Staff Attorney 2, Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection - Georgetown University Law Center

Georgetown University comprises two unique campuses in the nation’s capital. With the Hilltop Campus located in the heart of the historic Georgetown neighborhood, and the Capitol Campus, just minutes from the U.S. Capitol and U.S. Supreme Court, Georgetown University offers rigorous academic programs, a global perspective, and unparalleled opportunities to engage with Washington, D.C. Our community is a close-knit group of remarkable individuals driven by intellectual inquiry, a commitment to social justice, and a shared dedication to making a difference in the world.

Requirements

Tradition. Innovation. A superb faculty. Hundreds of course offerings — and all of this just steps away from the Capitol and Supreme Court. Georgetown Law is an exceptional institution in an enviable location. Students come here from all over the world to study international or tax law, environmental or health care law (just a few of our specialties). They come here for our top-ranked clinics. Most of all, they come because this is the place where theory and practice meet. At Georgetown, students learn the law in the place where laws are made.

The Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection (ICAP) Staff Attorney 2 (Senior Counsel) will drive results in complex, fast-moving, high-impact litigation to defend key constitutional rights and values, as well as related legal rights.  He or she will do so by employing diverse litigation experience as well as exceptional legal abilities.  The Senior Counsel’s responsibilities will include:

• Conceptualize and effectuate high-impact litigation in defense of constitutional rights and values, ensuring that Georgetown Law students are meaningfully and materially integrated into those litigation efforts. 

• Engage in factual development and legal research, drawing on legal research provided by students, research assistants, and other ICAP attorneys to assist in conceiving of and then driving constitutional impact litigation strategies in close coordination with the Institute’s Executive Director, Legal Director, and Supreme Court Director.  

• Determine when litigation represents a promising mechanism for pursuing the defense of constitutional rights, then conceptualize how litigation might be used in such circumstances and explore the possibilities of filing such a suit—to include the identification of, and outreach to, potential plaintiffs and partner organizations.  

• Drawing on high-level previous litigation and legal writing experience and the years of feedback received on it, carefully draft, revise, and edit briefing materials to be filed in court pertaining to those cases, assisting in mooting the oral advocates presenting and arguing the cases and presenting evidence and oral argument directly in courts, potentially at all levels of the state and federal court systems.

• Often assume the lead role in individual cases, subject to the supervision of the Executive Director, Legal Director, and Supreme Court Director, developing and implementing policy solutions on issues related to ICAP’s litigation and core mission.  

• Closely support ICAP's leadership in overseeing a practicum seminar designed to involve Georgetown Law students in understanding the nature of constitutional impact litigation and in contributing to ICAP's work. 

Work Interactions

The ICAP Senior Counsel will be supervised by ICAP's Executive Director, Legal Director, and Supreme Court Director. The Senior Counsel will work closely with ICAP's other attorneys engaged in factual development and legal research and writing in support of ICAP's litigation efforts. Additionally, the Senior Counsel will coordinate directly with ICAP’s co-counsel in litigation and, moreover, will interact with other Georgetown Law faculty supporting ICAP's work on particular cases and with students participating in the practicum seminar offered in connection with ICAP’s work. All told, the Senior Counsel will be essential to fulfilling ICAP's mission of harnessing the talent and expertise of Georgetown Law's faculty and students in designing and effectuating strategically selected, complex constitutional litigation and policy development on cutting-edge issues and exposing the law school community, including students in the ICAP practicum, to such work in meaningful ways.

Requirements and Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree and J.D

• At least 6 years of legal experience after law school (including clerkship time, if applicable)

Applicants who are committed to promoting a sense of belonging and