National Immigration Law Center

Description

About the Organization

Founded in 1979, the National Immigration Law Center (NILC) is a leading non-profit organization (501(c)3) in the U.S. exclusively dedicated to defending and advancing the rights and opportunities of low-income immigrants and their loved ones. NILC’s mission is grounded in the belief that everyone living in the U.S. regardless of race, gender/gender identity, immigration status, or economic status — should have equal access to justice, resources, and educational and economic opportunities that enable them to achieve their full human potential. Together, NILC and the affiliated NILC Immigrant Justice Fund (IJF), a 501(c)4 organization, work to advocate more directly for federal immigration reform policies. NILC is committed to advancing its mission — which intersects race, immigration status, and class — through racial, economic, and gender justice and equity orientation.

About the Role

This position is a 2-year term limited role, renewable based on funding.

The Special Counsel, Rapid Response will play a critical role in challenging, tracking, analyzing, and interpreting actions by the administration that threaten immigrants and their families, and our democracy at large. This position provides rapid legal response in coordination with other NILC departments supporting rapid response efforts. Coordinate with the VP, Litigation and Legal Strategy the Director, Litigation and the Special Counsel with respect rapid response to legal actions affecting immigrant communities at the federal, state and local level.

The attorney must be experienced in federal litigation related to civil rights, including temporary restraining orders, preliminary injunctions, habeas corpus petitions, and other emergency filings. Immigration-related experience is preferred, but not required. This position’s primary role is to prepare and implement the immediate response to threats facing the low-income immigrant community, such as responding to Executive Orders or proclamations, invocation of emergency or war-time powers, immigration raids, and similar actions that violate the rights of immigrants and their families. This role requires the ability to work independently in a fast-paced environment, while effectively engaging with subject matter experts and key stakeholders across various teams and partner organizations.

This role is a member of the bargaining unit.

The Special Counsel, Rapid Response will be responsible for providing leadership and driving success in the following key areas:

Specific Position Responsibilities

• Work within NILC’s Legal Department to identify, evaluate, and develop potential litigation in cases critical to defending democracy and other rapid-response situations.
• With support from the team, draft and file emergency pleadings as needed in emergency litigation
• Collaborate with internal multidisciplinary teams and external partners, including co-counsel, nonprofit allies, and external communications professionals, to coordinate legal strategy and messaging.
• Produce high-quality, accurate written content under tight deadlines, including legal pleadings, developing the ability to effectively manage multiple priorities in fast-paced environments.
• Communicate with clients and potential clients in rapid-response situations as part of the litigation development process
• Engage in all aspects of NILC’s rapid response litigation, remaining nimble to forum and type of action filed, with an eye to address the emergency requiring rapid response
• Engaging in discovery and motion practice, as needed
• Draft and review talking points and other media materials for amplification of work and cases.
• May be a part of a larger cross functional project using the MOCHA framework/methodology

Shared Organization Responsibilities

• Champions NILC & IJF’s mission of advancing the rights of immigrants with low income by demonstrating a commitment to human rights, and racial, economic, and social justice
• Attends and actively participates in NILC meetings at the organization, department, project, and individual level
• Develops relationships and supports NILC and IJF colleagues across all teams, recognizing that each individual brings a unique background and perspective to the work and assuming good intent from each other.
• Follows through on commitments acting with a clear sense of ownership individually and collectively by taking personal responsibility for decisions, actions, and failures, establishing clear responsibilities and processes for monitoring work and measuring results, and designing feedback loops into work.
• Learns quickly when facing new situations by experimenting to find fresh solutions, taking on the challenge of unfamiliar tasks, and extracting lessons learned from failures and mistakes.
• Acts with integrity by following through on commitments, being direct and truthful, keeping confidence, and showing consistency between words and actions.
• Commits to centering NILC’s values of racial justice & equity, valuing diversity, fostering partnerships & collaboration, encouraging respect & personal well-being, and striving for transparency, integrity, and honesty in all decisions and actions

In recognition of the fluidity of the work and ecosystem that NILC operates in, other duties may be assigned depending on organizational need.

What We’re Looking for in This Role

• Commitment to NILC & IJF’s mission of advancing the rights of immigrants with low income and a demonstrated commitment to human rights, racial, economic and social justice, and equity, diversity, inclusion, and justice for all.
• Collaborative, proactive, and action-oriented working style with a strong service mentality promoting mutual accountability and inspiring trust and confidence from colleagues, other NILC team members, and NILC leaders alike.
• Comfort operating in rapid-response environments, with ambiguity and in novel situations to respond to emerging threats facing our country.
• Demonstrates sound judgement in decision-making, high integrity, and utmost respect for confidentiality.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills: ability to read, analyze and interpret as well as draft legal documents such as reports, correspondence, and presentations for various audiences under tight deadlines.
• Self-starter with a strong ability to move daily tasks forward in alignment with NILC’s broader organizational needs and goals.
• Flexibility to travel domestically potentially on short notice, if required by the type of rapid-response action.

Qualifications Required

• Juris Doctor from an accredited school and active member in good standing of a State Bar .
• 7+ years of federal civil litigation experience,
• Demonstrated experience in the investigation and development of impact litigation.
• Familiarity with constitutional law, civil rights law, the Administrative Procedure Act, and/or immigration law
• Ability to engage in complex legal analysis and fact investigation in impact litigation under tight deadlines, including in an emergency or preliminary injunction phase
• Experience as a federal court litigator in cases involving federal government agencies and policies
• Strong legal research, writing, and analytical skills, particularly in response to evolving immigration policies.
• Ability to work independently and manage multiple urgent projects in a high-pressure environment while also coordinating with multiple teams across the organization.
• Proficiency with in-office and virtual environments and software such as MS Office, Westlaw, PACER, and virtual collaboration tools.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Expertise in immigrants’ rights or other public interest impact litigation strongly preferred.
• Proficiency in non-English languages spoken by Latin, Asian, Pacific Islander, African, Caribbean, and Arab communities preferred. Fluency in more than one language desirable.
• Familiarity with Clio or other case management platforms.

At NILC, we know that talented people may have different backgrounds or experiences, and if your education and experience doesn’t exactly align with the above that’s okay! NILC believes that diversity in all dimensions of the organization supports and bolsters the innovative thinking essential to its success and is committed to providing equal employment opportunity to all qualified applicants. NILC’s goal is for our people to reflect the communities in which we live and serve and to ensure representation of people of color, women, veterans, and individuals with disabilities in our organization. We encourage you to apply and let us know in your cover letter why you are qualified and the right fit for this role and NILC.

Work Environment

Location & Travel:

NILC's offices are located in Washington, D.C.. Travel for litigation will be required on a case-by-case basis dependent on the needs of the litigation. For this role, up 30% of overnight interstate travel may be required; generally, travel is quarterly to the NILC Washington, D.C. office or another location within the US for 3-5 nights at a time.

Remote work locations are as follows: (Arkansas, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Georgia, Maryland, Montana, North Carolina, New Mexico, New York, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, Virginia and Wisconsin). To be considered, applicants must live in one of the work locations.

Compensation & Benefits:

NILC’s compensation and benefits philosophy is to provide a competitive offering in the nonprofit sector and ensure equity across the organization. The salary range for this role is $115,154 - $143,994.

NILC provides an incredible benefit package that includes employer-paid healthcare coverage (100% for employees and 75% for dependents), employer-supported dental and vision coverage, a 403(b)-retirement plan including an automatic contribution from NILC, paid parental leave, monthly cell phone and wellness stipends, pre-tax accounts for transit, health, and childcare benefits (FSA), and employer-paid short- and long-term disability and life insurance. NILC also provides a generous paid-time-off policy, 15 holidays and 22 days of paid time off annually (increased to 32 after 2 years of employment).

NILC is also a qualifying public service employer, which means all full-time NILC employees qualify for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) Program. To learn more about the program, please visit https://studentaid.gov/pslf/.

This position is a 2-year term limited role, renewable based on funding.

Physical Demands:

• Remaining in a stationary position, often standing, or sitting for prolonged periods
• Communicating with others to exchange information.
• Repeating motions, like typing or answering a phone, that may include the wrists, hands and/or fingers.