Equal Justice Works Fellowship

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Job location
4232 Forest Park Ave.
St. Louis, MO 63108
United States
Organization information
Organization name: 
Legal Services of Eastern Missouri
Street address: 
4232 Forest Park Ave.
City: 
St. Louis
State: 
Missouri
ZIP: 
63108
Job type: 
Fellowship/Internship
Position Description: 

Legal Services of Eastern Missouri (LSEM) is seeking candidates who are 3rd year law students to apply for a two year Equal Justice Works Fellowship (due 9/16/16) to serve Veteran’s with civil legal assistance in St. Louis City and County, from September 2017 through August 2019.

LSEM’s mission, since 1956, is to provide high-quality civil legal assistance and equal access to justice for low-income people in 21 counties in Missouri. We accomplish our mission through systemic advocacy/impact litigation and individual case work in a wide range of substantive civil areas which are in our priorities, e.g., family law for victims of domestic violence, prevention of homelessness/housing, health, public benefits, consumer, education, community economic development, and immigration. As part of our community education/outreach efforts, LSEM works with over 150 agencies and participates in over 35 task forces/coalitions. LSEM also has a vibrant Volunteer Lawyers Program.

In pursuing its mission, LSEM has been seeking to better serve Veterans and their family members, by starting a Veteran’s project to target this population in the St. Louis area. This hosted fellow would help launch and run this project, under appropriate supervision. The new Veteran’s Project would provide free civil legal assistance to Veteran households living with low-income, in a variety of substantive areas. The fellow would initially focus primarily on preventing homelessness through housing case work. The fellow would collaborate with other LSEM advocates in order for them to serve the Veterans and their family members whose problems were in the other substantive areas of LSEM’s priorities, listed above. Other important aspects of this startup project would include the fellow conducting: 1) extensive outreach to Veteran’s and their service providers throughout St. Louis City and St. Louis County, including in Ferguson and surrounding North St. Louis County municipalities and 2) education to alert Veteran’s and service providers about the civil legal problems which LSEM could resolve. This legal work will help make the lives of Veterans and their families more safe, healthy, and economically sustainable. Another project element would be coordinating opportunities for volunteer lawyers to help serve the Veterans.

The LSEM Veteran’s project would seek to build collaboration: 1) with the Veteran’s Administration, which has a Veteran’s Hospital in St. Louis City, 2) with the Missouri Bar, which is also serving Veterans through volunteer lawyer, and 3) with other Veteran’s service providers in St. Louis. Because the status quo for Veterans is unacceptable and the need in the St. Louis area is great, we are excited to sponsor an Equal Justice Works funded fellow to work full-time at LSEM for two years, and to work on funding to keep the program sustainable. We seek a candidate dedicated to potential systemic reform through affirmative litigation as well as individual representation of Veterans facing barriers to stable lives.

Requirements: 

The ideal candidate will have a demonstrated passion for and experience working with Veteran’s and/or in public interest work. A candidate who is a Veteran is preferred but not required. The candidate chosen by LSEM must work with LSEM staff to complete and submit a fellowship application to Equal Justice Works by 9/16/16 (Equal Justice Works Fellowships | Equal Justice Works) requesting to be a fellow at LSEM for two years starting in September 2017. LSEM is an equal opportunity employer.

To apply: 

If interested, please send your resume, a cover letter, a list of three references and a writing sample to John Early, Human Resources Director at LSEM, via email at: [email protected], as soon as possible and not later than August 15, 2016.

Equal access to LSEM’s office is available. Those applicants requiring accommodation to the interview/application process should contact the Human Resources Director at the e-mail address listed above.

Notes: 
Equal Opportunity Employer
Submission deadline: 
Tuesday, August 16, 2016