Title: Law Clerk – Summer 2024
Department: Legal & Strategic Initiatives
Status: Non-Exempt
Reports to: Associate General Counsel
Location: Flexible (the Law Clerk may decide whether to work remotely and/or from an LCV office)
Duration: Up to 12 Weeks – May – August 2024 (start and end dates flexible)
Schedule and Compensation: 40 hours per week, $20.00 per hour (unless otherwise funded)

General Description:

LCV believes our earth is worth fighting for because everyone has a right to clean air, water, and a safe, healthy community. To ensure those rights are protected, we help people use their power to shape policy, hold politicians and polluters accountable, and influence elections. For more than 50 years, LCV has grown into a potent political force for protecting our planet and everyone who inhabits it. We have built a powerful national movement with 30 state affiliates, and grassroots and community organizing programs across the country.

The Legal & Strategic Initiatives department, which serves as in-house general counsel to the organization, consists of three attorneys and advises on a wide variety of legal matters. The department specializes in advising the LCV family of organizations (a 501(c)(4), 501(c)(3), and several PACs) on their advocacy, electoral, and civic engagement activities, as well as legal compliance and risk management in their operations and employment practices. 

LCV is seeking a Law Clerk who will support its legal team on a variety of issues ranging  from labor and employment law questions, intellectual property, telecommunications, data and cybersecurity, federal and state election law, nonprofit tax law and governance, and ethics and gift rules, etc. Please note that the work of the Legal & Strategic Initiatives department generally does not involve environmental law issues.

The Law Clerk will primarily engage in legal research, writing and analysis of varying levels of formality and complexity, including analyzing legislation and litigation impacting LCV’s activities or operations. The Law Clerk will also be asked to prepare guidance documents on legal issues for non-legal staff, and/or to assist in preparing and conducting training for non-legal staff.  The Law Clerk may also learn more about grantmaking and campaign finance compliance obligations.

Law Clerk Will Gain Experience in:

• Conducting complex legal research, writing, and analysis to address live questions presented for the organization, ranging from campaign finance issues to employment and labor law issues, including the operation of a collective bargaining agreement.
• Analyzing recent or pending legislation and litigation.
• Developing guidance on legal topics for non-attorney staff members.
• Supporting the department’s efforts to provide legal services more equitably and inclusively to all staff.

Qualifications: 

• Education: Required – At least one year of law school. Preferred – LCV prefers to hire a law clerk who has either taken employment and/or labor law classes or who has experience on political campaigns. 
• Work Experience: Preferred – Prior internship or work experience with a nonprofit organization, government agency, law firm, or labor union.
• Skills: Highly organized; strong attention to detail; excellent written and oral communications skills; strong legal research, writing, and analysis skills; exhibits solid judgment; critical thinking skills; able to work independently and as part of a team; able to handle multiple tasks; self-starter; proficient in Microsoft Office Suite, Google Suite and Westlaw; ability to explain legal concepts to non-legal audiences. Preferred – Spanish language competency is a plus.
• Cultural Competence: Shares our commitment to increasing racial diversity in our movement and organization and within the legal sector more broadly, integrating racial justice and equity into the work we do, and ensuring an inclusive organizational culture. Commitment to environmental protection and mission of LCV. 
• Working Conditions: Applicants need to be located in and be legally authorized to work in the United States. LCV requires all employees working from our offices or participating in in-person meetings or events to be fully up-to-date on their COVID-19 vaccinations, subject to reasonable accommodation as required by law.

LCV offers sick leave, paid holidays, and voting leave to interns.

To Apply: Send your resume, cover letter, and an unedited writing sample to hr@lcv.org with “Law Clerk – Summer 2024” in the subject line no later than January 5, 2024. No phone calls, please. 

LCV is an Equal Opportunity Employer committed to a racially just, equitable and inclusive workplace. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, disability, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran status, or genetic information, or any other protected status. LCV is committed to providing access, equal opportunity and reasonable accommodation for individuals with disabilities in employment, its services, programs, and activities. If you require reasonable accommodation in completing this application, interviewing, completing any pre-employment testing, or otherwise participating in the employee selection process, please contact hr@lcv.org.

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The writing sample is usually a document you wrote in the past for a class, job or law/business journal. It should highlight your legal reasoning and analytical skills. It is fine if it has been revised as a result of feedback from others as long as you are the one who made the revisions. Three to twelve pages is appropriate (if possible, provide an entire product, but if you cannot due to the length requirement, please provide the portion that better reflects your legal reasoning).