Senior Staff Attorney

About the role

The UCLA Voting Rights Project (VRP) is the flagship project of LPPI and works to ensure an accessible and equitable system of voting for all Americans through impact litigation, research, and clinical education to expand access to the ballot box. Reporting to the Legal Director, the senior staff attorney will play a critical role in the Voting Rights Project, developing and litigating high-impact cases, managing an ongoing docket of cases and matters, leading drafts of motions and pleadings, and working with other departments to accomplish organizational goals. This position will also manage and supervise a staff attorney and law student fellows with clinical work.

Responsibilities

• Develop and engage in impact litigation in federal and state courts, including conducting pre-litigation legal research and analysis, factual investigations, witness interviews, preparing litigation strategy memoranda, and preparing pleadings.
• Serve as lead counsel for UCLA LPPI VRP on multiple cases and matters.
• Supervise administrative staff, staff attorneys, paralegals, law students, legal fellows, interns, and volunteers.
• Collaborate with VRP colleagues to implement integrated advocacy efforts using legal, research, communications, and legislative advocacy functions.
• Serve as a legal resource to colleagues and contribute to scholarly research for law reviews, panels, and symposia.
• Lead the drafting of amicus briefs in constitutionally significant cases in federal and state courts.
• Assist in developing communication materials such as press releases, op-eds, articles, blog posts, and social media assets.
• Engage with the press to provide interviews and answer questions about legal research, voting rights policy, and litigation.
• Assist with fundraising, grant proposals, reports, and other tasks to promote the organization and its mission.
• Develop equitable relationships with scholars, community-based organizations, lawyers, law firms, and elected officials.

Requirements

• 3 years of experience representing individuals, organizations, or governmental units.
• 3 years of trial and/or appellate litigation experience in federal or state courts, or one year or more of judicial clerkship experience.
• Experience in drafting high-quality legal briefs and memoranda, and conducting legal research.
• Experience examining an expert witness under oath in a voting-related lawsuit in state or federal court during trial or deposition.
• Actively participated in a minimum of 7 federal or state lawsuits specifically related to voting rights.
• Authored or co-authored an amicus brief to the U.S. Supreme Court related specifically to voting rights.
• Interpersonal skills and ability to maintain cooperative relationships with persons of diverse backgrounds.
• Ability to manage time and workload effectively amid conflicting demands and deadlines.
• Highly organized with strong project management skills.
• Ability to work independently and as part of a team.
• Working knowledge of online legal research and web-based collaboration tools (e.g., Google Drive, Google Apps).

Preferred Qualifications

• Ability to travel locally, nationally, and internationally, with willingness to work occasional evenings and weekends.
• Excellent command of Spanish (highly proficient in spoken and written Spanish).
• Working knowledge of social media platforms and management systems, especially Twitter and LinkedIn.

Qualifications

• Juris Doctor (JD) degree in good academic standing from an accredited college or university.

Continued employment is contingent upon the completion of a satisfactory background investigation. Candidate(s) must be 18 years or older. The position is subject to providing evidence of COVID and flu vaccinations.

Pay

UCLA provides a full pay range. Actual salary offers consider factors including budget, prior experience, skills, knowledge, abilities, education, licensure, and certifications. Salary offers at the top of the range are not common.

Benefits

Visit UC Benefit package to discover benefits that start on day one, and UC Total Compensation Estimator to calculate total compensation value with benefits.

Schedule

8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.