At Our Children’s Trust, we are committed to providing an environment of mutual respect where equal employment opportunities are available to all applicants and teammates without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, physical and mental disability, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, genetic information, military and veteran status, and any other characteristic protected by applicable law. Our Children’s Trust believes that diversity and inclusion is critical to our success and we seek to recruit, develop, and retain the most talented people from a diverse candidate pool.
Position Summary:
This position will help advance and grow OCT’s strategic global legal campaign to protect youth’s fundamental rights to a safe climate by advancing science-based solutions in litigation and other international legal efforts to protect human rights. The Staff Attorney or Senior Staff Attorney (Senior/Staff Attorney), Global will assist the Deputy Director, Global Climate Litigation (Deputy), to elevate science-based targets for CO2 levels, emission reductions, and sequestration in human rights climate litigation on the global scale, especially in litigation on behalf of children/youth, through consultations, amicus, interventions, or other mechanisms. The Senior/Staff Attorney will also support OCT’s active cases outside of the U.S. and develop new legal actions consistent with OCT’s strategy. Additionally, they will assist in directing and mentoring paralegals, law clerks, and law fellows.
Key Responsibilities:
- Track and identify active global litigation in development and underway before domestic and international courts and other fora in the areas of climate, human, and children’s rights. Identify where amicus/intervention opportunities exist and are strategic to our mission and to support our allies. Assist the Deputy to draft amicus briefs and interventions where strategic.
- Track and identify key court decisions before domestic, regional, and international bodies in the areas of climate, human, and children’s rights. Assist the Deputy to evaluate how judicial decisions from outside of the U.S. impact OCT’s U.S. litigation efforts and how decisions in OCT cases could support international efforts.
- Build international alliances by tracking, joining, and participating in strategic calls, meetings, conferences, and listservs relevant to OCT’s work.
- Assist Deputy in supporting in-country counsel and youth clients in global jurisdictions on all facets of the youth-led, science-based, climate recovery legal actions currently active to ensure consistency with OCT legal strategy, including: client management, legal strategy, legal research, legal drafting, legal editing, factual research and case development, expert and amici development and support, case management and advancement, document review and summary, coordination, etc.
- Develop and help advance new global legal actions, as directed by Executive Director/Chief Legal Counsel, Deputy, Senior Litigation Attorney, and/or Managing Attorney, including developing jurisdiction-specific legal strategy consistent with OCT’s overall legal strategy.
- Ensure all communications, education, and engagement work in support of global cases, amicus, or interventions are consistent with and enhance the legal strategy by working in coordination with the Deputy and the Communications, Education, and Engagement team. This includes work with the media, judges, the broader field-of-practice, and youth.
- Co-report with the Deputy at legal meetings on prospects, participation, related opportunities, and recommendations.
- As needed, support the development and implement UN strategy for OCT and youth role in UN processes.
Additional Responsibilities:
- Ensure strong, timely, and continual progress on all tasks assigned.
- Provide direction to paralegals working on assigned legal actions.
- Provide direction and mentorship support of law clerks and law fellows, as needed.
- Draft advice and memoranda for both OCT staff and partners on complex legal and scientific issues as requested.
Minimum Qualifications:
Studies have shown that women and people of color are less likely to apply for jobs unless they believe they have every one of the qualifications as described in the job description. We are most interested in finding the best candidate for the job and that candidate may be one who comes from a less traditional background. We would encourage you to apply, even if you don’t believe you meet every one of our qualifications described.
- JD and active license to practice law in the jurisdiction in which Senior/Staff Attorney resides
- 2-5 or 5-10 years of litigation experience in state, federal, regional, and/or international courts
- Demonstrated commitment to: legal excellence; strategic litigation and campaigns in support of strategic litigation; building robust scientific records using the best available evidence
- Exceptional writing skills as drafting submissions to courts will be a key part of this position
- Excellent legal advocacy, organizational, and communications skills
- Fluency in written and spoken English
- Ability to occasionally travel internationally and work across cultures
Preferred Qualifications:
- Experience with constitutional, human rights, and/or civil rights litigation
- Experience working with youth and/or on climate change
- Understanding of legislative processes and advocacy
- Fluency in one additional language, preferably Spanish, French, Portuguese, or Arabic
- Prior work with non-profit advocacy organizations, preferably with an international community-based organization, NGO, or IGO
- Familiarity with international and regional networks
Required Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:
- Strong communication skills, ensuring information is effectively exchanged with others
- Ability to identify and solve problems with sound judgment and effective solutions
- Respectful, approachable and team oriented, building strong working relationships and contributing to a positive work environment
- Takes personal responsibility for job performance, receptive to feedback, willing to learn, and embraces continuous improvement
- Displays emotional resilience and the ability to withstand pressure on an on-going basis
Salary and Benefits:
Salary range: For a U.S.-based attorney, the salary range is $67,524 – $86,331 for the Staff Attorney position or $86,957 – $111,178 for the Senior Staff Attorney depending on experience. Benefits include 100% employer paid medical and dental for employee, long and short-term disability, life insurance, SIMPLE IRA plan, generous vacation, sick and holiday leave including restorative leave after 6 years. This position will be part of the OCTWA Bargaining Unit if the Senior/Staff Attorney is based in the U.S. and will not be part of the unit if based outside of the U.S. All ranges and benefits are consistent with union contract and have slight variability depending on base location. For attorneys outside the U.S., salaries and benefits will be competitive and based on experience and location.
Working Conditions/Work Schedule:
If based in Eugene, Oregon, work will be primarily performed in a standard office setting. If based elsewhere, work will be based from home. Reliable internet and a safe digital and physical security situation for remote-based work is required. Work is primarily performed Monday through Friday; however, evening and weekend hours may be necessary dependent upon workload, deadlines, and especially given time zones differences as the main office is in UTC-8 and the Deputy is in UTC+1.