Staff Attorney

Peggy Browning Fund; Illinois; Remote; USD 70,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

The Peggy Browning Fund's GLOW program is seeking a Staff Attorney to strengthen legal support for marginalized workers, particularly focusing on Black and immigrant communities in Illinois. This remote position will involve developing coalitions, conducting trainings, and representing workers in legal matters, all aimed at empowering low-wage workers through strategic legal advocacy.

Benefits

Medical and dental insurance

Paid time off

Retirement plan with employer contribution

Qualifications

• Licensed to practice law in at least one jurisdiction.
• 3+ years of organizing experience.
• 3+ years of legal experience focusing on workers’ rights.

Responsibilities

• Work with partner organizations to support workers' centers.
• Strengthen Temp Worker Advocacy Coalition through coordination.
• Engage in impact litigation and represent workers in legal action.

Skills

Verbal communication

Written communication

Relational skills

Creative thinking

Strategic thinking

Understanding of racial and economic justice

Education

Licensed to practice law

Job description

GLOW: Grassroots Law & Organizing for Workers (formerly National Legal Advocacy Network)
Illinois

Staff Attorney, Grassroots Law & Organizing for Workers
(formerly known as National Legal Advocacy Network)
Chicago, Illinois

January 15, 2024

Grassroots Law & Organizing for Workers (GLOW) seeks a Staff Attorney to advance our mission of leveraging legal strategies to build worker power. The Staff Attorney will play a key role in developing and leading our work confronting exploitation through contingent work arrangements, with a focus on supporting Black and immigrant workers.

Who We Are:

GLOW, Grassroots Law & Organizing for Workers, is dedicated to shifting the balance of power towards greater equity in our economy and society by leveraging legal strategies and resources to build worker power. We do this by working in deep partnership with base-building organizations. Together, we empower systematically marginalized people to take collective action, challenge predatory and exploitative working conditions, and advance policies that build worker power and create long-term systemic change.
GLOW was formerly known as National Legal Advocacy Network (NLAN) and was a fiscally sponsored project of the National Employment Law Project (NELP) from 2019 to 2023. In the past four years, we reached over 65,000 low-wage workers, engaged in litigation impacting over 6,000 low-wage workers, put approximately $10 million back into the hands of low-wage workers and their communities, and provided technical support for over 30 organizing campaigns.

Our work employs 3 core strategies:

• Leadership Development: developing and providing legal empowerment trainings for low-wage workers so they can understand their rights, conduct peer to peer education, and engage in collective action; training lawyers and legal organizations in how to best support efforts to build worker power; providing technical assistance to organizers so they understand the laws that impact their base and have support integrating legal strategies into their campaigns; and creating opportunities for people of color, LGBTQ+ and working-class people in the legal profession.
• Partnership with Worker-Led Organizations: directly partnering with worker organizations and coalitions to design, launch and win hybrid law and organizing campaigns; creating and maintaining a national legal referral network that is available to support worker centers and their members; conducting know your right trainings and legal clinics to grow and support membership base; providing technical and capacity support for policy campaigns; and working with organizations to develop and implement best practices to protect against opposition attacks.
• Strategic Enforcement: engaging in impact litigation; representing workers before labor enforcement agencies; supporting corporate and direct-action campaigns; and developing and implementing collaborative enforcement strategies with state and federal labor enforcement agencies.

What You Will Do:
The Staff Attorney will work remotely and report to GLOW’s Executive Director. You will also work closely with GLOW’s Legal Organizer and in time may be asked to supervise staff or interns. The Staff Attorney will work closely with partner organizations, including the National Black Worker Center, Temp Worker Justice, the National Employment Law Project, and many more.
Your work will involve:

• Working with GLOW Executive Director to identify opportunities to use a combination of legal and organizing strategies to support worker center partners;
• Strengthening and leading the Temp Worker Advocacy Coalition by developing coalition infrastructure, coordinating and facilitating coalition meetings, participating in campaign specific meetings, creating and curating temp worker advocacy materials, coordinating coalition resources and more.
• Supporting the capacity of worker centers to combine legal and organizing strategies by working with partners to develop their internal legal capacity, reviewing legal intakes and worker documents to identify potential strategic enforcement cases, developing and delivering relevant and accessible Know Your Rights trainings and clinics that effectively convey key legal information in a manner that fosters collective action and more.
• Researching relevant legal issues and drafting memorandum to guide legal and policy strategy.
• Representing workers in legal action, including agency charges, arbitration and litigation.
• Engaging non-profit and private bar attorneys with opportunities to support marginalized workers in low-wage industries through case referrals, co-counseling arrangements and other strategies.
• Developing a working relationship with key officials at labor enforcement agencies throughout the country.
• Representing GLOW in meetings, conferences, and public appearances as necessary.

Qualifications:

• You are licensed to practice law in at least one jurisdiction.
• You have 3+ years of organizing experience.
• You have 3+ years of legal experience, preferably involving workers’ rights.
• You have excellent verbal and written communication skills, with a proven ability to give compelling presentations and write persuasive documents.
• You are a creative and strategic thinker with understanding of various strategies used by movement organizations to effect change (e.g., organizing and movement building, impact litigation, legislative advocacy, opposition research, strategic communications, etc).
• You are relational. You have strong interpersonal skills, enjoy connecting with people and have a proven track record of developing and maintaining alliances.
• Strong understanding of racial and economic justice, intersectionality, how race and power shape systems in our society, and how grassroots organizing works in practice.

Compensation and Location
This is a full-time position with a salary range of $70,000-$90,000 (based on experience) and benefits, including medical and dental insurance, paid time off and a retirement plan with employer contribution.
GLOW staff work remotely and candidates from all jurisdictions will be considered.

To Apply:

Email [e-mail] with the subject line “Staff Attorney Position” and include a cover letter, resume and writing sample (legal complaint, memo or brief). We will consider applications on a rolling basis.

GLOW is an equal opportunity, fair chance, affirmative action employer committed to building a diverse and inclusive workforce. People of color, immigrants, women, LGBTQIA+ people, people with disabilities, and individuals with past involvement with the criminal legal system are strongly encouraged to apply.

The Peggy Browning Fund and its Board of Directors mourns the passing of Tom Conway, International President of the United Steelworkers.

Peggy Browning Summer Fellows had many additional programs from which to choose to bring added depth to the work they were assigned.

A champion is gone. The day of his death was sad and dark. The passing of President Trumka is a loss for the entire labor movement and for workers and their families throughout this country. It was also a very personal loss for all of us here at the Peggy Browning Fund and for so many workers’...