SCHOOL JUSTICE PROJECT
2022 POST-GRADUATE LEGAL FELLOWSHIP
School Justice Project (SJP) is seeking a candidate to sponsor for an Equal Justice Works and/or Skadden Fellowship to begin Fall 2022. SJP will work with the candidate to design a fellowship project that will increase access to special education legal services for court-involved students with disabilities, both during incarceration and throughout reentry. SJP, which originated as an expansion of a 2011 Equal Justice Works Fellowship Project, has served as a fellowship host organization in the past. Our team will work with the selected candidate to submit post-graduate legal fellowship applications in Fall 2021. If accepted to a fellowship program, the Fellow would start at SJP in September 2022.
Organization Overview: School Justice Project (SJP), a special education legal services organization in Washington, D.C., serves students with disabilities ages 17-22 who are involved in D.C.’s juvenile or criminal legal systems. SJP works to build racial justice by increasing educational equity and decreasing mass incarceration. SJP uses special education law to ensure that older, court-involved students with disabilities have access to a quality education. SJP uses three strategies to achieve its mission: 1) Direct Representation, 2) Systemic Advocacy & Policy, 3) Community Outreach & Legal Training. For more info, visit www.sjpdc.org.
Fellowship Project: Candidates may apply for this position with or without a specific project in mind. SJP will work with its selected candidate to apply for a fellowship that will further SJP’s work to increase educational equity and decrease mass incarceration. The project, which will be intentional in how it addresses systemic racism, will center around special education for court-involved students with disabilities, therefore involving work at the intersection of special education law and the juvenile/criminal legal systems. Potential projects may include COVID-19 recovery initiatives, innovative approaches to serving SJP’s current client population, integrating access to other services into SJP’s current model, or other ideas that will expand on or offer a new approach to SJP’s current programming. Fellows will primarily represent clients, though they will also engage in systemic advocacy and legal training activities.
Qualifications: Applicants must qualify for sponsorship by the Equal Justice Works and/or Skadden fellowship programs. Applicants should have a demonstrated commitment to social justice, racial justice, education, juvenile justice, & criminal justice. SJP values building a diverse and inclusive team, and individuals with personal or lived experience with the juvenile/criminal legal systems or with the communities SJP serves are encouraged to apply. Other qualifications include:
· High degree of flexibility
· Keen problem-solving skills, ability to troubleshoot, and creative and analytical thinking
· Excellent research, writing, and oral communication skills
· Self-starter and ability to work independently
· Familiarity with special education law and/or D.C.’s justice systems is a plus
· Clinical experience is a plus
How to Apply: Applications will be reviewed as they are submitted, with the goal of selecting a fellowship candidate by August 27th. Applicants must submit a cover letter, resume, writing sample, and list of three references (with name, address, contact information, and a statement of relationship to the Applicant) to: Claire Blumenson, Executive Director & Co-Founder, at [email protected] AND [email protected], with the subject “2022 Post-Graduate Legal Fellowship.”
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