Post-Law School Legal Fellowship (Fall 2024)

National Employment Law Project (NELP)
New York

The National Employment Law Project (NELP) is seeking a dynamic law student or judicial clerk to sponsor for a Skadden, Equal Justice Works, or similar post-graduate legal fellowship application in the fall of 2023, for the fellow to start in the fall of 2024. The legal fellow would be based in NELP’s offices in New York City. This position offers an opportunity to join a committed and high-impact team at NELP.

Who We Are                                                                                 

Founded in 1969, the nonprofit National Employment Law Project (NELP) is a leading advocacy organization with the mission to build a just and inclusive economy where all workers have expansive rights and thrive in good jobs. Together with local, state, and national partners, NELP advances its mission through transformative legal and policy solutions, research, capacity building, and communications. Our victories over the last decade have impacted the lives of an estimated 100 million workers and their families. We lead and collaborate in fights for higher pay and just benefits, secure and safe jobs, and support at each stage in a worker’s life. For more information, read our annual reports and explore our website: www.nelp.org. 

NELP has a team of 55 staff people based across offices in New York City, Washington, D.C., and Berkeley, CA, with an 11-person Board of Directors, an annual budget of $20M, and hundreds of partners in the field with whom we work to further our mission.  

The Fellowship

NELP will work with the aspiring legal fellow to develop a project that supports federal, state, and local policy and organizing campaigns seeking to promote good jobs and fair access to employment for our nation’s underpaid and immigrant workforce. NELP is currently focused on a pilot project that promotes community and government collaborations to ensure labor protections, which would support fair wages, job quality, and ensuring healthy and safe working conditions. Our effort to support community and government collaborations is national in scope, and is currently funding groups in 5 states. This national model is based on a pioneering community and government collaboration we supported in California described here.

We are interested in collaborating with the fellow to determine their role in the community and government collaboration that leverages their experiences and skills, in addition to providing legal support for NELP program. The fellow’s project may employ a variety of strategies, including:

• Providing legal, policy, and strategic assistance for campaigns, including drafting legislation, legal analyses, and policy briefs;
• Participating in strategic litigation related to wage and hour, other labor standards issues, or federal administrative actions;
• Drafting reports, op-eds, and educational materials and engaging in strategic communications;
• Coordinating networks of advocates to develop and advance policy campaigns.

Who You Are

• You have (or will have, before the start of the fellowship) a J.D. degree and relevant bar admission.
• You are a skilled written and oral communicator, with a demonstrated ability to explain complex issues in compelling, digestible, and accurate work products such as reports, op-eds, talking points, and/or issue briefs.
• You have an understanding of, or a curiosity about, how legal strategies can be tools to support organizing and worker power building.
• You have demonstrated commitment to workers’ rights, economic justice, and race equity.
• You have strong project management skills. You are a strategic and clear-headed thinker and doer.
• You have strong racial equity competencies and center your role in an analysis and understanding of how race and power shape systems in our society and culture and you are continuously learning, reflecting, and growing.
• You foster trust and transparency across lines of difference by listening deeply, and offer direct, honest feedback with compassion and clarity of purpose.
• You operate with a commitment to excellence, integrity, diplomacy, and camaraderie.

Start Date, Location, Compensation and Benefits: 

This position is based out of NELP's New York City office. NELP has a hybrid model that includes an in-person office requirement of at least six days per month. The hybrid model seeks to leverage both the benefits of working with colleagues in-person and the benefits of flexible remote arrangements. This position will require some travel, including with allies, stakeholders, and for NELP internal meetings or conferences. The start date will be in the Fall of 2024.

This position is in NELP’s bargaining unit, represented by National Organization of Legal Service Workers, UAW Local 2320. Classification and compensation for NELP bargaining unit positions is commensurate with relevant experience and education and based on NELP’s collectively bargained scales. Based on our union scale, here are some examples of salaries in 2024 for this position:  

• with a JD, the salary will be a minimum of $82,000.
• With a JD and 2 years’ post-graduate relevant experience, the salary will be a minimum of $86,580.

Based on the union scale, if an individual candidate’s education or experience is higher than an example, the salary will be higher; conversely, with less education or experience, the salary is lower.

NELP believes in work-life balance and ensuring that employees are able to care for themselves and their family members. Therefore, compensation at NELP also includes an excellent comprehensive benefits package, including full coverage of family health insurance, a medical reimbursement plan, generous vacation and sick leave, plus additional organization-wide holidays, significant contribution from employer to a retirement plan (both an unelected contribution and employer match); and for qualifying participants, up to 26 weeks paid parental leave, 12 weeks paid medical leave, 6 weeks of paid family medical caregiving leave, a sabbatical leave program, childcare/eldercare reimbursement assistance, and student loan repayment assistance.

To Apply: Candidates must be eligible and authorized to work in the United States. Go to our online application system at nationalemploymentlawproject.applytojob.com/apply to submit a cover letter and resume. If you have questions regarding this announcement, please forward those to nelp@nelp.org, noting the job title in the subject line. No phone calls or other email inquiries please. Deadline for initial applications seeking sponsorship by NELP is August 1, 2023. We will consider applications on a rolling basis.

NELP is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization and an equal opportunity, fair chance, affirmative action employer, committed to building a diverse and inclusive workforce.  All qualified applicants will be considered for employment without regard to race, color, creed, national origin, sex, age, disability, marital status, sexual orientation, military status, prior record of arrest or conviction, citizenship status, current employment status, or caregiver status.