Law Fellow, Environmental Law and Policy Clinic
Location
Winston Salem, NC | United States
Job description
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Job Description Summary Summary:
The Environmental Law & Policy Clinic is hiring one lawyer to serve as a Clinical Fellow, overseeing its work on heirs’ property cases, for a period of two years, beginning in July or August 2024. The Fellow will work with the clinical director in the overall management of the clinic’s heirs’ property cases, including in continuing to develop its role in the broader ecosystem of heirs’ property work across the state and nation. The Fellow will have several areas of particular responsibility, including:
•Managing the Heirs’ Property Project caseload and supervising student-led representations, ensuring that clients receive excellent legal service while teaching students the fundamental skills of lawyering;
•Supervising and producing research relevant and useful to our partners;
•Collaborating on the clinical seminar, and assisting with administration of the clinic;
•Providing general academic feedback and guidance to students;
•Working alongside the Clinic Director to sustain relationships with partner NGOs, attorneys, and related service-providers; and to organize and attend trainings, conferences, and informational gatherings related to our work.
This Fellowship offers the opportunity to teach and to learn at the center of an emerging network of attorneys and other service providers combatting the theft of assets from impoverished communities across the country. The Fellow will be encouraged and supported in their development as an attorney, as a teacher, and as a scholar. Although they will serve in a staff role, the Clinical Fellow will have an experience analogous to junior faculty within the clinical department at Wake Forest School of Law. They will have the opportunity to participate in workshops on scholarship, clinical teaching, and other topics; access to funding to attend academic conferences; and the benefit of mentorship from members of the faculty in and outside of the clinical department. The Clinical Fellow will also have the support of a rich network of attorneys with expertise in heirs’ property practice via the Project’s membership in the Heirs’ Property Practitioner Network. We view this Fellowship as a natural starting point for individuals interested in going on the market for tenure-track clinical legal teaching positions, although there is no requirement that the Fellow do so.
About the Project
The Heirs’ Property Project provides direct legal services to individuals and families who need help protecting their rights to land in North Carolina, but who cannot pay for counsel. The Project’s caseload focuses on “heirs’ property,” that is, land jointly owned by the heirs of a former owner who died intestate. Our cases involve a mix of transactional matters—usually efforts to clear title to heirs’ property and counsel families toward long-term stewardship—and litigation, ranging from uncontested quiet title actions to actions involving partition and encroachment. Our clients are located across North Carolina, and some of them are seeking to vindicate their rights to land that has been in their family for 150 years or more. Most of our clients are referred to us by partner organizations.
In addition to representing clients, the Project also produces policy research, scholarship, and practical training for attorneys and NGOs, covering not just heirs’ property but the ethics and incidences of law practice in low-income, rural communities. We are increasingly being called on by journalists and policymakers to explain these issues to a general audience.
The Project is housed within the Environmental Law & Policy Clinic. The Project constitutes about half of the Clinic’s caseload; the balance of the Clinic’s work consists in policy and legal advising to community groups, NGOs, and activists across the globe. Each semester, the Clinic enrolls between 12 and 18 students; some new, some returning. Students work in teams, and each student receives both an heirs’ property and an environmental matter. The Clinical Fellow and Professor Scott Schang, who directs the clinic, collaborate on the clinical seminar and collaborate to plan readings, lessons, and other programming.
Job Description Essential Functions:
Case management and supervision
- Supervise students in representation of heirs’ property clients, including in client intake, research on status of title to real property, negotiating and litigating consolidation of title, and managing ancillary legal needs relating to real property in underserved communities;
- Work with partner institutions that provide legal and other services to heirs’ property owners in North Carolina to support the Clinic’s clients;
- Work with other schools in North Carolina and within Wake Forest to address heirs’ property cases.
Teaching, training, and administration
- Collaborate on the clinical seminar and assist with administration of the clinic, including in developing curriculum;
- Provide general academic feedback and guidance to students;
- Convene and support trainings on heirs property for North Carolina attorneys and community members.
Research and outreach
- Complete research and writing to promote the clinic’s work on heirs’ property cases and advance the need for more attention to heirs’ property within NC and beyond;
- Promote the findings of the clinic’s work on heirs’ property cases in the academic community through writing and attending conferences;
- Work alongside the Clinic Director to sustain relationships with partner NGOs, attorneys, and related service-providers
Other Functions:
- May perform additional or other work as assigned.
Additional Job Description Required Education, Knowledge, Skills, Abilities:
- A J.D. from an accredited American law school, or expected completion of a J.D. by June 2024
- Admission to the North Carolina bar, or expected admission in Fall of 2024
- Familiarity with heirs’ property legal issues
- A sincere commitment serving low-income clients, a strong desire to teach, and relevant experience doing both;
- Exceptional interpersonal skills and the ability to build trust with—and provide counsel to— clients, students, and outside partners;
- Exceptional skill in legal research and writing;
Preferred Education, Knowledge, Skills, Abilities:
- At least two years’ experience working on heirs’ property issues in North Carolina, including by providing direct legal services to heirs’ property owners
- Ability to manage several cases and train other lawyers;
- Experience working in coalitions and advocacy organizations.
Accountabilities:
There are no direct employee reports to this position, and there are no budgetary responsibilities or authorities. The applicant will be responsible for supervising students, as described above.
Physical Requirements:
Applicant should be comfortable performing the basic physical labor of an office job. Some travel, primarily by car, to clients’ locations across North Carolina is required.
Time Type Requirement Full time
Note to Applicant: This position profile identifies the key responsibilities and expectations for performance. It cannot encompass all specific job tasks that an employee may be required to perform. Employees are required to follow any other job-related instructions and perform job-related duties as may be reasonably assigned by his/her supervisor.
In order to provide a safe and productive learning and living community, Wake Forest University conducts background investigations and drug screens for all final staff candidates being considered for employment. Wa ke Forest seeks to recruit and retain a diverse workforce while promoting an inclusive work environment committed to excellence in the spirit of Pro Humanitate. In adherence with applicable laws and as provided by University policies, the University prohibits discrimination in its employment practices on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, age, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, genetic information, disability and veteran status and encourages qualified candidates across all group demographics to apply.
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