Staff Attorney/Senior Staff Attorney

Position

Staff Attorney/Senior Staff Attorney (based on years of experience)

Organizational Background

Global Labor Justice brings strategic capacity to cross-sectoral work on global value chains and labor migration corridors. GLJ holds global corporations accountable for labor rights violations in their supply chains, advances policies and laws that protect decent work and just migration, and strengthens freedom of association, new forms of bargaining, and worker organizations.

GLJ has a team of 20 staff people based in our Washington DC office and around the world committed to defending labor rights and building worker power in the global economy.

Position Summary

The Staff or Senior Staff Attorney position will be responsible for developing and advancing innovative legal and policy theories in the areas of labor, corporate and investor accountability, gender justice, and labor migration systems in U.S. and international fora, and for innovating and supporting related movement, campaign, and policy advocacy efforts.

The position will focus on (i) global supply chain strategies responding to labor abuses, especially freedom of association violations, discrimination, and forced labor, and in particular (ii) bringing the experience of low-wage women workers together with ILO Convention C190’s definitions and concepts to efforts to regulate trade, corporate accountability, and supply chains. The Staff or Senior Staff Attorney reports to the Legal Director and is also part of GLJ’s Legal Department.

Overall, GLJ’s Legal Department works to realize freedom of association, living wages and decent work for all—centering women, migrants, and global South workers. The Department brings the capacity to expand and enforce labor rights in workplaces and at the policy level, as well as to defend against retaliation. The Department seeks not only to advance campaign strategies but also to reimagine what is possible. We push for transformative changes in law and policy that raise standards for workers and build worker power to realize and defend their rights. All of the Legal Department’s work is guided by our organizational values, including anti-racism, anti-colonialism, and gender justice, and a deep commitment to working in partnership with unions and worker organizations. We are transnational movement lawyers defending labor rights and building worker power in the global economy.

At the organizational level, the Legal Department is responsible for:

• Creating a space for organizational learning, coordination, and professional development;
• Identifying cross-cutting issues and sharing related strategies across campaigns;
• Deepening strategic partnerships;
• Staying current on new legal and policy developments and trends;
• Identifying opportunities and risks for our campaigns and partners as well as strategies to leverage or defend against them;
• Document review to ensure legality, preserve rights, and mitigate risk;
• Identifying libel risks and coordinating outside review if necessary;
• Coordinating the summer and term law clerk program; and
• Building and sharing transnational movement lawyering theory and practice.

Key Responsibilities

• Develop and litigate innovative legal theories on corporate accountability in U.S. and international fora.
• Work in collaboration with team members and partner organizations to assist in the development of creative and effective legal and advocacy strategies, including public campaigns and communications.
• Manage cases and develop legal resources to support campaigns and strategic objectives.
• Prepare legal memorandums, court briefs, and filings for U.S. and other legal systems.
• Support policy advocacy with the U.S. Government and international fora.
• Represent the organization in networks and gatherings that require legal expertise and serve as a spokesperson for cases and issues covered by the position.
• Collaborate amongst colleagues in various program areas to develop strategies for advancing the organization’s positions.

Qualifications

The ideal candidate is committed to developing new legal theories and litigation approaches rooted in the labor history and responding to the current needs for corporate accountability in the global economy and should have the following qualifications:

• 3 - 10 years of experience developing and leading advocacy, policy, and/or litigation strategies in relevant areas, including labor, trade, corporate accountability, government, human rights or related fields;
• Knowledge and experience ILO and UN complaint mechanisms related to labor, migration, and corporate accountability;
• Research experience related to corporate finance global supply chains with a law and political economy lens;
• Experience with organizational representation of unions, community groups and/or movement partners;
• Experience with program management, including maintaining budgets and reporting;
• A strong and complex political and social analysis and experience putting analysis into strategic action;
• Well-organized and strong attention to detail;
• Excellent communication skills, including listening, writing, editing, and speaking to different stakeholders;
• Sense of humor in order to maintain perspective and balance;
• Bilingual/ Bicultural;
• Able to travel in the U.S. and globally to build the program and organization;
• A recent U.S. law degree and either admission to the bar of a U.S. state or an application in process.

Job status: U.S. employees in this position are full-time, exempt, members of IFPTE Local 70 Bargaining Unit

Supervisor: Deputy Legal Director

Location: Preference for Washington, D.C.; Remote positions considered.

Salary Range: Staff attorney salary range is $80,000-90,000 USD for U.S. employees based on years of experience and includes excellent benefits, including full healthcare coverage for employees and family members. Senior staff attorney candidates will be considered at an adjusted salary rate based on experience.

GLJ is an equal opportunity employer with a commitment to equity. People of color, women, and LGBTQI candidates are encouraged to apply.