NAELA's CareerCenter

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Columbia Law School seeks a human rights lawyer with a strong interest in clinical teaching to join the Human Rights Clinic as the Clinic's Associate Research Scholar / Supervising Staff Attorney, beginning in the summer of 2022. The Associate Research Scholar / Supervising Staff Attorney will hold the University title of Associate Research Scholar. They will also hold a secondary instructional appointment, pending faculty approval, as a Lecturer in Law for each semester in which they teach.

The Associate Research Scholar / Supervising Staff Attorney will work in the Columbia Human Rights Clinic, with its directors, staff, and students to advance human rights and address global power imbalances around the world. They will do this through a range of activities including implementing clinical projects, syllabus development, teaching, scholarly research and writing, and human rights programming.

The Associate Research Scholar / Supervising Staff Attorney will be an integral part of the Columbia human rights community, and will play a key role in fostering this community. Over the course of their appointment, they will undertake increasing responsibility for all aspects of the Clinic, including designing and teaching clinic seminars; building and leading clinic projects in partnership with civil society organizations and impacted communities; providing close supervision, guidance, and feedback to teams of students working on those projects; and conducting scholarly research and writing. Through this work, they will be equipping students with the skills necessary to be strategic and creative human rights advocates, critically analyze human rights, and advance innovative human rights methodologies. The Associate Research Scholar / Supervising Staff Attorney will be provided extensive professional, teaching, practice, and scholarship mentoring.

The duration of the appointment is for a period of two years, which may be renewable for a third and/or fourth year based on performance.

Like all of the clinical positions at Columbia Law School, this is a non-tenure track position.

Minimum Qualifications:

• J.D. or equivalent legal degree
• Strong academic qualifications
• A minimum of five years of experience working as an international human rights advocate

Preferred Qualifications:

• A deep commitment to rigorous, pragmatic, creative, and self reflective social justice and human rights work;

• A deep commitment to teaching and mentoring new generations of advocates, a passion for education, and a strong interest in pedagogy theory and practice;

• Strong interest and ability in challenging existing norms and methods in the human rights field, and an interest in pursuing new interdisciplinary and critical research and scholarship;

• A strong education in and awareness of critiques of human rights, and a commitment to integrating those critiques into human rights practice;

• Experience, initiative, and ability to undertake independent research;

• Substantive legal and practical knowledge across multiple human rights issues;

• Strong interest and commitment to fostering an inclusive, welcoming, and supportive environment within the clinic, as well as to empowering others to bring their full identities, backgrounds, and perspectives to seminars and projects;

• Knowledge of and exceptional ability to implement the wide range of tactics and tools employed in the human rights field, and commitment to the strategic use of these to challenge existing injustices and hierarchies, including within the human rights field itself;

• Project, team, and time management skills, and excellent interpersonal skills;

• Deep personal commitment and ability to work in mutually empowering, collaborative, and rights-respecting partnerships and coalitions, including in particular with communities affected by human rights violations; and 

• Second language abilities.

Applications will be considered on a rolling basis until the position is filled.

Applicants should submit: (a) a letter of interest, describing the applicant's qualifications and interest in the position (Cover Letter); (b) a one page statement of the applicant's vision of human rights clinical education, primary areas of interest in the development of human rights scholarship and practice, and any clinical project(s) the applicant would propose to develop in the first year of their appointment (Proposal); (c) a curriculum vitae; (d) a law school transcript; (e) two letters of recommendation; and (f) the names of no more than three additional references (Other Document).

Columbia University is an Equal Opportunity Employer / Disability / Veteran

Pay Transparency Disclosure

The salary of the finalist selected for this role will be set based on a variety of factors, including but not limited to departmental budgets, qualifications, experience, education, licenses, specialty, and training.  The above hiring range represents the University's good faith and reasonable estimate of the range of possible compensation at the time of posting.

About Columbia University

Columbia University is one of the world's most important centers of research and at the same time a distinctive and distinguished learning environment for undergraduates and graduate students in many scholarly and professional fields. The University recognizes the importance of its location in New York City and seeks to link its research and teaching to the vast resources of a great metropolis. It seeks to attract a diverse and international faculty and student body, to support research and teaching on global issues, and to create academic relationships with many countries and regions. It expects all areas of the university to advance knowledge and learning at the highest level and to convey the products of its efforts to the world.

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