Staff Attorney or Senior Staff Attorney

ACLU OF IDAHO SEEKS

STAFF ATTORNEY OR SENIOR STAFF ATTORNEY

Full Time - Exempt Position

The American Civil Liberties Union of Idaho seeks a staff attorney or senior staff attorney to build, file, and litigate complex civil actions in state and federal court and undertake strategic non-litigation legal advocacy. This position will increase our capacity to push forward our affirmative litigation agenda as well as engage in fast-moving, defensive battles against state and local affronts to civil rights and civil liberties. This is the time and the place to be a civil rights attorney. Idahoans’ lives are at stake. In recent years, our attorneys have built and litigated high-profile impact litigation challenging the state’s ban on transgender people competing in sports, the state’s failure to provide constitutionally adequate public defense, and the state’s bans on accessing reproductive health care. For the next few years we expect to bring more litigation challenging book bans, attacks on LGBTQ+ people, and restrictions on reproductive health care and gender affirming care. We also intend to attack inadequate education and disproportionate discipline of Native and Latinx children in K-12, discriminatory policing of communities of color, and abuses stemming from state/local law enforcement entanglement with federal immigration authorities. Join us as we grow from one full-time litigator to four over the next few years. This is a full-time, exempt position based in Idaho that reports to the Legal Director. The successful hire must reside in Idaho before employment can begin. 

We will consider applications from individuals with a range of prior experiences, and with a range of preferred start dates. Judicial clerks entering clerkships and seeking a position for late 2023 will not be excluded. We will wait for the right candidates to join us but we will review applications on a rolling basis.

About the ACLU and the ACLU of Idaho:

The ACLU is the nation’s premier guardian of liberty. A nationwide, nonpartisan, nonprofit organization, the ACLU is dedicated to defending and expanding civil rights and civil liberties across the country. The ACLU of Idaho is an affiliate of the National ACLU. The ACLU of Idaho and its foundation operate jointly as private nonprofit organizations devoted to furthering the ACLU’s mission in Idaho. The ACLU of Idaho combines legal, policy, organizing, and other strategies to maximize impact. 

Our staff of 10 full-time, one part-time employee, and interns work in-person at least two days per week in a fast-paced, friendly office in the heart of downtown Boise, Idaho. We are a majority minority staff from all over the country and world and have chosen to make Idaho our home. We work closely with ACLU National staff and collaborate frequently with staff at other ACLU state affiliates. And we strive to ensure that our work is deeply informed by the communities we serve. Our supportive, inclusive, and empowering work culture has created opportunities for staff to grow with and within the organization and we have historically benefited from low turnover and long job tenures. We enjoy autonomy and collaboration.

Our current organizational priorities are in gender, sexuality, and reproductive justice; racial justice with a focus on disparities in education and policing; and immigrants’ rights.

Boise, the City of Trees, is the capital of Idaho and the core of a metro area of 749,000 people. Boise residents enjoy a dry climate during all four seasons and the city offers an exceptional quality of life and a diverse business community with high tech and healthcare as the largest employers. Recreational activities include whitewater rafting and kayaking, climbing, fishing, hunting, and Nordic, alpine, and backcountry skiing. There is a 190-mile foothill trail system for hiking and mountain biking and a 25-mile riverside greenbelt along the Boise River which flows through the city. Easy access to diverse outdoor activities and unspoiled wilderness is unmatched. Downtown offers thriving restaurants, shops, concerts, and public markets, and an ever-expanding number of local microbrew pubs and wineries. In 2019, Boise was ranked by Forbes as the best place in the country for millennials. The Treasure Valley, which includes the cities of Boise, Meridian, Nampa, and Caldwell is home to the state’s largest Latinx community. Boise is also a hub for LGBTQ+ communities and political activism in Idaho. And Boise is a refugee resettlement city.

Duties & Responsibilities:

(1) Legal

• Conduct factual and legal research; identify and recruit plaintiffs; interview clients and potential witnesses; prepare memoranda; draft pleadings, briefs, correspondence, and public records requests; conduct di