Access to Justice Legal Fellow (Fall 2027)

About the Role

Public Justice is a nonprofit legal advocacy organization that takes on the biggest systemic threats to justice of our time—abusive corporate power and predatory practices, the assault on civil rights, and the destruction of the earth’s sustainability. We connect high-impact litigation with strategic communications and the strength of our partnerships to fight these abusive and discriminatory systems and win social and economic justice.

The Access to Justice (A2J) Project invites rising third-year law students and law graduates to apply for an opportunity to work with us as a legal fellow on cutting-edge litigation and advocacy related to access to the civil court system. We seek to host a candidate to apply for one- or two-year public interest fellowships from funders such as Equal Justice Works and/or Justice Catalyst to begin in the fall of 2027.

About the Access to Justice Project

The Access to Justice Project (A2J) seeks to make the civil court system a fair, equitable, and effective tool for those with less power to win just outcomes and hold those with more power accountable. The Project challenges and removes key inequities that block access to justice through the civil courts and creates new opportunities to make the civil courts an effective tool for equitable justice.

To achieve this outcome, Access to Justice works with a network of litigators, organizations, and others who share our vision, and in partnership with them, identifies, assesses, and prioritizes key barriers and opportunities for a just and equitable civil court system. The Project’s work includes strategic high-impact litigation, coalition advocacy, and public education and engagement.

The Project’s current areas of focus include:

• Combatting the use of forced arbitration
• Restrictive standing doctrines
• Excessive court secrecy
• Undue limitations on class actions
• Limits on accountability for law enforcement and detention abuses

For more information about the litigation and advocacy work of the Access to Justice Project, visit our website.

Responsibilities

The Fellow would work on litigation and advocacy with A2J’s staff attorneys, as well as a network of collaborating lawyers, other public interest groups, and our communications staff. Responsibilities include:

• Conducting intakes and helping develop materials to educate the public and the bar about their work
• Collaborating with A2J’s team to craft an appropriate project proposal for fellowship applications

This is an exempt position and will report to a Senior Attorney or Staff Attorney.

Requirements

Employment is contingent upon the receipt of funding from Equal Justice Works, Justice Catalyst, or a similar funder in an amount no less than $50,000 per year.

Pay

Our attorneys are paid on a salary scale based on years out of law school. The annual salary for an attorney who is less than a year out of law school is $84,500.

Benefits

• Flexible time off and two weeks of sick leave
• All federal and some local holidays, plus end-of-year office closure
• Employer-paid health, dental, and vision insurance premiums for employees and eligible dependents
• 401(k) plan
• Four-day work week year-round

Public Justice operates as a remote organization but maintains an office in Washington, DC. The position may entail some travel due to the national scope of our litigation, education, and advocacy work.