Staff Attorney

Rutgers University School of Law, is seeking a staff attorney for the newly-created Pratt Criminal and Youth Justice Transparency Project. The Project seeks to collect and disseminate information about New Jerseys youth and adult justice systems, particularly its correctional systems. This is a time-limited twelve -month position with no teaching or student supervision responsibilities.

The Projects primary aim is to shed light on systemic problems that are difficult to identify without comprehensive data, especially racial disparities by 1) Identify publicly-available criminal and youth justice data and information by researching digital and other sources and consulting with criminal and juvenile justice stakeholders and advocates and map existing data and information sources; 2) Identify barriers to transparency and provide policy analysis and recommendations with a view toward drafting model criminal and youth justice transparency policies and/or proposed legislation; 3) Develop and implement data- and information-gathering strategies, including records requests pursuant to the New Jersey Open Public Records Act and other mechanisms; 4) Create and manage system for tracking public records requests for data and information in addition to create and manage internal database and supervise the storage of the data and information acquired; and with Rutgers IT and communications staff, create and maintain publicly-accessible web site providing access to information acquired; 5) Identify potential litigation when access to records has been denied and litigate as necessary, with support from supervising clinical faculty and possible involvement of clinic students; and draft and/or comment on proposed legislation and/or regulations; and 6) Working collaboratively with supervising clinical faculty, create and publish a criminal and youth justice transparency report card for public dissemination;

Juris Doctor degree;
License to practice law in any state, with a preference for New Jersey Bar admission;
Experience conducting research projects that involve quantitative
methodologies or statistics or other experience demonstrating strong analytical skills;
Strong legal research, writing, and oral communications skills;
Ability to synthesize complex information into easily digestible formats;
Ability to work independently, manage several projects simultaneously, and meet
deadlines;
Ability to seek out and receptiveness to supervision;
Ability to work effectively and collaboratively with diverse staff, stakeholders and community groups;
Commitment to the highest ethical standards;

Experience in litigation of New Jersey Open Public Records Act preferred;
Holding a license to practice law in the State of NJ preferred;
Familiarity with New Jersey courts, state and local agencies, and governmental structure preferred;
Prior experience in obtaining information from government agencies preferred; and
Web page design and maintenance experience welcome but not necessary

The Candidate must be proficient in the Microsoft suite of programs (including Word, Excel and Powerpoint) and familiar with legal case management systems such as CLIO.

Typical physical demands for an office environment. The Candidate must be willing to travel locally.