Employment
Vacancies will be posted on a regular basis as they arise. If you do not see a position at this time, we encourage you to check back in the future.
The Center for HIV Law and Policy is an equal opportunity employer dedicated to advancing fairness, equality, and diversity in both its work and its workplace. We strongly encourage applications from all communities, including people of color, individuals with disabilities, and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender persons. Highly qualified candidates needing a flexible/part-time schedule will be considered.
____________________________________________________________________________________
THE CENTER FOR HIV LAW AND POLICY ANNOUNCES TEMPORARY FULL-TIME STAFF ATTORNEY POSITIONS AVAILABLE TO DEFERRED LAW FIRM ASSOCIATES
CHLP will host 1-2 deferred/displaced law firm associates as full time Staff Attorneys for a one-year period. The Staff Attorney positions are being offered in response to law firm programs allowing associates to defer their start date or work away from the law firm for one year.
This is an exciting opportunity to gain significant legal experience at a unique public interest organization. The Staff Attorney will be given substantial responsibility and independence and the opportunity to do unique, groundbreaking work. CHLP seeks motivated leaders with excellent legal research and writing skills, the ability to organize and motivate others, and an interest in human rights, racial justice, and issues affecting women, the LGBT community, and youth.
To apply, email the following to Catherine Hanssens, Executive Director of the Center for HIV Law and Policy, at employment@hivlawndpolicy.org with the subject: "Deferred Staff Attorney Position":
- A cover letter describing your interest, your experience, and why you would be a good fit for the Staff Attorney position. Please also include your funding source.
- A resume
- A writing sample
Applications will be considered on a rolling basis and applicants are encouraged to apply early. Moreover, applicants with approaching deadlines should highlight that information in their application so that we can ensure that their application is considered immediately and they receive a response before their deadline.
While we are currently offering a one-year position, we are flexible within that general range. Start dates are also flexible, but we would prefer that candidates start at the end of the summer or beginning of fall.
Qualifications
- The ability to conduct thorough and accurate legal research independently
- Excellent legal writing skills
- The ability to analyze and communicate complex arguments
- The ability to organize and mobilize coalitions of advocates to effect change
- An interest in one or more of the following: HIV/AIDS issues, women's rights, LGBT rights, youth rights, racial justice, disability discrimination, human rights, and health law
- Participation in a law firm's displacement/deferral program
Responsibilities
The Staff Attorneys will be involved in one or more of the projects below, as well as numerous other projects aimed at supporting the advocacy needs of people living with HIV. We encourage you to visit our website at www.hivlawandpolicy.org for additional information about our initiatives.
Teen SENSE
Adolescents institutionalized in foster care and juvenile justice facilities are overwhelmingly members of the communities most affected by, and at risk for, HIV/AIDS—low-income youth, Black and Latino youth, lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender youth, and survivors of violence and other abuse. While these youth, across the spectrum of sexual orientation and gender, are at great risk of HIV and other STIs, they are overwhelmingly denied access to appropriate and effective HIV prevention, sexual health education, and sexual and reproductive health care.
Teen SENSE (Sexual health and Education Now in State Environments) is a sexual health and HIV prevention initiative grounded in the rights of youth in state custody to sexual health care. Teen SENSE seeks to create and put in place state-wide mandates and standards for the provision of comprehensive sexual health care for youth in state custody. The initiative brings together private and public sector experts from diverse fields, including adolescent medicine, sex education, foster care, LGBTQ issues, children's rights, and juvenile justice, to develop a complete advocacy model and coordinate its implementation.
Staff Attorneys would have substantial responsibility and independence in working on projects that further the goals of the Teen SENSE initiative. Potential projects include, but are not limited to, creating a legal framework that addresses the rights of youth in state custody to sexual health care in various jurisdictions; working with and expanding an interdisciplinary network of advocates and experts to address the legal, medical, ethical, and policy implications of sexual health care for youth in state custody and formulate policy responses to these issues; and coordinating local actors in adapting and implementing the Teen SENSE initiative in their states.
Women's Advocacy Resource Connection (WARC)
HIV is often simply a different disease for women, with a host of distinct issues, both biological and sociological. Biologically, women who have sex with men are more susceptible to HIV than men who have sex with women, and women living with HIV experience different clinical symptoms and complications. Sociologically, women living with HIV face enormous barriers to treatment and care as well as differences in quality of treatment and care compared to men. Gender inequalities such as socioeconomic disparities, domestic violence, and cultural expectations make women more vulnerable to HIV and, for women living with HIV, further marginalize an already marginalized population. These problems are exacerbated by the fact that, while there is great diversity among women with HIV across the country, statistically they are more likely to be poor and women of color.
The goal of WARC is to build the capacity of women with HIV and their representatives for effective advocacy, wherever they are in the United States. WARC accomplishes this goal through many projects, such as the creation of resources that target the needs of women living with HIV and their advocates; establishing a network for those involved in advocacy to support each other's initiatives; building the capacity of advocates through a free, on-line collection of resources that target their advocacy needs; and creating initiatives that actively engage and respond to the needs of women and their advocates in the most resource-poor areas of the country.
Staff attorneys would have substantial responsibility and be engaged in independent research to further the goals of the initiative. Research may include issues such as using the human rights framework to respond to HIV-based and gender-based discrimination, researching criminalization laws that target or disparately affect women living with HIV, and working to determine and respond to the advocacy needs in resource-poor areas of the country, particularly the Southern states. Other projects include the creation of a nationwide electronic forum to document and discuss human rights abuses against women living with HIV.
