YALE LAW SCHOOL ROBERT M. COVER FELLOWSHIP (in the Worker & Immigrant Rights Advocacy Clinic)

 
Our regular law student readers who might be interested in this amazing fellowship possibility.  Yale Law School seeks applications for a Robert M. Cover Fellowship in Public Interest Law, a two-year position beginning on or about July 1, 2011 in the Yale Law School clinical program. The Fellowship is designed for a lawyer with at least two years of practice who is considering a career in law school clinical teaching. The 2011-2013 Fellow will work with the Worker & Immigrant Rights Advocacy Clinic (“WIRAC”). WIRAC is a year-long in-house clinic whose students represent immigrants, workers, and their organizations in litigation under labor and employment, immigration, Freedom of Information Act, § 1983, and other civil rights laws; state and local legislative advocacy; and other non-litigation matters. Illustrative cases include representation of the “Danbury 11,” a group of day-laborers arrested in an immigration sting operation conducted by local police, in their removal proceedings and in an affirmative civil rights suit; representation of persons arrested in the 2007 immigration raids in New Haven, two days after the Board of Aldermen had overwhelmingly endorsed a mayoral proposal to offer a municipal identification card to all residents regardless of immigration status, in their removal proceedings and affirmative civil rights litigation; employment litigation on behalf of a group of Guatemalan workers trafficked to Connecticut and forced to work in a commercial nursery; multiple suits by former restaurant employees denied minimum wage and overtime; habeas litigation by immigration detainees challenging their prolonged detention; and representation of community organizations, unions, and faith organizations in an effort to reform Connecticut’s in-state tuition statute, Hartford and New Haven living wage ordinances, and state and local confidentiality, policing, probation, and other laws and policies.

The Fellow’s responsibilities include representing clients, supervising students, assisting in teaching classes, and working on one’s own scholarship. Candidates must be prepared to apply for admission to the Connecticut bar. All work will be conducted with the support of the clinical faculty, and will focus on providing legal assistance to low-income and civil rights clients and organizations. The principal supervisors for the position will be Professors Muneer Ahmad and Michael Wishnie.

Candidates must be able to work both independently and as part of a team, and must possess strong written and oral communication skills. Experience in creative and community-driven advocacy is a strong plus. Annual salary is $61,000. Fellows receive health benefits and access to university facilities. Send (or email) a resume, cover letter, writing sample, law school transcript, and names, addresses and telephone numbers of three references by April 10, 2011 to: Kathryn Jannke, Office Manager, The Jerome N. Frank Legal Services Organization, P.O. Box 209090, New Haven, CT 06520-9090; telephone: (203) 432-4800; fax: (203) 432-1426; or email Kathryn Jannke: kathryn.jannke@yale.edu.

KJ