Senior Staff Attorney, Education Equity

Location: CA-Based - Southern California, Los Angeles region preferred (hybrid work from home with limited travel in LA region and to PA offices)

Status: Exempt, Full-Time

Salary: $90,000-$120,000

Reports to: Managing Attorney

About Public Advocates

For more than 50 years Public Advocates (PA) has been on the frontlines of social justice movements in California. As a bold and highly regarded nonprofit law firm and advocacy organization that challenges the systemic causes of poverty and racial discrimination, we pride ourselves on our ability to skillfully deploy a multi-pronged approach to create systemic change and make rights real. Using litigation and enforcement, policy advocacy, community partnership, movement building and communication strategies, PA achieves tangible legal and policy victories in education, housing and transit justice in ways that help build power with low-income communities of color. PA was recently ranked as one of the top two most effective legislative advocacy groups out of over 100 ranked by CalMatters. To learn more about Public Advocates, please visit publicadvocates.org

Position Summary

The Senior Staff Attorney will work primarily with PA’s dedicated K-12 Education Equity Team, community partners, statewide coalitions and pro bono counsel to initiate and lead precedent-setting legal cases primarily in state courts and agencies and partner with grassroots organizations of directly impacted families and students to advance equity in schools for low-income BIPOC students and a racially and economically just K-12 public education system. The Senior Staff Attorney will work closely with the Managing Attorney, Deputy Managing Attorney and K-12 Local Power Building and State Advocacy Teams, and possibly support equity litigation by the Higher Education team. This position has traditionally been based remotely in Southern California to maintain and grow community partnership in that region, but we are flexible for the right candidate who has demonstrated willingness and ability to travel to the region as necessary to build relationships and advance collective work.

Key Responsibilities

Litigation and Legal Advocacy with a Movement Building Approach: 50%

• Support affirmative litigation and administrative actions to protect rights of students to an equitable education, including rights to fully-prepared teachers, safe and modern school facilities and sufficient and accurate instructional materials, in collaboration with Education Equity team attorneys and pro bono co-counsel
• May also support litigation to enforce equitable access to higher education
• Develop and manage litigation in alignment with broader movement based strategy that incorporates strategic communication, local organizing, policy advocacy and implementation, including case management and collaboration with pro bono co-counsel
• Work with the Managing Attorney and Deputy Managing Attorney to direct and execute statewide affirmative litigation and legal enforcement strategy, incorporating a multi-pronged approach that takes into account broader strategic goals

Community Partnership, Education & Power Building: 35%

• As a member of our Local Power Building team, build and manage strong relationships of trust with multiple community partners, campaigns and diverse coalitions in Southern California, which may include Los Angeles, Long Beach, Pomona, San Bernardino, or other local districts
• Provide legal community education to organizers, families, and students; leverage legal, budget, policy and data analysis to collaborate with community partners in planning, strategizing and developing local policy campaigns
• Elevate local policy priorities to K-12 State Advocacy Team for systemic solutions

Additional Responsibilities: 15%

• Project Management & Supervision: Help manage strategic projects for the team and supervise and/or mentor junior team members
• Strategic Communications: Work with Education Equity Team leadership, Director of Communications, and other staff to develop and execute outreach and media strategies, shape communication and advance narrative strategy in support of public education
• Resource Development: Support the Managing Attorney and Deputy Managing Attorney to identify, develop and maintain funding opportunities and relationships and litigate fee recovery motions, as appropriate

Required Skills & Qualifications

• Ability to do high caliber legal advocacy work, with a minimum of 5+ years of active and relevant litigation experience, including extensive legal research and writing
• J.D. and California Bar Admission
• Excellent written and oral communication skills, including the ability to communicate clearly and persuasively about legal and policy issues to legal, policymaker and community audiences
• Demonstrated commitment to racial and economic justice and community power; experience working for or with BIPOC communities and/or low-income communities and ability to collaborate internally and with a diverse set of allies
• Strategic thinking with capacity and interest to engage in multi-pronged advocacy and a movement lawyering approach that connects legal advocacy to broader movement building encompassing community partnership and education, policy advocacy and strategic communications
• Passion for public education with a growth mindset around becoming an expert in multiple aspects of the K-12 education landscape
• Willingness to travel to meet with partners in the Southern California region

Nice to Have Qualifications, Although Not Required

• Familiarity with K-12 education legal or policy issues, including equitable school funding, data and accountability, support for emerging multilingual learner and BIPOC students
• Experience working with grassroots or community-based organizations, and understanding of base-building social justice movements
• Prior supervision of junior staff, pro bono counsel, interns and/or volunteers
• Support for fund development, including stewarding of grants and/or reporting on program grants
• Work in K-12 public schools
• Spanish language fluency

Qualities uplifted by all Public Advocates staff include integrity, high professional standards, commitment to progressive social change, racial and economic justice, and working successfully with diverse colleagues, clients and community partners. This includes active participation in promoting healthy workplace culture through our organizational diversity and inclusion initiative – an ongoing process of communication, trust-building and learning about our individual and organizational areas for growth. We strive to build a culture of cooperation and mutual support and value flexibility, resilience, optimism, curiosity and a sense of humor.

Benefits include full health, dental and vision insurance for the employee and all eligible family members; generous vacation, 13 paid holidays, 2 floating holidays and additional paid time off between Christmas Eve and New Year’s Day; $750 annual professional development budget; $1,000 wellness budget; 403(b) retirement plan; $75 monthly internet/cellular service stipend; paid parental leave; flexible spending accounts for health and dependent care; and paid sabbatical after 7 years. We will also provide a laptop and peripherals to set up your home office. Public Advocates also offers a tax-advantaged Loan Repayment Assistance Program, which provides qualifying attorneys with up to $500/month to cover part or all of their eligible student loan principal and interest payments.

Public Advocates has adopted a flexible “hybrid” work model in San Francisco and Sacramento and requires staff to commute to the office 2 days a week. We have also adopted a COVID-19 vaccination policy that requires all employees either establish that they have been fully vaccinated or obtain an approved exemption as an accommodation.