Posted on Nov 16th, 2009

Spring 2010 Law Student Volunteer Opportunities

The American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Texas is accepting applications for law student volunteers. The ACLU is one of the nation's foremost defenders of civil liberties and civil rights. We are a nonpartisan organization dedicated to defending the Bill of Rights through litigation, legislation, and public education. The Texas affiliate of the ACLU, founded in 1938, is headquartered in Austin, and includes a regional office in Houston and thirteen chapters with over 13,000 members statewide.

Volunteer Job Descriptions:

A minimum commitment of one semester is required. Project assignments will become available on an as-needed basis, as described below, starting in January 2010, but students may indicate a preferred starting date. All work will be based out of our Austin office.

Legal Research and Writing Associates (Law Clerks)
We are seeking highly motivated and exceptionally qualified students from law schools in Texas, with a demonstrated commitment to civil rights and civil liberties, to provide as-needed legal work in connection with ongoing ACLU litigation and investigations.

Law Clerks will be supervised by the ACLU Foundation of Texas' Legal Director and/or staff attorney(s). Assignments may include:

• Performing legal research and analysis;
• Drafting legal memos, demand letters, and other written workproduct;
• Investigating complaints and interviewing witnesses and potential plaintiffs; and
• Completing fact research.

The frequency and substance of Law Clerk assignments will be dictated solely by the needs of the ACLU, and students are free to decline work if their academic schedules make it impossible to complete assignments. However, we can promise that Law Clerks who are committed to this program and agree to take on assignments will gain valuable exposure to civil rights litigation and advocacy, as well as extremely useful legal research and writing experience.

The ACLU of Texas legal docket is divided into two broad areas: Individual Liberties and Racial Justice cases (see descriptions below). In assigning legal work, we will make an effort to accommodate the particular interests of each Law Clerk; however, we may assign work to individual Law Clerks in either area over the course of the semester(s), depending on the needs of the attorneys and the cases in active litigation.

• Racial Justice: Law Clerks performing work on the Racial Justice side of the docket will be assigned to cases and investigations in one or more of the following areas: police practices, including racial profiling and excessive force; immigrants' rights; conditions of confinement in Texas prisons and jails; and juvenile justice.
• Individual Liberties: Law Clerks working on the Individual Liberties side of the docket will be assigned to cases and investigations in one or more of the following areas: freedom of speech, expression and association; freedom of religion and belief; and LGBT rights and reproductive rights.

Policy Associates
We are seeking highly motivated and exceptionally qualified students from law schools in Texas, with a demonstrated commitment to civil rights and civil liberties, to provide as-needed assistance with on-going legislative and policy work. Policy Associates will be supervised by the Policy Director and the Policy Strategist of the ACLU of Texas.

Policy Associate assignments may include:

• Perform research, including academic and legal research of relevant policy issues;
• Draft memos to staff, policy reports, bill language, talking points, and other relevant writing tasks;
• Request, organize and analyze public information requests;
• Assist with other substantive policy work and advocacy work done by the policy department.

The policy department has three specific projects available to law students:

• Legislative Team: The ACLU of Texas has a strong presence during each state legislative session. We are currently recruiting members for our Legislative (Lege) team. Lege team members will train with the ACLU of Texas on effective lobbying and advocacy. Further, lege team members will be assigned an issue area, become experts on that topic and related legislative priorities, and advocate on behalf of the ACLU of Texas at the Capitol during the 2011 legislative session.
• Research and Public Records: The ACLU of Texas researches a variety of topics through Public Information Requests from governmental entities in Texas. At any one time, there may be as many as 75 requests pending in a variety of agencies. Generally, this volunteer task involves coordinating these requests, analyzing the requests, and creating policy reports from the analysis. There are three specific areas we are currently investigating: law enforcement funding on the Texas/Mexico border; School Based Law Enforcement and arrests, use of force and ticketing in schools; and major causes of deaths in custody in Texas jails and prisons.
• Re-entry Roundtable Representative: A state-wide coalition of stakeholders have formed around the issue of reducing recidivism and improving re-entry services and procedures. The ACLU of Texas is a part of the coalition; monitoring the implementation of laws passed in the most recent session and developing legislative strategy for the 2011 legislative session. An intern or volunteer would serve as the representative to the Re-entry Roundtable for the ACLU of Texas, and assist with the monitoring and strategic planning already in progress.

Advocacy Associates
We are seeking highly motivated and exceptionally qualified students from law schools in Texas, with a demonstrated commitment to civil rights and civil liberties, to prepare and give presentations on ACLU issues to a variety of audiences and participate in other forms of advocacy.

Advocacy Associates will be supervised by Legal and/or Policy staff, and appropriately trained. Assignments may include:

• Researching and drafting Know Your Rights materials and presentations;
• Developing curricula on important topics designed to empower youth, including interacting with police, religious freedom and immigration law;
• Presenting Know Your Rights curricula to high school students on behalf of the ACLU Foundation of Texas; and
• Assisting with additional non-litigation advocacy as needed.

Advocacy Associates will also contribute to discussions concerning new opportunities and strategies for public education and advocacy.

Application Process:

Students interested in any of the volunteer positions described above should send a letter of interest; a resume; a brief (no more than 5 pages) writing sample; and a law school transcript, if available, to egalvan@aclutx.org. Please submit all documents in PDF or Word format and include "ACLU Law Student Volunteer" in the subject line. Volunteer positions will be filled on a rolling basis starting in December 2009. We strongly encourage interested students to apply no later than November 30, 2009. Please, no phone calls.

ACLU Volunteer Open House, Dec. 1, 2009, 5 -7 p.m.:

If you are interested in serving as an ACLU law student volunteer, please come to the ACLU of Texas' Volunteer Open House on the evening of Tuesday, December 1st to meet our staff and hear more about our work. Refreshments will be served. Attendance is strongly encouraged if you wish to be considered for a Spring 2010 volunteer position.

Please RSVP to egalvan@aclutx.org by 5 p.m on November 24, 2009.