The new Center for Justice Reform Clinic at Vermont Law and Graduate School is hiring a Clinic Teaching Fellow to help us grow into new areas of legal work—including pre- and post- conviction mitigation and relief, prisoners’ rights and reentry, and immigration help for those in contact with punitive legal systems. This fellowship offers the opportunity to teach and pursue scholarship at the exciting intersections of immigration and restorative justice and to utilize a range of legal tools in a creative and nimble jurisdiction. The fellow will be joining an existing clinic team of two clinic faculty, one clinic fellow, and a clinic office assistant, with a choice of home offices in Burlington and South Royalton. For background, the Center for Justice Reform at Vermont Law and Graduate School (“VLGS”) exists to transform the ways communities engage with each other, respond to harm, and pursue justice. We advance this mission by empowering VLGS students to think restoratively while equipping them with knowledge and skills to be agents of change. A new pillar of our program is the groundbreaking Center for Justice Reform Clinic (“CJRC”), which will support J.D. and master’s students for three semesters per academic year to repair harms caused by the punitive criminal and immigration legal systems. Growing from the VLGS immigration clinic—Vermont’s only pro bono removal defense provider—the CJRC will empower students to develop professional habits and essential advocacy skills through judicial, administrative, and legislative advocacy; survivor-centered legal services; movement lawyering; and restorative practices. With mentorship from clinic faculty, the Clinic Fellow will instruct and supervise students, deliver case work and advocacy projects, and potentially publish in their area of interest. The Fellow will collaborate with the Associate Director to develop fellowship goals that will maximize learning in their areas of interest while responding to our low-income clients’ needs. The Fellow will work from our South Royalton campus, located along the beautiful White River, as well as at VLGS-Burlington, Vermont’s population center where many client communities reside. The fellowship is a training and research opportunity for early career attorneys drawn to clinical teaching and public interest lawyering.
Essential Functions and Principal Accountabilities:
• Instruct, supervise, and mentor law and graduate students in their delivery of direct legal services, community education, and systems advocacy projects.
• Co-teach clinic courses including instructing students in law, practice, procedure, and professional responsibility; assigning cases and projects and reviewing students’ work; assessing students’ growth over each clinic semester; and documenting this work to help build the new clinic’s institutional capacity and knowledge.
• Collaborate with the Center for Justice Reform, the VLGS community, local and national partners, and government and nongovernment entities in activities that advance fellowship goals, enhance student learning, and
leverage direct services for broader justice reform.
• Advance research on fellowship areas of interest to internal and external audiences, including current and prospective students and clients, alumni, funders, the media, and the academic and advocacy communities.
• Provide faculty with case and project coverage during semester breaks including primary responsibility for the summer docket during the fellowship term of employment.
Required Education, Skills, and Experience:
• Member in good standing of the Vermont Bar or eligible for membership.
• Preference for at least three years of relevant public interest legal experience or eligibility to supervise law
students pursuant to the Vermont Rules of Professional Conduct.
• Demonstrated commitment to working with and advancing equity and inclusion for people with diverse identities, experiences, backgrounds, and access needs.
• Excellent communication, collaboration, and managerial skills.
• Experience using or willingness to learn a range of legal tools, advocacy strategies, and restorative practices to
advance the CJRC’s teaching mission.
• Experience with or demonstrated interest in teaching and supervision.
• Experience with or willingness to learn Office 365 applications and virtual, PC-based work environments.
• Multilingual language skills a plus.
Other Requirements:
• Authorized to work legally within the United States without sponsorship.
• Physical ability to perform all essential functions of the job with or without basic accommodations.
• Outstanding interpersonal skills, resourcefulness, flexibility, and a sense of humor.
Please apply through this link and attach a resume, cover letter, and three references for consideration: https://recruiting.paylocity.com/Recruiting/jobs/Apply/1858250.
If you are applying from a third-party website (Indeed, etc.) and are unable to attach additional materials to your online application, please apply directly at https://www.vermontlaw.edu/community/about-vls/employment-opportunities or email required documents to Christine Moyer, cmoyer@vermontlaw.edu.
Restoratively yours,
Jill
Jill Martin Diaz (they/them, elle/ellx)
Professor of Law, Vermont Immigrant Assistance at the Center for Justice Reform Clinic
Associate Director, Center for Justice Reform
Vermont Law and Graduate School
Visits: 126 College Street, Suite 410, Burlington VT
Mail: P.O. Box 1404, Elmwood Ave, Burlington, VT 05402
Contact: 802-558-7698 and jmartindiaz@vermontlaw.edu
Intake: 802-831-1552 and CJRClinic@vermontlaw.edu
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