one-year extension.

The Bacon Fellowship has three major components:

1. The Fellow has primary responsibility for the Workers’ Rights Clinic, a law clinic that advocates for the rights of low-wage immigrant workers through direct service, public policy research, and community education and outreach. Responsibilities of the Fellow will include:

·       Supervision of law students conducting intakes and providing follow up advocacy to low-wage immigrant workers in labor/employment matters;

·       Litigation and representation in administrative proceedings on selected cases (wage and hour and discrimination);

·       Continued development of relationships with community partners, including regular outreach presentations throughout the city and the region;

·       Assistance in teaching and administering the clinic seminar.

2. The Fellow will assist the Bacon Program Director in the continued development of the Farmworker Legal Assistance Clinic, which provide legal services and advocacy to farmworkers in southwestern Arizona through periodic trips to the region and partnerships with community organizations.

3. The Fellow will design and implement an immigration policy research project, with a likely focus on immigrant workers. The project will build on research previously conducted on working conditions for low-wage immigrant workers in Tucson. The Fellow will take a lead role in developing the topic and scope of the project, in consultation with the Program Director and with input from community and national advocacy partners.

In addition, the Fellow will be involved in other components of the Bacon Program, subject to the Fellow’s interests and Program’s needs. In particular, the Fellow may supervise law students preparing labor-related U or T visa applications in the Immigration Law Clinic, which works closely with the Workers’ Rights Clinic under the umbrella of the Bacon Program.

Qualifications

·       J.D. and licensed to practice law in Arizona, or eligible to waive into practice in Arizona

·       Fluency in Spanish. NOTE: Please do not apply if you do not speak Spanish. This is a requirement for the fellowship that cannot be waived.

·       Experience working with low-wage workers, immigrants, refugees, victims of trauma, and/or incarcerated populations.

·       Familiarity with immigration and/or employment law.

·       Strong communication skills, with particular sensitivity to cultural differences.

·       Experience working in interdisciplinary settings with minimal direct supervision.

·       Willingness to work irregular hours (some nights and weekends).

Salary: Commensurate with experience; plus benefits through the University of Arizona

To apply: Please submit your materials (cover letter, resume, writing sample, law school transcript, and three references) through the UA career system: https://uacareers.com/postings/23471  by no later than January 31, 2018. Interviews will be conducted on a rolling basis, so applicants are encouraged to send in materials as soon as possible. If you have any questions about the position, please contact Nina Rabin, rabin@email.arizona.edu

WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF LAW invites applications for the position of Director of its Entrepreneur and Intellectual Property Clinic. The Clinic is one of 18 law clinic and externships offered by the School (see http://law.wustl.edu/clinicaled/pages.aspx?id=6835). The new Director will assume the position in summer 2018 in preparation for fall classes.

The Clinic, through its second and third-year law students, provides business and transactional legal advice and services to small and start-up business and nonprofit organizations. Clinic students typically assist clients in entity formation, tax structure, governance, contract negotiating and drafting, and other general corporate law matters while also assisting with intellectual property needs such as patentability opinions, copyright protections, and trademark registration.

The Director oversees all aspects of the Clinic, including the teaching of students (through one-on-one tutorials and a weekly seminar), supervision of and responsibility for student casework, identification and selection of clients, and administration of the office and staff. The Director’s primary teaching and practice focus is on business and transactional matters while the Clinic’s Assistant Director primarily focuses on intellectual property issues. The Director will also teach non-clinic courses.

Qualifications

Candidates must be eligible to practice law in Missouri (i.e., must be a member of the Missouri bar or eligible for admission as a law teacher without examination pursuant to Missouri Supreme Court Rule 13.06). Candidates should have significant experience practicing transactional law, outstanding legal research and writing skills, and promise as a teacher and mentor for law students.

Application Process

Applicants must complete an online application by navigating to https://jobs.wustl.edu/ and searching for job opening number 38817.

In addition to completing the online application, applicants should submit a resume, law school transcript, references, and brief description of the candidate’s interest and qualifications to: Professor Robert Kuehn, Associate Dean for Clinical Education, Washington University School of Law, One Brookings Drive, Campus Box 1120, St. Louis, MO 63130-4899; rkuehn@wustl.edu.

EOE Statement

Washington University is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, genetic information, disability, or protected veteran status.

YALE LAW SCHOOL is now accepting applications for an Abrams Clinical Fellowship.  The Abrams Clinical Fellow will be a clinical supervisor of the Media Freedom and Information Access Clinic (MFIA), a law student clinic whose mission is to support a robust investigative journalism and to promote the public’s right of access to information in the defense of democracy.  The Abrams Fellow will also serve as a member of the MFIA legal team supporting Yale’s Collaboration for Research Integrity and Transparency (CRIT), an inter-disciplinary initiative of Yale’s Schools of Law, Medicine and Public Health that seeks to enhance the quality and transparency of the research base for drugs and medical products.  Some litigation experience in the fields of media law, First Amendment, FOIA, Internet law, administrative law, or intellectual property law is preferred.

About the MFIA Clinic

The MFIA Clinic evolved out of the recognition that new technologies were forcing radical changes on the media market and leaving established news organizations in sufficiently precarious financial condition that they could not regularly afford to pursue the type of affirmative litigation that is essential to effective newsgathering and a functioning democracy. Nor could these news organizations continue to fight as vigorously as in the past the efforts by governments and others to unmask confidential sources and prevent whistleblowing. The Clinic was thus created in 2009 to help fill these gaps by providing pro bono legal services to journalists, pursuing impact litigation, and engaging in policy analysis on issues relating to the preservation of a vigorous press and effective government oversight.

The MFIA Clinic today is a program of the Abrams Institute for Freedom of Expression at Yale Law School and is administered by the Yale Information Society Project (ISP).  Both the ISP and the Abrams Institute are directed by Knight Professor of Constitutional Law and the First Amendment Jack Balkin.  The Clinic is co-directed by Professor Balkin and Clinical Lecturer and Senior Research Fellow David Schulz, an experienced media litigator and Senior Counsel to the Media Practice Group at Ballard Spahr, LLP. 

Since its founding in 2009, the MFIA Clinic has achieved successes for a wide range of clients: from individual journalists at start-up websites, to such major news organizations as The New York Times, The Guardian, the Associated Press and Pro Publica.  It has also successfully represented a range of investigative advocacy clients, from individual civil rights activists to international rights organizations such as Human Rights Watch and Privacy International.  The Clinic’s diverse docket is currently organized into six broad areas:

Constitutional access: Lawsuits designed to expand and enforce the constitutional right of access to governmental proceedings and related records. Typical matters include Section 1983 litigation to establish constitutional rights to information about state executions and federal litigation to establish a right of access to classified information filed in Guantanamo habeas cases.

Government accountability: Projects seeking to secure information needed for democratic oversight of government operations.  Current matters focus on law enforcement accountability, including lawsuits in New York and Los Angeles to obtain information needed for law enforcement accountability and to compel disclosure of the algorithms used in DNA matching.

Executive conflicts & ethics: Newly launched in 2017, this project works with investigative journalists and government watchdogs to shed light on Executive Branch financial entanglements and conflicts of interest. 

National security and the surveillance state: Lawsuits seeking access to information critical to oversight of our nation’s security policies.  Active matters include lawsuits seeking substantive opinions of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court and policies by which our intelligence agencies conduct surveillance on U.S. persons abroad.

Open data: Lawsuits seeking to compel the disclosure of information vital to ensure proper regulatory behavior and science-based decisions.  Current cases seek to achieve a legal framework that ensures the integrity of medical tests used in new drug approvals and promotes access to data by academic researchers.

News gathering and publication: Defending those eligible for the protections afforded by the Constitution’s press clause in a world where online publishing is widespread and litigating issues that shape the ability of journalists to gather news, including prior restraints, privacy, and the use of new technologies.

In the 2018 Spring Semester, MFIA is adding a project to work with documentarians and independent filmmakers during the production phase of their projects, providing advice on libel, privacy and other newsgathering issues.  The MFIA website provides more detail about the Clinic’s current caseload.  

About CRIT

Through research, advocacy, and litigation, CRIT is focused on ensuring that the clinical evidence that supports and informs our understanding of the safety and effectiveness of pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and other medical products is accurate, comprehensive, accessible, and reliable.  The current lack of transparency and integrity in clinical research has had serious consequences for patient and clinicians.  One of CRIT’s primary aims is to achieve a legal and regulatory environment that promotes rigorous clinical research and supports regulatory and clinical decisions that are grounded in high-quality research and accessible data and results.  More information about CRIT’s goals and activities is available on the CRIT website.

About the Abrams Clinical Fellowship

MFIA Clinic seeks candidates with at least two years of relevant experience who are interested in pursuing a career in litigation or public advocacy on issues surrounding digital age free expression and transparency, either within government, at a non-governmental organization, or as a law school clinical professor.

The Abrams Clinical Fellow will work closely with the Clinic’s team of litigators, which currently includes Clinic co-Director Dave Schulz, staff attorneys Chuck Sims and Cortelyou Kenney and another full time Fellow.  The fellowship allows young lawyers to gain hands-on experience litigating cutting edge issues, to work on legal scholarship and policy advocacy, and to participate in the intellectual life of the Yale ISP.  The duties of the Abrams Fellow include:

• Assuming overall responsibility for a select number of active cases on the MFIA docket and supervising Yale Law School students working on those cases;
  
• Sharing responsibility for administration of the MFIA Clinic, in conjunction with its student directors;
  
• Assisting with the Clinic’s intake process and shaping its docket;
  
• Teaching a number of substantive and skill-based sessions each semester;
  
• Supervising summer law student interns at the Clinic and covering Clinic cases during semester breaks;
  
• Participating in CRIT staff meetings and assuming overall responsibility for select cases pursued by CRIT’s legal team;
  
• Coordinating the Freedom of Expression Scholars Conference hosted each Spring by the Abrams Institute; and
  
• Engaging in the scholarly activities of the ISP, which include regular academic lunches, workshops, conferences, and talks.
  

Fellows must live in the New Haven area during their fellowship. The fellowship starts on July 1, 2018 and lasts for one year, renewable for a second year.  The Abrams Fellow will receive a salary commensurate with experience, a travel budget, Yale health benefits, and access to university facilities.

Application Instructions

Applications should be submitted by February 1, 2018.  Applications should include:

• A one to five page statement describing the applicant’s interest in the fellowship, relevant practice experience, and career goals;
  
• A copy of the applicant’s resume;
  
• A law school transcript; and
  
• At least one sample of recent legal writing, preferably a brief or memorandum.
  

Please indicate clearly in the application materials that you are applying for the Abrams Clinical Fellowship. Applicants are also encouraged to submit similar materials for the Stanton First Amendment Fellowship, if qualified.

Application materials should be sent (in electronic form) to Annie Cooper at ann-marie.cooper@yale.edu.

For further information, please feel free to contact MFIA Clinic Co-Director David Schulz at david.schulz@yale.edu.

YALE LAW SCHOOL  is now accepting applications for a Stanton First Amendment Fellowship.  The Fellow will be a clinical supervisor of the Media Freedom and Information Access Clinic (MFIA), a law student clinic whose mission is to support a robust investigative journalism and to promote the public’s right of access to information in the defense of democracy. Some litigation experience in the fields of media law, First Amendment, FOIA, Internet law, or soft intellectual property law is preferred.

About the MFIA Clinic

The MFIA Clinic evolved out of the recognition that new technologies were forcing radical changes on the media market and leaving established news organizations in sufficiently precarious financial condition that they could not regularly afford to pursue the type of affirmative litigation that is essential to effective newsgathering and a functioning democracy.  Nor could these news organizations continue to fight as vigorously as in the past the efforts by governments and others to unmask confidential sources and prevent whistleblowing.  The Clinic was thus created in 2009 to help fill these gaps by providing pro bono legal services to journalists, pursuing impact litigation, and engaging in policy analysis on issues relating to the preservation of a vigorous press and effective government oversight.

The MFIA Clinic today is a program of the Abrams Institute for Freedom of Expression at Yale Law School and is administered by the Yale Information Society Project (ISP).  Both the ISP and the Abrams Institute are directed by Knight Professor of Constitutional Law and the First Amendment Jack Balkin.  The Clinic is co-directed by Professor Balkin and Clinical Lecturer and Senior Research Fellow David Schulz, an experienced media litigator and Senior Counsel to the Media Practice Group at Ballard Spahr, LLP. 

Since its founding in 2009, the MFIA Clinic has achieved successes for a wide range of clients: from individual journalists at start up websites, to such major news organizations as The New York Times, The Guardian, the Associated Press and Pro Publica.  It has also successfully represented a range of investigative advocacy clients, from individual civil rights activists to international rights organizations such as Human Rights Watch and Privacy International.  The Clinic’s diverse docket is currently organized into six broad areas:

Constitutional access: Lawsuits designed to expand and enforce the constitutional right of access to governmental proceedings and related records. Typical matters include Section 1983 litigation to establish constitutional rights to information about state executions and federal litigation to establish a right of access to classified information filed in Guantanamo habeas cases.

Government accountability: Projects seeking to secure information needed for democratic oversight of government operations.  Current matters focus on law enforcement accountability, including lawsuits in New York and Los Angeles to obtain information needed for law enforcement accountability and to compel disclosure of the algorithms used in DNA matching.

Executive conflicts & ethics: Newly launched in 2017, this project works with investigative journalists and government watchdogs to shed light on Executive Branch financial entanglements and conflicts of interest. 

National security and the surveillance state: Lawsuits seeking access to information critical to oversight of our nation’s security policies.  Active matters include lawsuits seeking substantive opinions of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court and policies by which our intelligence agencies conduct surveillance on U.S. persons abroad.

Open data: Lawsuits seeking to compel the disclosure of information vital to ensure proper regulatory behavior and science-based decisions.  Current cases seek to achieve a legal framework that ensures the integrity of medical tests used in new drug approvals and promotes access to data by academic researchers.

News gathering and publication: Defending those eligible for the protections afforded by the Constitution’s press clause in a world where online publishing is widespread and litigating issues that shape the ability of journalists to gather news, including prior restraints, privacy, and the use of new technologies.

In the 2018 Spring Semester, MFIA is adding a project to work with documentarians and independent filmmakers during the production phase of their projects, providing advice on libel, privacy and other newsgathering issues.  The MFIA website provides more detail about the Clinic’s current caseload. 

About the Stanton First Amendment Fellowship

MFIA Clinic seeks candidates with at least four years of relevant experience who are interested in pursuing a career in litigation or public advocacy on issues surrounding digital age free expression and transparency, either within government, at a non-governmental organization, or as a law school clinical professor.  

The Stanton First Amendment Fellow will work closely with the Clinic’s team of litigators, which currently includes Clinic co-Director Dave Schulz, staff attorneys Chuck Sims and Cortelyou Kenney and another full time Fellow.  The Stanton Fellow will gain relevant hands-on experience litigating cutting edge issues, develop litigation expertise in a chosen area of free expression, and participate in the intellectual life of the Yale ISP. The duties of the Stanton Fellow include:

·         Assuming overall responsibility for a select number of active cases on the MFIA docket and supervising Yale law students working on those cases; 

·         Sharing responsibility for administration of the MFIA Clinic, in conjunction with its student directors;

·         Assisting with the Clinic’s intake process and shaping its docket;

·         Teaching a number of substantive and skill-based sessions each semester;

·         Supervising summer law student interns at the Clinic and covering Clinic cases during semester breaks; and

·         Engaging in the scholarly activities of the ISP, which include regular academic lunches, workshops, conferences, and talks.

Fellows must live in the New Haven area during their fellowship.  The fellowship starts on July 1, 2018 and lasts for one year, renewable for a second year.  The Stanton Fellow will receive a salary of $75,000, a travel budget, Yale health benefits, and access to university facilities.

Application Instructions:

Applications will be considered on a rolling basis, and should be submitted by February 1, 2018.  Applications should include:

·         A one to five page statement describing the applicant’s interest in the fellowship, relevant practice experience, and career goals;

·         A copy of the applicant’s resume;

·         A law school transcript; and

·         At least one sample of recent legal writing, preferably a brief or memorandum.

Please indicate clearly in the application materials that you are applying for the Stanton First Amendment Fellowship. Applicants are also encouraged to submit similar materials for the Abrams Clinical Fellowship.

Application materials should be sent (in electronic form) to Annie Cooper at ann-marie.cooper@yale.edu.

For further information, please feel free to contact MFIA Clinic Co-Director David Schulz at david.schulz@yale.edu.

THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO LAW SCHOOL invites applications for a full-time position as an Instructor training and supervising law students in the Law School's Abrams Environmental Law Clinic. The one-year appointment is expected to begin on March 26, 2018.

Representing environmental organizations, the Abrams Environmental Law Clinic sues those who pollute illegally, fights for stricter permits, advocates for changes to regulations and laws, and promotes innovative approaches for improving the environment. In addition, the clinic's faculty are some of the primary resources for law student organizations and law students interested in environmental and energy issues, and clinic faculty have helped to organize panels, events and conferences on these topics.

Reporting to the clinic's Director, the successful candidate will participate in all aspects of the clinic. Job responsibilities include training and supervising students, working with the Director to teach the seminar component of the clinic, developing and selecting clients, assisting in publicizing the clinic's cases and activities, and organizing and coordinating relevant events, lectures and other clinic activities. One goal of this position is to train aspiring clinical teachers and public interest environmental attorneys.

Candidates must have a J.D. and at least four years of work experience as a practicing lawyer, with a strong preference for those who have worked for an environmental non-profit organization or government agency using litigation and similar enforcement tools. Must be a member in good standing of at least one bar and must be able to secure admission to the Illinois bar through waiver or examination promptly upon joining the clinic. Excellent writing, editing, advocacy, and supervision skills are required. Experience clerking at the trial court level is strongly desired, but not required. Prior teaching experience, especially law school clinical teaching, is highly desirable, but not required.

Each candidate should submit a cover letter that includes a detailed description of the candidate's relevant practice experience and teaching/supervision experience, resume or curriculum vita, a law school transcript, a list of references, course evaluations from prior teaching experience, if any, and a legal writing sample (not edited by anyone else). Other material relevant to a candidacy may be included. Candidates are required to apply online and upload all application material at the University of Chicago Academic Career Opportunities website: https://tinyurl.com/y9jtwa9r.

Applications will be reviewed until the position is filled or until January 15, 2018, whichever is sooner.  

The University of Chicago is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity/Disabled/Veterans Employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national or ethnic origin, age, status as an individual with a disability, protected veteran status, genetic information, or other protected classes under the law. For additional information please see the University's Notice of Nondiscrimination at http://www.uchicago.edu/about/non_discrimination_statement/.  Job seekers in need of a reasonable accommodation to complete the application process should call 773-702-0287 or email ACOppAdministrator@uchicago.eduwith their request.  

THE UNIVERSITY OF DENVER COLLEGE OF LAW is now accepting applications for its graduate fellowship program in clinical legal education. Denver Law’s Master of Laws (LLM) Clinical Teaching Fellowship Program offers attorneys the opportunity to gain extensive practice in law school clinical teaching under the supervision of experienced clinical faculty. Graduate fellows also learn about academic legal scholarship and, with the assistance of a faculty mentor, produce publishable-quality scholarship during their residence. Fellows receive an annual stipend and are awarded an LLM upon their successful completion of the fellowship. It is the explicit goal of the fellowship to prepare fellows for a career in clinical teaching.

Fellows enroll in a three-year program during which they are in residence at one of Denver Law’s five in-house clinics:  the Civil Litigation Clinic, the Civil Rights Clinic, the Community Economic Development Clinic, the Criminal Defense Clinic, and the Environmental Law Clinic. Fellows will directly supervise J.D. students enrolled in the clinics, first as co-supervisors with clinic faculty and then on their own. Fellows also assist in teaching clinic seminars and perform work on their own client matters. Additionally, fellows enroll in a clinical pedagogy seminar and other activities designed to support an interest in clinical teaching and legal education. In addition to the above requirements, to complete the degree, the fellow must write a law review article of publishable quality.

Each of Denver Law’s five clinics will offer one clinical teaching fellowship that will commence in the summer of 2018. Clinical Fellows receive an annual stipend of $50,000, health and dental benefits, a waiver of all tuition and fees in the LLM program, and a travel budget for conferences. As full-time students, teaching fellows also may qualify for deferment of their student loans. In addition, teaching fellows may be eligible for loan repayment assistance from their law schools. Fellows are integrated into the intellectual life of the law school and the larger University. They are invited to attend faculty workshops and participate in mentoring sessions.

Qualifications: J.D. or equivalent; minimum 3 years of practice experience in the relevant area of law; excellent written and oral communication skills; strong interest in clinical teaching. Fellows must be members of the Colorado Bar or willing to petition for admission prior to the start date of the fellowship (Colorado permits lawyers teaching in a clinical program to waive into the Bar).

How to apply: To apply for a fellowship, please submit the following:

• Resume

• List of references

• Statement of interest of no more than two pages. The statement should address a) why you are interested in this fellowship; b) what you can contribute to the clinic; c) your experience with the area(s) of law in which the clinic practices and with public interest/social justice work; d) your professional or career goals for the next five or ten years; and e) anything else you consider pertinent.

• Please note: If you are applying for a fellowship in the Civil Rights Clinic or the Criminal Defense Clinic, please also submit a writing sample that represents recent, challenging legal work. The writing sample should not be a collaborative work or a document significantly edited by someone else.
  

Please send all application materials via email to Laurie Saraceno at lsaraceno@law.du.edu, and use “LLM Application” as the subject line.

 Deadline: The application deadline is January 26, 2018, though applications will be considered on a rolling basis with priority given to those received by January 12, 2018. 

The University of Denver is committed to enhancing the diversity of its faculty and staff and encourages applications from women, minorities, members of the LGBTQ community, people with disabilities and veterans. The University is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer.