Women's Law Project

Pittsburgh, PA

This is the 2024 fellowship description for this mentor organization. This is the Pittsburgh location. This position has been filled.

The Women's Law Project (WLP) is a nonprofit legal advocacy organization with offices in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. Founded in 1974, WLP provides free legal services, policy advocacy, and public education on a wide range of women's rights issues. We have a robust workers' rights program focusing on working women and LGBT workers. Our #MeTooPA project, based out of our Pittsburgh office, offers targeted community outreach and free legal representation to low-wage workers suffering from sexual harassment. Additionally, our Legal Navigator Program offers early-intervention legal advice and assistance to help pregnant and lactating workers obtain reasonable accommodations and avoid discrimination and leave violations that often end in loss of employment. We also provide legal services in the areas of sex discrimination, including sex discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity; pregnancy discrimination; gender stereotyping discrimination; and denial of leave rights under the FMLA or Pittsburgh's paid sick days ordinance. Most but not all of our clients are women, and many are people of color or LGBT people. Nearly all of our #MeTooPA clients are low-income and have no other source of legal assistance for their sexual harassment complaints.

The Peggy Browning Fellow will work on all aspects of WLP's workers' rights project. They will have direct client contact through client intake interviews. The Fellow will draft administrative complaints, demand letters, and settlement agreements under the direction and supervision of experienced WLP attorneys. The Fellow will research and write legal analyses of developing law and will assist our Communications Director in creating accurate and accessible public education materials for the lay public. It is likely that the Fellow will have a role in brief-writing and legal research supporting litigation. The Fellow will also support WLP's policy advocacy around working women's rights, including review and analysis of proposed state and local legislation and research into current state legislative trends.

The Peggy Browning Fellow will be invited to participate in a weekly public interest summer law student brown-bag lunch series convened by the Pittsburgh ACLU. The Fellow will also attend WLP board and community meetings. The Fellow will be encouraged to take advantage of PBF webinars and teleconferences, and will be permitted to use work time for this purpose. Perhaps most importantly, the Fellow will have daily supervision and mentoring from senior attorneys.

We regularly reimburse travel expenses related to work outside of regular attendance at WLP's offices and will do so for the Fellow.

In 2020, 2021, and 2022, the Peggy Browning Fellow hired by the Women's Law Project worked remotely due to the pandemic. While we hope to have an in-office experience in 2023, we will follow public health guidelines.

The total ten-week stipend for this fellowship will be $7,000. Students at WLP typically have a 35-hour work week plus a 1-hour daily lunch break.

Address cover letter to:

Susan Frietsche
Senior Staff Attorney & Director, Western Pennsylvania Office (Interim Co-Executive Director)
Women's Law Project
239 Fourth Avenue, Suite 2108
Pittsburgh, PA 15222

www.womenslawproject.org