Job Abstract

The ACLU’s National Prison Project (NPP), located in our national office in Washington, D.C., seeks rising third-year law students and recent law graduates to apply for sponsorship for an externally funded fellowship such as Equal Justice Works, Skadden, Justice Catalyst, or other public interest fellowships, to begin in the fall of 2025. This is a hybrid role that has in-office requirements of two (2) days per week or eight (8) days per month.

Founded in 1972, NPP is the only organization that litigates carceral conditions cases on a national level; we are currently litigating cases across the country, from the U.S. Virgin Islands to California. NPP works to ensure that our nation’s prisons, jails, juvenile facilities, and immigration detention centers comply with the Constitution, domestic law, and international human rights principles. Through litigation, public education, and other forms of advocacy, we fight to ensure that conditions of confinement are consistent with health, safety, and human dignity; to center the humanity of incarcerated people, their families, and their communities; and we work to reverse the laws and policies that give the U.S. the highest incarceration rate in the world, disproportionately imprisoning people of color and people with disabilities. Our priorities include improving health care in prisons, eliminating violence and maltreatment, ending solitary confinement, defending the First Amendment and other Constitutional rights of incarcerated people, and increasing oversight and accountability in carceral facilities.

We will review applications and begin interviews on a rolling basis as applications are received, and priority consideration will be given to those who submit applications by July 19, 2024.

Reporting to the Deputy Director, the Fellow will both work on existing cases and also focus on their fellowship project to advance the body of law for incarcerated people.

The legal fellow must secure external funding, please email hiring@aclu.org for funding requirements. Our staff will work with candidates to develop their proposals to external funders for submission, helping to tailor the proposal to address an important civil liberties issue for incarcerated people. Proposed projects often combine litigation and advocacy with community outreach and public education. NPP has identified the following issues as priority project proposal topics, but welcome proposals and ideas not listed below:

• Appellate litigation in federal and state appellate courts to advance the law on priority issues, including: sexual abuse and harassment; reproductive justice and access to reproductive health care behind bars; solitary confinement; incarcerated people with disabilities; treatment for substance use disorder and Hep C; and fighting the efforts to use an "originalist" interpretation of the Eighth Amendment to what was cruel or unusual in the 18th Century. The fellow would track and review lower court cases, and where the plaintiff has been proceeding pro se, would offer representation solely for the purpose of an appeal. The fellow would respond to requests for amicus briefs and draft amicus briefs in cases.
• Challenging solitary confinement of people with mental health disabilities in immigration detention. A recent report found that ICE placed detained people in solitary confinement 14,264 times in the past five years alone. Many people had preexisting mental health conditions or other vulnerabilities. The fellow would develop a multi-disciplinary project to work closely with detained immigrants, organize with legal service, mental health service, and community partners, and develop novel litigation theories to press for the release of immigrant detainees held in long-term solitary confinement from custody.
• Litigation to move people with mental illness found incompetent to stand trial out of jails and detention centers, and into the least restrictive environment. In our litigation against jails, all too often we find that the people spending the longest periods of time in jails, awaiting trials, are those with serious mental illness who are either awaiting competency evaluation or have been found incompetent to stand trial. These people often cycle in an out of solitary confinement units at jails, due to their poorly managed mental health care. The fellow's work would build off the work done by some ACLU affiliates in state and federal courts challenging the long-term incarceration of people in need of community mental health services through litigation, advocacy, and public education.
• Advocacy to repurpose carceral facilities and to prevent the construction of new carceral facilities. This fellowship project will work to support community campaigns that aim to close or prevent the construction of jails, prisons, and immigration detention centers. In recent years, advocates have succeeded in reducing the number of incarcerated people through sentencing reform or other reform measures, or in terminating government contracts to detain or incarcerate people at specific facilities. But without addressing the continued existence of the facility means it could be used to incarcerate in the future.

• Conduct legal research and analysis and develop theories to support new litigation projects
• Draft legal memoranda, pleadings, affidavits, motions, and briefs
• Interview witnesses and potential clients
• Monitor prison and jail systems’ compliance with settlement agreements
• Participate in discovery and trial-court practice
• Draft and edit public education and non-litigation advocacy materials
• Provide support and assistance to ACLU affiliates and cooperating attorneys
• Engage in public speaking and attend meetings and/or conferences as needed

• 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

• J.D. or expected to receive a J.D by the spring of 2025
• Demonstrated commitment to public interest law and criminal justice issues
• Willingness to work closely with NPP through the funding application process
• Excellent research, writing, and verbal communication skills
• Demonstrated ability to conduct complex legal analysis and fact-finding
• Excellent interpersonal skills and a proven ability to work independently as well as within a team
• Self-motivated with the ability to take initiative, manage a variety of tasks and see projects through to completion
• Prior experience with mass incarceration (via work or personal / familial experience) preferred but not required
• Fluency in a foreign language commonly spoken by incarcerated people is preferred but not required

The ACLU has a litigator scale that determines pay for attorneys in our Legal Department. The range of salaries are the following, based on year of law school graduation (please consult the hiring manager for specific salary details, based on individual circumstances):

• 0-2 years since law school graduation: $89,250-$111,491
• 3-5 years since law school graduation: $124,873-$147,324
• 6-10 years since law school graduation: $154,069- $173,808
• 11-15 years since law school graduation: $177,058-$187,108
• 16-20 years since law school graduation: $188,874-$193,738
• 21-25 years since law school graduation: $194,719-$198,708
• 26-30+ years since law school graduation: $199,666- $203,553

These salaries are reflective of positions based in Washington, DC. The salary will be subject to a locality adjustment (according to a specific city and state), if an authorization is granted to work remotely outside of the location listed in this posting. Note that most of the salaries listed on our job postings reflect New York, NY salaries, where our National offices are headquartered.

For over 100 years, the ACLU has worked to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed by the Constitution and laws of the United States. Whether it’s ending mass incarceration, achieving full equality for the LGBTQ+ community, establishing new privacy protections for our digital age, or preserving the right to vote or the right to have an abortion, the ACLU takes up the toughest civil liberties cases and issues to defend all people.

We know that great people make a great organization. We value our people and know that what we offer is essential not just their work, but to their overall well-being.

At the ACLU, we offer a broad range of benefits, which include:

• Time away to focus on the things that matter with a generous paid-time off policy
• Focus on your well-being with comprehensive healthcare benefits (including medical, dental and vision coverage, parental leave, gender affirming care & fertility treatment)
• Plan for your retirement with 401k plan and employer match
• We support employee growth and development through annual professional development funds, internal professional development programs and workshops

Accessibility, equity, diversity, and inclusion are core values of the ACLU and central to our work to advance liberty, equality, and justice for all. For us diversity, equity, accessibility and inclusion are not just check-the-box activities, but a chance for us to make long-term meaningful change. We are a community committed to learning and growth, humility and grace, transparency and accountability. We believe in a collective responsibility to create a culture of belonging for all people within our organization – one that respects and embraces difference; treats everyone equitably; and empowers our colleagues to do the best work possible. We are as committed to anti-oppression, anti-ableism and anti-racism internally as we are externally. Because whether we’re in the courts or in the office, we believe ‘We the People’ means all of us.

With this commitment in mind, we strongly encourage applications from all qualified individuals without regard to race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, national origin, marital status, citizenship, disability, veteran status, record of arrest or conviction, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.

The ACLU is committed to providing reasonable accommodation to individuals with disabilities. If you are a qualified individual with a disability and need assistance applying online, please email benefits.hrdept@aclu.org. If you are selected for an interview, you will receive additional information regarding how to request an accommodation for the interview process.