Sr. Litigation Counsel/Litigation Counsel

Americans United for Separation of Church and State is seeking a Senior Litigation Counsel or a Litigation Counsel to serve as lead counsel in trial and appellate litigation of church-state cases around the country. Your work will include defending the rights of women, LGBTQ+ people, and racial and religious minorities against religion-based discrimination and oppression. And you will fight to keep religion out of governmentincluding through challenges to religious activities in public schools, public financing of religious institutions, and government-sponsored religion in the public square.

About Americans United

Americans United for Separation of Church and State is a nonpartisan educational and advocacy organization dedicated to advancing the constitutional principle of church-state separation as the only way to ensure freedom of religion, including the right to believe or not believe, for all of us. Founded in 1947, Americans United is a diverse and dynamic organization composed of people from all walks of life: lawyers and lobbyists, students and activists, religious leaders and impassioned Americans. Americans United includes people of faith and people who dont profess any particular faith. Americans United uses high-impact litigation, powerful lobbying, visibility raising, and grassroots advocacy to ensure that religion does not dictate public policy, that the government does not tell Americans what to believe or how to practice their faith, and that discrimination is not justified under the guise of religious beliefs.

Americans Uniteds legal department litigates church-state issues in federal and state courts across the country, with a substantial practice before the federal courts of appeals and the U.S. Supreme Court. Most of our cases involve novel, cutting-edge First Amendment and other constitutional issues. In recent years, for example, we have litigated lawsuits and submitted amicus briefs challenging or opposing:

• Religion-based refusals by businesses, foster-care agencies, and government officials to provide services to LGBTQ+ people and religious minorities.
• Efforts to deprive women of access to abortion and contraceptives.
• Race-based and sex-based employment discrimination by religious employers.
• Coercive religious practices in the public schools.
• Demands for religious exemptions from Covid-19-related public-health orders.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

The Senior Litigation Counsel or Litigation Counsel will:

• Serve as lead counsel in church-state cases throughout the country.
• Serve as principal counsel for Americans United in church-state cases co-counseled with pro bono teams from law firms or with other public-interest organizations.
• Draft and edit pleadings and briefs, take depositions, deliver oral arguments, conduct trials and evidentiary hearings, and prosecute appeals.
• Develop new cases by investigating the applicable facts and law, formulating case strategies, and identifying plaintiffs with standing.
• Draft and edit amicus curiae briefs; evaluate amicus opportunities to determine whether to file briefs.
• Guide, mentor, and train junior lawyers and legal interns.
• Make public-speaking and media appearances.
• Help determine strategic vision and direction for Americans Uniteds litigation program.

Desired Qualifications

Americans United seeks an attorney who ideally:

• Has at least ten years of litigation experience (for Senior Litigation Counsel) or at least five years of litigation experience (for Litigation Counsel). (Judicial-clerkship experience counts toward those years.)
• Has substantial experience serving as lead counsel in litigation (for Senior Litigation Counsel) or has demonstrated the ability to assume that role (for Litigation Counsel).
• Has exceptional analytical and writing skills.
• Is a persuasive oral advocate.
• Is a self-starter who takes initiative and gets excited about identifying and developing new cases and opportunities to assume representation on appeal.
• Is able to travel as their cases require.
• Has the interpersonal skills to work well with our staff and co-counsel and to serve as a trusted adviser to clients and partner organizations.
• Is committed to advancing the public interest and the separation of religion and government.

Americans United welcomes applicants of all genders, races, ethnicities, religions and beliefs, sexual orientations, gender identities, ages, socio-economic backgrounds, and abilities. Because we work on a wide variety of issues and with many different communities, we value what diversity and diverse perspectives bring to our work.

Work Location: The Senior Litigation Counsel or Litigation Counsel can work remotely from anywhere in the United States or locally in our Washington, D.C. office. Occasional in-person attendance at events and meetings in Washington, D.C. will be required, most likely twice per year.

Compensation: $92,500 to $168,000 annually, depending on experience and location. Americans Uniteds compensation system is described in detail here. We provide a comprehensive benefits package that includes medical, dental, vision, and life insurance, short-term disability, long-term disability, 401(k) with match, and commuter subsidy.

This is a full-time, exempt position. This position is within a union; it is included in the bargaining unit represented by AU Collective in connection with SEIU Local 500.

Covid-19 Vaccination Policy: Americans United has made the safety of our staff and our surrounding community a top priority. As part of that commitment, we have implemented a mandatory Covid-19 vaccination policy. This policy states that all Americans United employees, fellows, and interns are required to be vaccinated against Covid-19 and to have received a recent booster shot. If a candidate selected for hire desires a medical or religious exemption, the candidate should make a request to our human-resources personnel, and the request will be considered in accordance with applicable law.

How to Apply: Please submit a cover letter, a resume, a law-school transcript, and a writing sample. The cover letter should highlight why you want to work with us and what perspectives you would bring to strengthen our practice. The writing sample may be of any length; it should be your best example of comprehensive and detailed legal argument or analysis, should be your own work, and should not be substantially edited by anyone else. Please include your transcript and writing sample in the same PDF file as your resume. Please also be prepared to provide a list of three references upon request at a later stage of our hiring process. If you have any questions about the position, please do not hesitate to contact us at [email protected].

Deadline: Open until filled. We encourage you to apply by March 31, 2024.