Legal Fellow

About Us

African Communities Together (ACT) is an organization of African immigrants fighting for civil rights, opportunity, and a better life for our families here in the U.S. and worldwide. ACT empowers African immigrants to integrate socially, get ahead economically, and engage civically. We develop our members as grassroots leaders who take action to make social change. Since its founding, ACT has supported thousands of African immigrants with direct services, trained hundreds of new leaders, and led successful policy campaigns at the federal, state, and local levels that have impacted hundreds of thousands of immigrants. ACT's African immigrant membership comes from a diverse range of nationalities, cultures, and languages, is religiously diverse, and is predominantly working-class and low-income. We have offices in New York City, Philadelphia, and the Washington, D.C. metro area.

Position Description

African Communities Together (ACT) seeks to sponsor third-year law students, judicial law clerks, and recent law graduates for Skadden and Equal Justice Works public interest law fellowships starting in Fall of 2027. We will consider projects that fulfill ACT's mission and are particularly interested in fellowship projects that are timely in responding to emerging community needs and/or explicitly seek to dismantle or mitigate obstacles to overcoming poverty and crisis and impede access to justice for communities who experience disparate outcomes and increased vulnerability. ACT works closely with applicants who we sponsor to develop a proposal once selected.

Successful projects will expand the number of individuals impacted by our services, and will propose new models of service that center NYC communities in the design and implementation of the project, advance equity, deepen the breadth of services we provide, identify opportunities for inter-agency collaboration to should comprehensively respond to client needs, and/or leverage impact litigation to break down and systemic barriers and inequities. These legal interventions should focus on immigration and impact on African communities. Each project should include a combination of direct client services, community education, advocacy, pro bono involvement, and/or impact litigation. Projects may want to consider how technology and/or innovative engagement models may expand access to justice.

Qualifications

• Applicants must be rising third-year law students or recent law school graduates eligible for the fellowship programs for which they seek ACT sponsorship.
• Applicants must be passionate about the mission of ACT, and dedicated to advancing social, racial, and economic justice through legal interventions and advocacy.

Location, Schedule, and Compensation

This position will be based in ACT's Maryland office. This is a full time, hybrid position; schedule to be determined in consultation with supervisor. The baseline salary for this position is $70,000; additional compensation is negotiable based on experience.

Benefits

• Medical, Dental, and Vision insurance
• Flexible Spending Account (FSA)
• Simplified Employee Pension Plan (SEP-IRA)
• Long term Disability and Life Insurance
• Professional development opportunities
• Sabbatical/longevity bonus
• Wellness benefits
• Two weeks of paid vacation and sick leave
• Personal day for every two months worked
• Paid holidays throughout the calendar year (including federal holidays)
• Year-end winter break from December 24th to January 1st

Application Process

To apply, please submit your resume along with a brief project description here. Applicants are encouraged to submit applications by August 31st, 2026; however, applications will be accepted until the relevant fellowship application is closed. There will be one interview followed by a meeting with the Director of Immigration Legal Services to workshop the proposal. The position is slated to start in September 2027.

We recognize that it is highly unlikely that someone meets 100% of the qualifications for a role. Studies have shown that people of the global majority and female-identifying candidates in particular are likely to "count themselves out" of otherwise well-matched opportunities due to this fact. If much of this job description describes you, please apply for this role.