IDRA Staff Attorney
About The Position
IDRA is a national nonprofit organization dedicated to achieving equal educational opportunity through strong public schools that prepare all students for college. IDRA combines research, policy expertise, community knowledge, and legal advocacy to advance students' civil rights. This role is to expand the capacity and impact of IDRA's legal team to protect students’ rights amidst evolving education policy. The Staff Attorney will engage in legal advocacy with families, young people, community advocates, attorneys, and partners to advance education justice. The ideal candidate will have experience in movement lawyering, community lawyering, or other community-centered legal advocacy approaches. This includes working with organizers and directly impacted communities, developing legal strategies aligned with community priorities, supporting systemic change campaigns, and utilizing litigation, administrative advocacy, and policy work within broader justice movements.
Requirements
- Demonstrated experience in movement lawyering, community lawyering or other community-centered approaches to legal advocacy
- Experience working alongside organizers and directly impacted communities
- Experience developing legal strategies responsive to community-defined priorities
- Experience supporting campaigns for systemic change
- Experience using litigation, administrative advocacy and policy work as complementary tools within broader movements for justice
Responsibilities
- Monitoring high-impact education law developments in state and federal courts and agencies and assessing their implications for students, families, schools and communities
- Supporting and expanding IDRA’s coalition amicus advocacy, including identifying strategic cases, conducting legal and factual research, drafting briefs, coordinating amici and working with counsel and community partners
- Conducting legal intakes and coordinating referrals involving education-related civil rights issues and identifying patterns that may inform broader legal, policy or community advocacy
- Developing legal strategies in partnership with affected communities, recognizing students and families as experts in the systems and conditions that affect their lives
- Creating and presenting know-your-rights trainings and accessible legal resources for students, families, educators, advocates and community organizations
- Researching and drafting model education policies designed to protect students’ civil rights and promote safe, welcoming and equitable schools
- Training and coordinating volunteer attorneys, law students and community advocates supporting IDRA’s legal advocacy
- Providing legal counsel to IDRA’s policy and advocacy teams, including analyses of legislation, regulations, agency actions and emerging legal issues
- Supporting community-centered responses to civil rights violations, including identifying administrative, policy, litigation and other advocacy strategies that may provide relief to individual students while addressing systemic problems
- Representing IDRA in state, regional and national coalitions dedicated to civil rights, education justice and strong public schools
Stand Out From the Crowd
Upload your resume and get instant feedback on how well it matches this job.
What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Mid Level
Education Level
No Education Listed
