Senior Staff Attorney or Staff Attorney

Position(s): Senior Staff Attorney or Staff Attorney

Terms of Employment: Full-Time/Permanent/Exempt (Union Position) NYCLU staff is currently working in a hybrid model. A number of in-person days will be required.

Location: New York Civil Liberties Union, 125 Broad Street, New York, N.Y. 10004

Salary: Subject to the NYCLU's attorney salary scale, which is based on years of legal experience (current starting salary for a lawyer with 2 years of experience is $90,000; for 6 years, $109,000).

Application Deadline: Applications will be reviewed upon receipt and will be considered until hiring is complete.

The New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU) is one of the nation's leading advocates on behalf of constitutional rights and liberties. Founded in 1951, as the New York affiliate of the American Civil Liberties Union, the NYCLU is a not-for-profit, nonpartisan organization with more than 90,000 members and supporters, and eight offices statewide. We work in the courts, in the legislatures and on the streets to advocate for racial and economic justice, free speech, freedom of religion, privacy and equality before the law for all New Yorkers. For more information, please visit our website: .

The NYCLU seeks a senior staff attorney (6 or more years of legal experience) or a staff attorney (up to 5 years of legal experience) to conduct litigation and related advocacy in the NYCLU's legal department. The senior staff attorney or staff attorney will focus on litigation related to criminal detention and conditions of confinement in prisons and jails, including solitary confinement, but also will work on the full range of NYCLU work, including challenging institutional and systemic racism that undermines civil rights and civil liberties, government transparency, free expression, equal protection, reproductive justice, criminal legal system, the rights of LGBTQ communities and gender equity, police misconduct, student rights, and privacy.

The NYCLU's Legal department is comprised of seventeen lawyers, a legal department manager, an investigator, two paralegals, a data research analyst, and a legal assistant. Legal Department staff work on a wide range of civil rights and civil liberties cases in federal and state courts and in administrative tribunals. They also support the legislative, advocacy, communications, and field work of the NYCLU.

The NYCLU affirmatively values the humanity and contributions of those we work with, inside and outside of the organization; and will take action to build and sustain an equitable, anti-racist culture that centers the voices and experiences of marginalized and directly impacted people and communities, and an organizational environment where all people feel valued, trusted, and respected. We are committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion, and having a workforce that reflects the population that we serve and actively recruit people of color, women, people with disabilities, formerly incarcerated people, and LGBTQ and gender non-conforming people.

• Conduct litigation in federal and state courts and in administrative forums with a focus on detention and conditions of confinement in prisons and jails. Senior staff attorneys and staff attorneys are responsible for NYCLU litigation and advocacy, preparing pleadings, motions, and briefs; conducting discovery; presenting oral arguments; and handling appeals.


• Engage in pre-litigation analysis and advocacy, including evaluating and following up on intakes; conducting factual investigations and legal analyses; utilizing the Freedom of Information Law and the Freedom of Information Act; and preparing demand letters.


• Participate in public education on civil liberties and civil rights issues in the form of speaking engagements and published writings.


• Collaborate with leaders and staff across the NYCLU including the Education Policy Center, Racial Justice Center, Policy, Communications, and Field Departments to ensure that the NYCLU has an integrated approach to address injustice.


• Supervise and mentor law students as part of the NYCLU summer-intern program and contribute to the professional development of other members of the legal department; and


• For senior staff attorneys, mentor NYCLU staff attorneys.

• Excellent writing, research, analytical, and communication skills.


• Two or more years of public-interest litigation experience.


• Demonstrated ability to think strategically and advocate effectively, including an ability to initiate and follow through on public-interest litigation or advocacy.


• Demonstrated ability to work collaboratively in a diverse public-interest setting and to foster and support diversity, equity, and inclusion in the workplace.


• Demonstrated commitment to the goals and priorities of the NYCLU.


• Prior experience with detention and prison litigation is a significant plus.


• Admission to the New York Bar.


• Fluency in Spanish is a plus.

Please submit your resume and cover letter that includes your unique qualifications for this position, where or how you learned of this job posting, and a recent writing sample that is wholly your own unedited work (submit a brief, motion, or memorandum of law, not to exceed 10 pages) via

If feasible, please submit these materials as a single PDF.

The NYCLU is an equal opportunity employer and encourages applications from all qualified individuals regardless of race, sex, gender identity or expression, age, disability, religion, national origin, citizenship, marital status, sexual orientation, veteran status, record of arrest or conviction or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.

The NYCLU is committed to providing reasonable accommodation to individuals with disabilities. If you are a qualified individual with a disability and need assistance applying online, please e-mail . If you are selected for an interview, you will receive additional information regarding how to request an accommodation for the interview process.

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