Research, Education, and Training Director

Deadline: Please submit resume, cover letter, writing sample and at least three references by Jan. 20, 2025_for priority review. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis.

Law for Black Lives (L4BL) is seeking an experienced trainer and policy leader to join the organization as the Research, Education, and Training Director and lead a team of two. This position is a unique opportunity to develop a research and policy agenda and publish a wealth of information that will support the transformation of the law for the betterment of Black people; training that supports an emerging network of radical lawyers, law students, legal workers supporting movement work; and develop and publish political education on behalf of as well as work directly with movement organizations who are leading visionary campaigns pushing us closer to Black liberation. The right candidate for this role will be highly organized, an impactful trainer, and visionary in a way that allows them to engage in research without it limiting their imagination when proposing solutions.

About Law for Black Lives

Law For Black Lives (L4BL) is dedicated to transforming the legal field by promoting movement lawyering and cultivating a national community of radical law students, lawyers, and legal workers, building the power of local organizing to defend, protect, and advance Black Liberation, and transforming the law to change the conditions of the struggle and defend Black Lives. L4BL is a fiscally sponsored project at NEO Philanthropy.

Through the coordination and provision of legal support, training, mentorship, research, political education, policy and popular education tools, we are building a legal infrastructure that is responsive, action-oriented and collaborative.

Role Description & Key Responsibilities

The Research, Education, and Training (“RET”) Director will steward the RET Department and ensure it meets its goal of creating and maintaining our theoretical, educational, and practical knowledge and contributions to the movement and legal fields in ways that are robust, rigorous, and well-vetted, promote our theory of change, and enable us to provide support, services, and partnership to the movement for Black Liberation, and transform the the law. The RET Director will work diligently to ensure L4BL maintains a strong internal knowledge base and manage the quality and rigor of our contributions to movement, legal, and policy fields. Specifically, The RET Director will work closely with the Executive Director to maintain a robust policy platform and research agenda. The RET Director will direct L4BL’s research and policy development, develop and coordinate the organization’s legal and strategic training offerings, maintain the L4BL internal archive and knowledge center, and manage our political education offerings. Lastly, the RET Director will work closely with the Executive Director to help L4BL meet its strategic aims through planning and implementation of its annual and long-term goals, management of organizational staff and internal operations, and overall representation of L4BL.

Specifically, the RET Director will provide direction for the organization and will be responsible for moving forward the following key pieces of work:

The RET Director will direct and maintain our internal knowledge hub and database ensuring that the organization’s positions and opinions are well-grounded and that our understanding of the legal and movement fields are well-supported. The RET Director will manage our contributions to movement through research support and technical assistance. The RET Director will develop, test, and coordinate our trainings and workshops throughout the organization and for external stakeholders and paid clients. The RET Director will coordinate the development of our political education materials and communication.

LEADERSHIP:

• Support the Executive Director in the development and implementation of organizational strategy
• Support operations, program management, and internal culture building of L4BL
• Support fundraising efforts
• Manage and support the political and professional development of staff members
• Represent the organization to key stakeholders and media
• Represent the organization at key conferences and retreats
• Work with the Executive Director to publish writings on movement lawyering theory, and key political, legal, and policy topics.
• Strive to bring the values of Law for Black Lives into practice.
• Other duties as assigned by the Executive Director.

DEPARTMENT MANAGEMENT:

• Manage department staff of two as they provide research, policy, and political education support for the organization.
• Manage the department’s budget and resources.
• Act as the primary point of contact for data and research queries from members, partners, journalists, and other external parties, providing timely and accurate insights.
• Stay informed on the latest field insights, reports, and relevant statistics, ensuring L4BL’s content is current and impactful.

RESEARCH

• Develop L4BL’s policy platform in deep consultation with the Executive Director
• Direct L4BL’s internal research, policy, and legislative agendas in deep consultation with the Executive Director
• Work with the Membership & Partnerships departments to coordinate research efforts and to conduct research on key political, policy, and legal areas on behalf of our members, partners, and clients.
• Lead L4BL’s research contributions in coalitions spaces, in deep consultation with the Partnerships Director.
• Work with the Membership Director to support our member-researchers’ projects and efforts.
• Synthesize relevant existing and emerging research and analysis,
• Develop and present credible and imaginative policy recommendations.

EDUCATION

• Steward L4BL’s internal knowledge base including our issue trackers, archive, and resource repositories.
• Work with the Membership & Partnerships departments to write and disseminate political, policy, and legal briefs on key topics.
• Direct L4BL’s development of publications and materials including political education zines and news summaries.
• Direct the drafting of memos, reports, one-pagers, etc. to meet local community partners' historical, political, legal, and policy research needs including local budget analysis, explainers on regulations and local codes, primers on criminal law, and the impact of proposed legislation on Black communities.
• Lead staff professional development and training opportunities.

TRAINING

• Work with the other directors to develop and facilitate political and legal education trainings around key movement, policy, and legal issues, and the practices of movement lawyering.
• Develop a menu of standardized training offerings.
• Develop, maintain, and coordinate a roster of trainers and speakers.
• Develop curriculum and training materials for training series.
• Develop training workshops for external partners and clients.
• Coordinate train the trainer series for staff trainers.
• Obtain CLE accreditation for training series.
• Work with Membership to coordinate member-trainers.
• Work with the Partnerships department to develop and coordinate regional Freedom Labs* for collaboration and coordination on local issues and campaigns.

STRATEGIC OPPORTUNITIES:

• Assess resource opportunities as they arise, and identify points of leverage, opportunity and alignment.

Skills & Experiences

• Deep commitment to and enthusiasm for L4BL.
• Familiarity and comfort with L4BL’s values and those of fellow abolitionist movement partners with a strong understanding of Black organizing, Black liberation, intersectionality, and anti-oppression principles and practices.
• Proven track record of utilizing personal and professional engagements to successfully engage with Law for Black Lives politics (including Black Queer Feminism, Abolition, and movement lawyering)
• Strong relationships with public interest, racial justice, and movement lawyering organizations are preferred.
• At least 4-5 years of experience working in the legal field, with lawyers, law students, and legal workers. JD or advanced degree required.
• At least 3-4 years of experience engaging community and movement organizations, preferably with strong relationships with organizations doing Black liberation work is preferred.
• At least three (3) years of experience as a supervisor is required.
• At least three (4) years of experience doing policy or legislative adjacent work is preferred.
• At least three (3) years of experience developing and facilitating trainings is required.
• At least 2-3 years of experience with coalition building and/or working in established coalitions and/or growing new collaborations is preferred.
• At least four (4) years of experience conducting research is required. Legal, policy, and sociological research backgrounds are preferred, as are advanced degrees with extensive research requirements.
• Qualitative research experience is preferred with some proficiency with quantitative research.
• Familiarity with legal research databases.
• Experience with publishing research.
• Experience with translating big ideas to public audiences.
• Strong verbal, writing, and editing skills.
• Familiarity with word processors.
• Strong relationship building skills is required.
• Ability to effectively facilitate and lead meetings is required.
• Ability to effectively facilitate workshops and/or present to groups with varied levels of prior knowledge and experience is required.
• Able to effectively represent L4BL to a variety of audiences and communities.
• Able to provide leadership within a fast-paced environment.
• Ability to work well with a team.
• Exceptional organizational skills for effective project management.
• Ability to manage multiple project simultaneously
• Experience interfacing with fiscal sponsors is a plus.

Position: Full-time salaried employee. Overtime exempt.

Compensation: $108,000- $115,000 commensurate with experience. Through NEO Philanthropy, this position is offered 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, Healthcare Reimbursement Arrangement (HRA), Medical FSA, Dependent Care FSA, commuter benefits, Employee Assistance Program, other supplemental benefits and paid time off.

Location: This is a remote position, however extensive travel will be required

Start Date: Feb 2025

Reports To: Executive Director

Physical Requirements:

• Must be able to lift 25 lbs
• Ability to sit or stand for prolonged periods in meetings or while working on a computer
• Frequently required to sit, stand, walk and reach
• Required to push, pull, lift and carry

Vaccination Requirement: L4BL at NEO staff are required to be vaccinated against COVID-19. Requests for medical and/or religious exemptions from the vaccination requirement will be considered on an individual basis.

TO APPLY: Submit a cover letter, resume, writing sample, and three (3)references at bit.ly/L4BLWork.

L4BL at NEO Philanthropy is an equal opportunity employer. We consider applicants for all positions without regard to race, color, religion, creed, gender, national origin, age, disability, marital or veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity, or any other legally protected status. We strongly encourage black people, people of color, women, LGBTQ people, people with disabilities, and people who have been directly impacted by the criminal legal system to apply.

Law for Black Lives Guiding Values

• We believe in using the law for the people and that legal tools should be used to build the power of movements.
• We are committed to the liberation and self-determination of all Black people -- including Black women and LGBTQIA folks.
• We hold ourselves accountable to support movements for Black liberation including organic uprisings. This means following the leadership of movement organizers and taking direction and feedback from our partners.
• We are political. We understand that this work requires political lawyering and explicit partnership with movement activists/organizers.
• We strive to think creatively and collectively about how the law can be used to support movements while respecting activists’ and organizers’ political choices.
• We are unapologetically committed to developing and following the leadership of Black people within the law.
• We believe in the importance and necessity of an agile and radical legal infrastructure that supports liberation movements.
• We believe in actively combatting the elitism, hierarchies, and lawyer-centric tendencies within the legal world.
• We believe in an internationalist approach that draws connections between the struggle for human rights and dignity in Black communities in the United States and across the globe.
• We are committed to continued growth and in the words of Mary Hooks, we are willing and ready to be transformed in service of the work.
• We believe in creating a space that is affirming, healing, transparent, and respectful. We work to ensure that those spaces don’t replicate the kinds of oppression, harm, and trauma that we are working against.