Director of Law & Policy (Senior Attorney)

Puget Soundkeeper is hiring a full-time Senior Attorney to be our Director of Law & Policy. We seek a passionate, community-focused legal professional with a commitment to clean water and healthy communities who can help drive the progress needed to protect and enhance the Sound for the people, tribes, and ecosystems that rely on clean water. Through environmental enforcement, administrative and agency advocacy, strategic litigation, and community lawyering, the Director will lead our robust, Sound-wide legal docket as well as manage our legislative and policy team working in Olympia and work with stakeholder groups across the region and nation. The Director reports to the Executive Director and oversees our Staff Attorney, legal or public policy interns, lobbying contractor, and partnerships, as well as enforcement cases, legal budgets, and outside counsel.

Key Responsibilities

• Litigation (50%). Oversee litigation docket and provide in-house counsel on lawsuits and appeals. Specifically, this includes managing Staff Attorney work and collaborations with outside counsel, overseeing new case input, leadership of litigation strategies; ensuring the law and policy program’s work aligns with Puget Soundkeeper's Strategic Plan; overseeing case budgets; tracking deadlines; working with partners, community members, and other attorneys on collaborative cases; joining pollution patrols on the water; and tracking compliance and settlement outcomes.
• Management & Coordination (20%). Supervise the Staff Attorney, coordinate and mentor legal interns, sustain relationships with law and public policy clinics and support clinic projects, and build bridges with attorneys at partnering NGOs. Manage outside counsel (including case and docket management, case budgets, and representation agreements) and contract lobbyist.
• Policy Advocacy (20%). Actively develop and manage out-of-court advocacy, including issue and legislative campaigns, engaging with advocacy coalitions around the Sound and the Waterkeeper Alliance, and working with agencies and communities to drive clean water progress. Most of this work happens in preparation for, and during, the WA state legislative season.
• Internal Engagement & External Comms (10%). Support Puget Soundkeeper’s other programs internally (e.g., working cleanups, attending fundraisers) as needed and work externally on communications for law and policy work, including acting as a spokesperson for our organization, drafting statements and blogs, and working on campaign messaging with internal colleagues and external partners.

Puget Soundkeeper’s 2024-2027 Strategic Plan includes several goals which will be within the responsibility of the incoming program director; those include:

• Increasing environmental enforcement cases around the Sound,
• Achieving durable legislative victories locally, state-wide, and nationally, and
• Improving public awareness about key issues affecting clean water in the Sound.

Overall, Puget Soundkeeper seeks someone with attention to detail, who is comfortable working with communities and partners in a wide array of situations – both in the public and behind a desk, can multi-task under tight deadlines and pivot quickly when an emerging need arises, and who is willing to help colleagues where and when needed as a full member of our all-hands-on-deck team.

Note: License to practice law in WA State is not needed upon hiring but will be required as soon as practicable thereafter. Continued employment is contingent on being a member of the bar in good standing.

Our job descriptions are general overviews, not a mandatory comprehensive list. If you feel passionate about our efforts and believe that you have the skills to contribute, we want to hear from you!

Potentially Relevant Qualifications

• 7+ years of experience in environmental legal advocacy and policy work at state, local, and federal level; experience with water quality and Puget Sound topics is preferred but not required.
• Demonstrated aptitude for quickly grasping new technical information and converting it to internal recommendations and strategies as well as external talking points and action plans.
• Strong legal writing and public speaking skills.
• Commitment to the environment, social justice, community protection, and ethical lawyering.
• Strong time management skills, ability to work independently under tight deadlines, and ability to pivot between projects sometimes on short notice.
• Experience in cross-cultural community engagement, comfort speaking to diverse audiences, strong interest in advancing equity in the environmental movement, and an understanding of systemic barriers to participation.
• Supervision or management experience (e.g., of program budgets) preferred.
• Growth mindset, interest in lifelong learning and in developing leadership skills.
• Passion for Soundkeeper’s mission.

Please note: Data shows that women and BIPOC candidates often hesitate to apply for a job because they may not meet all the qualifications listed. This is not a mandatory comprehensive list; if you feel passionate about our efforts and believe that you have the skills to contribute, we want to hear from you!