01/12/2022
Yale Law School
Fellow: Living Civil Rights Law Project and Beyond
Yale Law School is looking to immediately hire a recent law school graduate* as a fellow to work on various projects, focusing first and foremost on a spring 2022 course and ongoing project entitled Living Civil Rights Law headed by Ford Foundation Professor of Law Vicki Schultz. The fellow will be responsible for both logistical support and legal research for a variety of ongoing tasks. Strong organizational skills, historical and legal research skills, and/or administrative experience are desired. The fellowship is a one-year full-time position.
DESCRIPTION/QUALIFICATIONS: Recent law school graduate preferred. *Highly qualified recent college graduates with experience and/or interest in law, legal history, and relevant project support will also be considered.
Full-time position. Work hours will need to track class and event times; overtime and weekend hours will be required, as necessary, to get the work done. Some but not all work can be done remotely. The salary for this one-year position is $60,000, plus full Yale benefits. The position may be extended through the spring semester 2023.
LIVING CIVIL RIGHTS LAW PROJECT. This project involves the legal history of the U. S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division, Employment Litigation Section (“ELS”), the federal agency that had exclusive authority to prosecute cases involving a pattern or practice of employment discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 from 1964 until 1974, when the ELS began to share that authority with the EEOC. Led by a visionary Section Chief, ELS lawyers worked tirelessly to racially integrate the American workforce, taking on structural discrimination in most major private sector industries and later in state and local governments throughout the country, creating a transformative body of civil rights law in the process. ELS lawyers helped craft the concept of disparate impact in trial courts and defended it before the Supreme Court; they built pattern or practice litigation into a powerful tool for ferreting out discrimination; and they invented affirmative action remedies not simply to end institutional discrimination, but to address its lingering effects and to ensure ongoing compliance. Despite their accomplishments, much work remains to be done to secure Title VII’s promise of equality in employment.
In Spring 2022, Professor Schultz will teach a new, hands-on Living Civil Rights Law seminar that will give students an opportunity to travel to interview, document, and research the pathbreaking work of the extraordinary ELS lawyers who breathed life into civil rights law—and to study the implications of their work on contemporary efforts to secure equality through law. The seminar will offer students an opportunity to learn Title VII law and research the strategies, impacts, and contemporary implications of ELS cases; to interview pioneering civil rights lawyers and creatively tell their stories; and to join an intergenerational community of lawyers interested in advancing equal rights to decent work for all. Together, seminar participants will analyze the role of this small, dedicated team at the DOJ in creating and transforming the law and the labor force through impact litigation.
All students will interview at least one lawyer, and research relevant ELS and other caselaw and write short papers to share with the class. Students who wish to publish final papers may work closely with the Professor to craft timely topics; online publication options may be explored. Some students may wish to produce professionally edited, final video interviews of the lawyers, like those produced for the Eyes on the Prize documentary series. Students are encouraged to document and disseminate information about the Section’s work and legacy through other creative means, e.g., through blogs, podcasts, and other media.
After the spring seminar concludes, the work for the historical project will continue.
FELLOW’S WORK TO SUPPORT THE PROJECT. The Fellow will support all aspects of this project, including but not limited to the following tasks:
- Help research and compose a syllabus and readings for the seminar
- Find and coordinate speakers for the spring course (lawyer, historian, video person, etc.)
- Write grant proposals for future iterations of the project
- Publicize the project through various media/social media/Yale/internal YLS sources
- Design posters for the project
- Contact lawyers to arrange interviews, make travel and meal and lodging arrangements for students and lawyers, etc.
- Coordinate dinners/meals for students and lawyers
- Work with IT staff to order video/audio equipment, mail it for interviews, when necessary, and get interviews online and transcribed
- Work with library staff to upload and organize the massive legal research for the project
- Coordinate and track FOIA requests for cases and documents from DOJ
- Post student assignments, papers, on Canvas for students
- Keep track of student work for grading and recommendation purposes
- Do legal research (lexis) and popular research (NY Times, Atlantic, etc.) when needed for syllabus or media interviews, etc.
- Maintain all research in databases
- Maintain all lawyer and other files for project in data sets
- Establish and maintain a website for the project (preserving access to confidential information)
- Help identify needed DOJ materials and coordinate Freedom of Information Act requests for them
For the 2022-2023 school year, the Fellow will continue to assist with the Living Civil Rights Project but will also assist with additional projects and duties, as necessary, including the Workplace Theory and Policy Workshop.
APPLICATION PROCEDURE: Please send statement of interest and qualifications, resume, transcripts, and list of references as soon as possible to Professor Vicki Schultz at [email protected] and RA Chris Umanzor at [email protected]. Job will be closed when filled.
Yale University considers applicants for employment without regard to, and does not discriminate on the basis of, an individual’s s*x, race, color, religion, age, disability, status as a veteran, or national or ethnic origin; nor does Yale discriminate on the basis of s*xual orientation or gender identity or expression.
Yale Law School is one of the leading law schools in the United States and the world.
Applicants who are interested in this position should send a statement of interests and qualifications, current CV, transcripts, and references to Professor Vicki Schultz at [email protected] with a cc to Research Assistant Chris Umanzor at [email protected]. The position is open until filled
