Legal Aid at Work

San Francisco, CA

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

Legal Aid At Work partners with people to help them understand and assert their workplace rights. We also advocate for employment laws and systems that empower low-paid workers and marginalized communities.. We advise, counsel and represent low-wage workers facing a wide range of workplace issues, including unpaid wage, denial of family and medical leave and accommodation, wrongful termination, harassment, retaliation, and discrimination on the basis of race, national origin, immigration status, language, gender, sexual orientation, or disability. Using the law as a tool, Legal Aid At Work helps workers attain financial security by preserving their employment opportunities. We believe that stable working conditions and adequate income strengthen families and build communities. By protecting the employment status of wage earners, we provide families the means to pull through adverse times, avoid the downward spiral caused by job loss, and be fully contributing members of society.

The clients of Legal Aid At Work - women, people of color, disabled persons, immigrants, and others in low-paying jobs - have suffered discrimination, wage and hour violations, unlawful termination, harassment, threats to health and safety, and other illegal on-the-job practices. In vindicating their rights, we seek broad remedies, including damages and injunctive relief to change policies and practices that hinder access to equal employment opportunities. Legal Aid At Work’s experienced staff attorneys litigate cases nationwide that we believe will set legal precedent and influence policy for the benefit of minority and low-income workers and families. Our program work is focused on race, gender, national origin and disability discrimination as well as providing legal assistance for clients dealing with unpaid wage or denial of family and medical leave and accommodation. Legal Aid At Work’s attorneys also participate in amicus curiae and collaborative work with other public interest organizations to achieve our common goals. In addition, low-wage workers contact our Workers Rights Clinics throughout California seeking information and legal advice about their rights in the workplace.

The Peggy Browning Fellow would be an integral part of the work that is currently being done by the organization. The Fellow will participate in program meetings and will be considered part of the litigation team for cases to which they are assigned. The Fellow will also participate as an employment counselor at weekly Workers' Rights Clinics.

Assigned to one or two attorneys, the Fellow would be primarily responsible for legal research and writing on current and potential cases. Assignments may include litigation memos, pleadings, and collaborative briefs and motions. In addition, tasks related to discovery (deposition preparation, attendance and summarization; witness interviews; propounding and responding to interrogatories) and trial preparation may also be assigned. The Fellow would also conduct client intake and interviews over the phone or in person for the program area they are working in. The Fellow will participate as an employment counselor at weekly Workers' Rights clinics where they will meet a number of volunteer attorneys, most of them from the plaintiffs-side employment bar. Also, the Fellow may be expected to attend Legal Aid At Work events when possible. Additionally, the Fellow will be encouraged to attend additional training workshops or educational seminars made available by other public interest organizations in the Bay Area.

Legal Aid At Work actively seeks diversity and welcomes the applications of students from every racial, ethnic and cultural background. Students with bi- and multi-lingual capabilities are strongly preferred. An effort is made to assign the Fellow to work in an area of interest for them, and with attorneys whose supervision style will be most effective for the student. Legal Aid At Work values the contribution of law clerks and strives to provide a rewarding experience for each student.

Legal Aid At Work continues to operate in a remote-first environment, with the option to work at our San Francisco office if the employee or Fellow so chooses.

The total ten-week stipend for this fellowship will be $8,750.

Address cover letter to:
Legal Aid at Work
180 Montgomery Street, Suite 600
San Francisco, CA 94104