Senior Staff or Staff Attorney, Democracy: Voting Rights Litigation Team

About the role

The Southern Poverty Law Center’s Democracy - Voting Rights Litigation Team (DVR) seeks a Senior Staff or Staff Attorney to join our team. DVR works across the Deep South to engage and mobilize voters, restore voting rights, pursue electoral policy reforms, and bring litigation to challenge unconstitutional and discriminatory voting practices.

Responsibilities

• Litigate cases in state and federal courts, primarily across SPLC’s five focus states.
• Work and co-counsel with private attorneys; conduct extensive research and factual investigations; write motions, briefs, and other court filings; conduct discovery, court appearances; and oral arguments.
• Lead advocacy and litigation, including legal research, factual investigations, drafting memoranda and complaints.
• Identify and develop new cases and new litigation strategies to advance voting rights, including working with community groups, coalitions, and individuals.
• Mentor and train legal staff and interns as needed.
• Participate on relevant task forces and coalitions.
• Collaborate extensively across departments within SPLC to ensure effective implementation of SPLC’s impact area goals.
• Represent DVR on relevant task forces and coalitions.
• Engage in public speaking and articulate SPLC’s policies and programs to the public and the media on voting rights issues.

Requirements

• Experience litigating individual and class action civil rights cases in federal and state courts at the trial and appellate levels.
• Experience working with community organizations, grassroots campaigns, and impacted communities, particularly in the Deep South.
• Demonstrated interest and commitment to voting rights, civic engagement, campaign work, organizing or election law.
• Ability to synthesize complex issues and communicate them effectively to diverse audiences.
• Demonstrated ability to conduct legal research and factual investigations.
• Ability to create vision and take calculated risks in crafting and executing strategies to move litigation forward.
• Demonstrated ability to work with other litigation teams, external organizations, and stakeholders to execute specific strategies to advance the work and cases of the Democracy-Voting Rights Litigation Team.
• Exceptional communication skills and ability to communicate persuasively to a variety of audiences through writing and speaking.
• Alignment with SPLC's mission, vision, and values.

Qualifications

• Staff Attorney I-II: At least one (1) year of federal court civil litigation or comparable experience post law school.
• Senior Staff Attorney I-IV: At least six (6) years of federal court civil litigation or comparable experience post law school.
• Membership in good standing of at least one state bar in the United States, preferably Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, or Mississippi.
• J.D. degree from an ABA-accredited law school.

Benefits

Click here to view the benefits available to SPLC staff.

Where & How You'll Work

This role offers the following work designations options: Local, Remote, or Telework. The position reports to a Senior Supervising Attorney, Democracy: Voting Rights.

Special Considerations

This job is performed under general office conditions and is not subject to any strenuous physical demands or dangerous conditions. This position is represented by the Washington-Baltimore News Guild.