The Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law is a nonpartisan public policy and law institute that focuses on improving the systems of democracy and justice in the United States. Among our core priorities, we fight to protect voting rights, to address the challenge of special interest money in our politics, to end mass incarceration, and to advance Constitutional protections in the fight against terrorism. A singular institution – part think tank, part public interest law firm, part advocacy group – the Brennan Center combines scholarship, legislative and legal advocacy, and communications to win meaningful, measurable change in the public sector. For more information about the Center, visit our website: http://www.brennancenter.org.
Position: The George A. Katz Fellowship provides a recent graduate of New York University School of Law the opportunity to spend two years as a staff attorney at the Brennan Center for Justice. The Fellowship is generously funded by the law firm of Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz in honor of George A. Katz, an alumnus of NYU School of Law and a founding partner of the firm. In the fall of 2014, a Katz Fellow will be selected for the next fellowship period, fall 2015 – fall 2017.
Responsibilities: The Katz Fellow works alongside other staff on the Brennan Center’s public advocacy, research, and litigation initiatives. For the 2015-2017 cycle, the Katz Fellow will work in the Brennan Center’s Democracy Program, which encompasses projects dedicated to expanding the right to vote, improving the administration of our election systems, reducing the corrupting influence of money in politics, maintaining the impartiality of the judiciary, and ensuring a fair redistricting process. Activities may include legal and policy analysis and counseling; legislative drafting at federal, state, and local levels; administrative and legislative advocacy; public education and scholarship; and litigation in trial and appellate courts.
Qualifications: The Katz Fellow should have excellent legal research, writing and analytical skills and possess a commitment to work in the public interest. Relevant past experience and a particular interest in one or more of the Center’s specific initiatives will also be valued. Recent judicial clerks are encouraged to apply.
The Brennan Center, an equal opportunity, affirmative action employer, is strongly committed to diversity and welcomes applicants of all races, ethnicities, genders, and sexual orientations, including people who have been previously incarcerated.
Applications: Applications must be submitted by October 15, 2014. Please upload, as one document, a cover letter, resume, law school transcript, two writing samples (up to 10 pages each), and contact information for three references at http://brennancenter.theresumator.com/apply/cJSGAx/George-A-Katz-Fellowship.html?source=staff . If you have an interest in a particular program or project, please state this in your cover letter. Brief program descriptions are listed below.
No phone calls please. We will not contact applicants until after the deadline has passed.
The Center’s Program Areas
Democracy Program
The Democracy Program seeks to perfect the ideal of representative self-government by advocating for public policies and institutions that reflect a diverse, engaged, and energetic democracy. The Program collaborates with grassroots groups, advocacy organizations, and reform-minded government officials to promote policies that eliminate barriers to full and equal political participation.
Project areas include work on voting rights (including the rights of students and people with felony convictions); reform of election administration (including voter registration modernization, ballot design, and defensive work against photo ID and other practices likely to suppress the vote or have a disproportionate impact on communities of color); campaign finance reform at the federal, state, and local level; and protecting the independence, impartiality, and integrity of the courts.
Justice Program
The Justice Program seeks to bring the ideal of a just society closer to reality. The Program collaborates with grassroots groups, advocacy organizations, and reform-minded government officials to promote equal treatment in our courts.
The Justice Program is working to close the “justice gap” by expanding the types of civil cases in which low-income people have a right to counsel, increasing funding for the federal Legal Services Corporation (LSC), removing onerous restrictions on LSC-funded organizations, and improving language access in the courts. In addition to the expansion of civil legal aid, we are leading a national indigent defense reform movement that is dedicated to strengthening defender services and to securing the promise of Gideon. Additionally, we are working to ensure that a new generation of “fees and fines” does not unfairly shift the costs of criminal justice systems onto those least able to shoulder them. Among its activities, the Brennan Center partners with defender programs to research racial disparities in police and prosecution practices, works with defender programs to achieve racial justice reform, and promotes best practices that constitute the Community Oriented Defense model.
Liberty and National Security Program
The Brennan Center’s Liberty and National Security (LNS) Program fights to preserve constitutional values in the post-9/11 world. Our work centers on innovative policy recommendations, litigation, and public advocacy to ensure that our nation’s commitment to national security comports with the rule of law and our fundamental freedoms.
We are currently focusing on the government’s intelligence collection practices (e.g., how intelligence agents are controlled, what dangers they pose to privacy and the 1st amendment, profiling concerns) and on combating excessive government secrecy (e.g., over classification of documents).