Post-Graduate Fellowship Sponsorship

About NYLAG:

Founded in 1990, NYLAG is a leading civil legal services organization combatting economic, racial, and social injustice by advocating for people experiencing poverty or in crisis. Our services include comprehensive, free civil legal services, financial empowerment, impact litigation, policy advocacy, and community partnerships. NYLAG exists because wealth should not determine who has access to justice. We aim to disrupt systemic racism by serving individuals and families whose legal and financial crises are often rooted in racial inequality. NYLAG goes to where the need is, providing services in more than 150 community sites (e.g. courts, hospitals, libraries) and on our Mobile Legal Help Center. During COVID-19, most of our services are virtual to keep our community safe. NYLAG’s staff of 300 impacted the lives of nearly 90,000 people last year.

Job description

The New York Legal Assistance Group (NYLAG) seeks to sponsor third-year law students, judicial law clerks, and recent law graduates for Skadden and Equal Justice Works public interest law fellowships starting in Fall of 2024.  NYLAG has an excellent track record of successful applicant sponsorship in a variety of areas of civil legal services law.

Although we will consider any project that fulfills NYLAG’s mission, we are particularly interested in fellowship projects that explicitly address issues of racial and social justice. Many of our systems were built on practices and policies that disproportionately disadvantage BIPOC communities, LGBTQIA communities, immigrants, and people who identify as women. This structural violence, embedded in our systems, serves to create and maintain obstacles to overcoming poverty and crisis. Rising hate crimes, xenophobia, and policies that explicitly target the rights of people based on their race, gender identity, immigration status, religion, and sexual orientation have further heightened obstacles that impede access to justice for those most in need.

Successful projects will not just expand the number of individuals impacted by our services, but will propose new models of service that center communities in the design and implementation of the project, deepen the breadth of services we provide, identify opportunities for inter-agency collaboration to comprehensively respond to client needs, and/or leverage impact litigation to break down barriers and systemic inequities. These legal interventions will include substantive legal areas such as: consumer and foreclosure prevention; domestic violence; elder justice; employment; immigration; public benefits; shelter advocacy; special education; tenant rights; and veterans’ rights.

Each project should include some combination of direct client services, community education, advocacy, pro bono involvement, and/or impact litigation. Projects involving community outreach, education, and engagement may want to leverage NYLAG’s Mobile Legal Help Center (MLHC), through our Community Access Project Unit.  The MLHC utilizes a van with a mobile office that goes into communities and provides confidential spaces for individuals to meet with advocates, bringing our services to individuals throughout NYC and eliminating barriers to access.

In order to develop a successful project, aligned with NYLAG’s mission, those considering applying for fellowship sponsorship should reach out directly to staff in the Unit in which the project would be housed to discuss the viability of any potential project prior to submitting your applications for sponsorship. If your project will involve multiple Units, please be sure to connect with leadership from both.  To be connected with someone at NYLAG, you may email: fellowships@nylag.org, or visit our website at www.nylag.org to identify the appropriate unit director. NYLAG staff will actively work with the selected candidates to more fully develop the fellowship proposal for submission.

We are committed to using employment opportunities to include the voices and ideas of those whose backgrounds and lived experiences are similar to those of our client population.

Applications must be submitted by end of day June 8, 2023. Applications must include a cover letter describing your proposed fellowship project and a copy of your resume.  Please be sure to discuss in your cover letter the project that you would like to develop and the unit(s) or project(s) in which your fellowship project will be housed. We will ask for writing samples and references before interviewing.

You may use the following email address for any questions: fellowships@nylag.org.

Duties and Responsibilities

See above.

Qualifications

Applicants must be rising third-year law students or recent law school graduates eligible for the fellowship programs for which they seek NYLAG sponsorship.  Please consult the fellowship program websites for information on eligibility, at https://www.skaddenfellowships.org/ and https://www.equaljusticeworks.org/become-a-fellow/.

NYLAG’s Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion

NYLAG is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. People of color, women, people with disabilities, immigrants, veterans, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people, and those with lived experiences in the communities we serve are strongly encouraged to apply.

Employment type:

☒ Full-time

Professional Level:
☒ Professional

Salary Range:

NYLAG is a unionized workplace, and salaries are set pursuant to a collective bargaining agreement. The current salary range for this position is between $75,199 - $78,051.

Benefits: Medical, dental, vision, 401k, life insurance, long term disability, commuter benefits, flexible spending accounts (FSA) for Medical and Dependent care.

Application Instructions: Applications must be submitted by end of day June 8, 2023. Applications must include a cover letter describing your proposed fellowship project and a copy of your resume.  Please be sure to discuss in your cover letter the project that you would like to develop and the unit(s) or project(s) in which your fellowship project will be housed. We will ask for writing samples and references before interviewing.

Covid Vaccination Policy: Please note, to safeguard the health and well-being of our employees and clients, NYLAG requires all employees to be fully vaccinated for COVID-19, unless a medical or religious exemption is approved.

NYLAG is committed to a hybrid work policy for staff whose work does not require their full-time presence in the office. NYLAG’s current policy is that most staff are required to work in NYLAG’s offices or do other in-person work at least two days each week. This policy is subject to change.

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