Staff Attorney, Senior Staff Attorney, or Senior Counsel, National Prison Project

ABOUT THE JOB

The ACLU seeks a full-time position of Staff Attorney, Senior Staff Attorney, or Senior Counsel in the National Prison Project of the ACLU’s National office in New York, NY or Washington, D.C. This is a four-year, limited term position. This is a hybrid position that has in-office requirements of two (2) days per week or eight (8) days per month. This position may be approved for remote work from a different U.S. location

The National Prison Project works to ensure that conditions in prisons, jails, juvenile detention centers, and immigration detention facilities comply with the Constitution, domestic law, and international human rights principles. NPP has successfully litigated on behalf of incarcerated and detained people in more than 25 states, and is the only organization litigating conditions of confinement cases nationwide. Our priorities include reducing overcrowding, improving health care, eliminating violence and maltreatment, and increasing oversight and accountability in prisons, jails, and other places of detention. We also work to reverse the policies that have given the United States the highest incarceration rate in the world and led to extreme over-representation of people of color in our country’s prisons, jails, and immigration detention facilities.  

This position is part of a collective bargaining unit. It is represented by ACLU Staff United (ASU). 

WHAT YOU'LL DO 

Reporting to the Deputy Project Director of the National Prison Project, the Staff Attorney / Senior Staff Attorney / Senior Counsel should be prepared to contribute to all aspects of the Project’s litigation and non-litigation work. This position will have a particular emphasis on challenging immigration detention conditions and the use and abuse of immigration detention in the federal government’s mass deportation system, and will coordinate closely with counterparts in the ACLU Immigrants’ Rights Project.

This is an ideal opportunity for an attorney committed to justice, transformative change, and the power of legal advocacy to shift narratives and systems.

YOUR DAY TO DAY

• Litigating in federal courts, including appellate courts, throughout the country  
• Handling a substantial caseload in federal court, working closely with other staff attorneys, local counsel, immigrant rights organizations, and clients 
• Conducting legal research and writing legal memoranda 
• Analyzing legislation for potential litigation 
• Drafting pleadings and briefs, engaging in discovery and motion practice, and conducting evidentiary hearings and oral arguments 
• Providing technical assistance and expert legal advice to local ACLU affiliates, cooperating attorneys and others who seek assistance from the Project 
• Conducting policy advocacy on prisoners’ rights, criminal justice, and immigration detention issues 
• Developing new cases and non-litigation advocacy projects 
• Engaging in public speaking and articulating ACLU views to a variety of audiences on a broad range of prisoners’ rights, criminal justice and civil liberties issues 

FUTURE ACLU'ERS WILL 

• Be committed to advancing the mission of the ACLU
• Center and embed the principles of equity, inclusion and belonging in their work by demonstrating commitment to diversity with an approach that respects and values multiple perspectives
• Be committed to work collaboratively and respectfully toward resolving obstacles and conflicts

WHAT YOU'LL BRING

• J.D. degree and active Bar membersh