Public Advocates Inc., a bold and highly-regarded civil rights law firm and advocacy organization, has an opening on its Education Equity Team for a Staff Attorney or Senior Staff Attorney, depending on experience. Our mission is to eradicate poverty and discrimination and promote thriving communities. For forty-six years Public Advocates has used a diverse set of legal and policy tools to achieve tangible legal victories and help low-income communities of color build their power to participate effectively in public decision-making.

Our Education Team’s work currently includes local and state advocacy to implement California’s new, more equitable school funding formula and ensure greater resource support for vulnerable students; advocacy to advance state and federal teacher quality reforms and accountability reforms, more broadly; and efforts to help build advocacy power among our grassroots community allies across the state. Visit our website to learn more about these focal areas of work.

Responsibilities

• Community Partnership & Coalition Building: Build and maintain positive relationships with diverse grassroots community partners and with other allies; leverage Public Advocates’ legal and policy expertise to enhance capacity of community partners and build power of students and parents to impact the education system
• Legal & Administrative Advocacy: Work on precedent-setting cases at the trial level, on appeal and before state and federal agencies, working closely with managing attorney, staff attorneys and pro bono co-counsel; may have opportunities to initiate and manage litigation depending on experience
• Policy Advocacy: Develop, analyze and promote policy change at the (primarily) state, federal and local levels, and sustain Public Advocates’ role in local, statewide and national coalitions
• Strategy: Help shape strategic directions in our education program work, incorporating policy advocacy, community collaboration, media and communication, and litigation to achieve our objectives
• Communication: Develop and execute outreach and media strategies, including messaging, community education, writing and representing Public Advocates and coalitions to the press and public
• Resource Development: Help identify and develop funding opportunities and contribute to foundation relations

Qualifications

• Experience, ability and motivation to do the highest caliber legal work; successful candidate will have three to eight years of active litigation and/or administrative advocacy, research and drafting experience
• Excellent written and oral communication skills
• Experience working with communities of color and/or low-income communities and commitment to community capacity-building and empowerment
• Experience and interest in supervising others (law clerks, junior attorneys, fellows)
• Independence, initiative, creativity, diplomacy and capacity to work collaboratively both internally and with allies
• Ability to communicate clearly and persuasively about legal and policy issues to legal and lay audiences
• CA Bar admission
• Experience in securing program grants and other fund development, organizational planning, and writing for publication also desirable
• Strong preference for one or more of the following:
  • Policy experience, generally, and education policy experience, in particular
  • Experience teaching in public schools
  • Fluency in Spanish

Qualities expected of all Public Advocates staff include integrity, high professional standards, and commitment to progressive social change and working successfully with diverse colleagues, clients and community partners. This includes active participation in promoting healthy workplace culture through our organizational diversity initiative. We value cooperation, candor, flexibility, resilience, optimism, curiosity and sense of humor.

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