Public Rights Project Deputy Chief Program Officer

ABOUT THE ORGANIZATION

Public Rights Project (PRP) is a public interest legal nonprofit, headquartered in Oakland, with a remote team based throughout the United States. Our mission is to help local government officials fight for civil rights.

Since its founding in 2017, PRP has litigated in more than 100 cases (either as a party or amicus), trained 131 prosecutors and government lawyers in 24 states, built a partner network of over 670 government offices, elected officials, and community-based organizations in 43 states, and secured court victories on police accountability, abortion, immigrant, worker, and voting rights.

PRP supports local government partners in the face of an onslaught of federal and state abuses of power. We provide direct representation, legal analysis, research, training, and community partnerships to help local governments develop strategies that protect their residents’ civil rights.

THE OPPORTUNITY

Public Rights Project seeks to hire a Deputy Chief of Programs. The Deputy Chief is a critical new role that will serve as a strategic partner to the Chief Program Officer and will manage and review legal work across the organization. PRP is in a period of rapid expansion, seeking to meet the needs of our local partners as they face increasing pressures from the federal government. This role will primarily work with our Civil Rights Hub (CRH), which prioritizes work in issue areas, including reproductive and gender rights, economic justice and security, and immigrant rights; our Litigation team, which provides legal representation to local governments in both state and federal courts; and our Election Protection Hub (EPH), which supports election officials and local governments on election law, voting rights, and election administration matters. The Deputy Chief will ensure excellence and efficiency in their crucial work to protect rights across America.

This is a primarily internal, process-oriented role with external-facing components. The Deputy Chief will lead a developing program operations function, driving the systems, processes, and tools that allow our legal and program teams to scale their impact across a complex, multi-state practice. The position requires a seasoned public interest lawyer who can work hands-on across multiple workstreams, manage complex workflows, and provide strategic oversight to ensure the highest quality legal work and impact for the communities we serve. The Deputy Chief reports to the Chief Program Officer and works closely with department directors across PRP.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Legal Practice and Quality Oversight

• Ownership of practice of law and systems issues relating to multi-state compliance, conflict checks, and other legal compliance needs of the organization

• Oversight of knowledge management and tracking across legal work, including research, analysis, and other insights gained from practice and client services

• Review of key work product from attorneys across the organization, including major legal briefs, memoranda, strategic plans, and certain litigation materials

• Identify gaps, risks, or challenges in legal strategy and communicate them promptly to relevant stakeholders

• Individually contribute to certain legal teams on a project- or case-specific basis, as workload allows and team needs are identified

Workflow and Project Management

• Lead high-priority cross-functional initiatives that span the Civil Rights Hub, Litigation, and Election Protection Hub, including convening teams, ensuring follow-through, and integrating expertise across workstreams without owning each project end-to-end

• Lead workflow and project coordination with the Program team for cross-organizational projects to ensure efficient operations and integration of legal work product and insights into other functional teams’ outputs

• Contribute directly to priority projects by working hands-on within key workstreams when needed to move initiatives forward

• Partner with the Chief Program Officer to coordinate work across the Program team, strengthen cross-functional collaboration, information sharing, and decision-making, and ensure clear communication and follow-through on shared priorities

Stakeholder Engagement and Strategic Support

• Attend and participate in meetings with internal and external stakeholders to understand needs and ensure effective service delivery

• Monitor and assess legal and policy developments in core issue areas to inform programmatic strategy

Team Leadership and Development

• Serve as a strategic thought partner and advisor to program directors and legal staff