Director of Global Programs

SUMMARY

Movement Law Lab is looking for a seasoned movement lawyer to become our Director of Global Programs. The ideal candidate has a well-honed internationalist lens, an understanding of how shifting global conditions impact the advocacy landscape in the U.S. and transnationally, and significant experience supporting both U.S.-based and transnational movement-led campaigns.

The Director of Global Programs will provide strategic direction to the MLL team on global partnerships, and will generate opportunities to engage members of the Global Network of Movement Lawyers (GNML) in place-based joint campaigns, facilitate fruitful exchanges between global partners and U.S. movements, and surface applications of the movement lawyering approach at the global level. The Director of Global Programs will be part of the MLL Leadership Team, working closely with the Executive Director and other project directors across the organization to build the organization’s strategic portfolio of work, contribute to cross-team initiatives and identify opportunities to cultivate internationalism as a practice.

WHO WE ARE

Movement Law Lab brings the power of lawyers to social justice movements. We transform the legal sector, training lawyers and legal organizations to go beyond winning cases to building collective power. We build legal infrastructure for grassroots-led progressive movements. We reimagine the law, cultivating new ways to democratize, decolonize, and deploy law. Together with people’s movements, we organize lawyers into a force for human dignity, multi-racial democracy, and ecological harmony.

Movement Law Lab’s team is rooted in seven core values of adaptability, interdependence, creativity, dignity, radical politics, integrity, and sustainability.

Read more specifically about our Global Network of Movement Lawyers and our recent work at

www.movementlawlab.org/about/global

WHO YOU ARE

You will thrive in this role if:

• You are a seasoned, well-connected lawyer with significant experience providing or facilitating legal support to one or more movements in the U.S., in another country, or transnationally;
• You are global citizen, well-versed in the discourse of international human rights, having a strong understanding of our present global political economy, and a voracious consumer of global news and political affairs, including from non-U.S. perspectives;
• You have strong social-emotional skills demonstrated through working across cultural, linguistic, and geographical lines, and able to build partnerships with people from different backgrounds, despite power and resource differentials;
• You’re emphatically values-centered, including a demonstrated commitment to racial, gender, and sexual-orientation equity. See MLL’s full statement of values for a sense of where we are seeking alignment.

WHAT YOU WILL DO

Lead our Vision & Strategy

• Helm MLL’s global arm, developing strategy and leading all our global initiatives and ensuring a global analysis informs MLL’s strategy in continued collaboration with the Executive Director.
• Develop, design and manage all of MLL’s global work that support the vision and objectives of MLL, including the fight against authoritarian ideologies, practices and regimes.
• Represent MLL and bring a global lens to social movement and legal spaces, conferences, working groups, coalitions, and events.
• Create and report on annual goals and quarterly work plans, integrated with MLL’s organization-wide strategic planning.
• Prepare and present written summaries, analyses, articles, and presentations to track and communicate MLL’s global efforts to staff, partners, and other audiences.

Strategic Partnerships:

• Build and maintain relationships with MLL’s global partners and GNML members.
• Steward and further develop MLL’s strategic partnerships with legal and human rights organizations and networks around the world.
• Research and cultivate partnerships with scholars, think tanks, and thought leaders in other sectors.

Transnational Campaigns & Advocacy

• Shape the analytical grounding that underpins the global advocacy work that MLL will undertake with partners, including an analysis of how to use international legal mechanisms on a shifting human rights terrain;
• Identify strategic opportunities for advancing or supporting transnational advocacy or place-based joint campaigns in consultation with our global partners (including, but not limited to, GNML members); and
• Keep abreast of developments in the transnational advocacy environment to surface both challenges and opportunities, and inform the strategy of MLL’s global work.

Global Programs

• Design and oversee all global events and programming such as conferences, regional gatherings, steering committee retreats, and other digital gatherings.
• Edit and curate written reflections and articles to provoke thinking beyond gatherings on topics such as movement lawyering, the future of human rights, transnational collaboration, anti-authoritarian efforts and imagining new legal paradigms.
• Supervise and manage staff and consultants to execute programming including but not limited to: operations, logistics, vendor selection/management, materials, travel, interpretation and debriefs.

US Programs

• Provide input into and support MLL’s US programming, including identifying opportunities for global partners to contribute to other MLL initiatives and adding an internationalist lens to U.S.-based work.

Represent MLL & Other Organization Leadership Responsibilities:

• Passionately represent MLL’s purpose and values as an internal and external leader and ambassador.
• Partner with the Communications team to contribute to narrative efforts related to MLL’s global work.
• Support the Executive Director and Development staff to prepare funding proposals, donor communications and grant reports related to the movement partnerships work.
• Monitor and track budgets, revenue, expenses for the global work, and periodically report to the MLL Leadership Team about this financial information.
• Identify areas for growth, at the team and organizational levels, always seeking to be part of co-creating a supportive, learning, collaborative work environment.

SUPERVISION & ACCOUNTABILITY

• You will report to the Executive Director and be part of the organization’s Leadership Team.
• You will supervise the Associate Director of Global Programs and occasionally other staff as assigned.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS:

• At least 10 years of experience in international advocacy experience (ideally using international forums), including at least 5 years experience as a movement lawyer
• Experience working in at least 2-3 countries other than the US for at least 2 years total
• Educational background in international human rights, global justice, international relations, international law, or a related field
• Facilitation and/or training/teaching experience, including experience bringing people together across language, culture and geographic divides
• Fluency in at least 1 language other than English (preferably Spanish but Arabic, French, or Portuguese also desirable)
• Outstanding relationship-building skills, including ability to cultivate and maintain international partnerships;
• Skilled infrastructure builder; able to link people, institutions, and resources in support of long-term social-justice goals
• Demonstrated ability to manage multiple complex projects and deadlines, including managing others well as part of such projects;
• Capacity to effectively communicate complex messages with diverse audiences through large-group public speaking, small group and one-on-one conversations, and in writing
• Proficiency with web-based and desktop-computer-based software including tools such as Slack; Google Workspace apps; Microsoft Office; project-management software; and databases
• Travel: Must be available to and capable of travel approximately 30 days per year, including overnights, anywhere in the continental U.S. and occasionally internationally. Must be available for some evening and weekend activities
• Physical capabilities: Able to work at a computer consistently for at least eight (8) hours per day (with lunch and other appropriate breaks).
• Location & hours:
  • This job can be performed remotely from anywhere in the continental U.S., provided that the employee has consistent access to high-speed internet. Partial reimbursement for access to a co-working space is available to all staff.
  • Must be available 40 hours per week during regular regional business hours with occasional evening and weekend hours.
• COVID-19 Vaccination: All staff are required to be vaccinated against COVID-19. Requests for exemptions from the vaccination requirement will be considered on an individual basis, to the extent required by law

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS:

• Robust global network of contacts
• Robust network of US-based movement contacts
• Fluency in English plus at two or more additional languages
• Written publications or other published media content
• Experience designing and executing learning and exchange events, such as delegations, conferences, or online webinars.
• Fundraising experience; contacts in global funding space.
• International advocacy experience using international forums, with a movement lawyering or critical approach

Movement Law Lab is fiscally sponsored by NEO Philanthropy, Inc. Through NEO Philanthropy, this position is offered with a full benefits package, including 100% medical coverage for the employee and 90% medical coverage for dependents; 100% coverage for vision, dental, life/AD&D, long-term disability. NEO also offers a 401K retirement savings plan, Medical FSA, Dependent Care FSA, commuter benefits, Employee Assistance Program, paid time off, and other supplemental benefits.

WHAT ELSE YOU WILL GET:

• Growth & Transformation: We are invested in your growth and we only hire people that want to grow. We provide a range of opportunities for all team members to grow and transform including: an ongoing staff political-education series and professional development funds.
• Willingness to Experiment: We believe the current moment requires us to do things that haven’t been done before. We encourage creative thinking and innovation. We use an experimental approach to diagnose conditions, develop and test hypotheses, build betas, and then scale solutions.
• Love & Rigor: We pride ourselves on being a team that interweaves being results driven and high-performing, with being warm, positive, people-centered, celebratory of difference, and full of laughter.