Legal Fellow

CALL FOR APPLICANTS FOR FELLOW SPONSORSHIP – ACLU OF THE 
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

The American Civil Liberties Union of the District of Columbia (ACLU-DC) seeks a law student 
or recent law school graduate to sponsor as an Equal Justice Works, Justice Catalyst, Soros, or 
other externally-funded (including law school funded) public service fellowship candidate for the 
fall 2026 application process. The fellowship itself would begin in fall 2027, so the applicant must 
graduate no later than summer 2027. The ACLU-DC has been successful in the past in hosting 
legal fellows with externally-funded public service fellowships. 

The ACLU-DC is an affiliate office of the American Civil Liberties Union, a national nonprofit 
organization devoted to the protection of civil liberties and civil rights through litigation, 
legislation, organizing, and public education. The ACLU-DC works primarily on issues that 
directly impact people who live in, work in, and visit the District of Columbia, and also on 
challenges to certain federal government policies and practices where they fall within the 
jurisdiction of the D.C. federal courts. 

Among the matters currently on our docket are: representing Black Lives Matter-DC and 
individual activists in challenging the attack by federal and local law enforcement on civil rights 
demonstrators in Lafayette Square on June 1, 2020; a lawsuit seeking to reform the District’s 
practice of sending police and not trained mental health professionals to respond to individuals 
experiencing mental health crises; the representation of two D.C. agency workers who faced 
discrimination based on their family responsibilities (child care) in the application of remote work 
policies; a challenge to the D.C. police department’s practice of retaining arrestees’ cell phones 
for months or years after the owners are released or charges are dropped; and eighteen cases against 
policies and practices of the second Trump administration including on immigration, trans rights, 
voting rights, federal workers’ rights, and freedom of speech. (Please note that our fellows tend to 
focus more on our cases challenging D.C. policies and practices than federal.) 

To learn more about our work, visit acludc.org.

NATURE OF FELLOWSHIP
The ACLU-DC seeks rising third-year law students, judicial clerks, and law school graduates to 
sponsor for externally-funded one- or two-year legal fellowships. We will work with a successful 
applicant to develop a project proposal to submit to funding organizations. Please note that the 
ACLU-DC does not have independent internal funding for this fellowship position; we seek 
to host an externally-funded fellow only.

Applicants will be asked to submit ideas for a project proposal relating to civil liberties and civil 
rights in Washington, D.C. Proposed projects often combine impact litigation, policy advocacy, 
and public education. 

Proposals should include a short description of the problem your project seeks to address, concrete 
strategies and tools to address the problem, goals for what you want to accomplish during the 
fellowship, and why you are the best candidate for this fellowship project. We understand that 
project proposals may be broad at this stage.

Likelihood of obtaining funding will be a consideration (so, for instance, having access to 
additional school-based funding opportunities would be advantageous).

Past legal fellows have had the opportunity to develop their own cases and serve as lead counsel, 
testify before the D.C. Council, conduct Know Your Rights trainings, take depositions, argue in 
court, and speak on behalf of the ACLU-DC to national and local media outlets.

We will supplement the amount of the fellowship stipend so that the fellow will receive a salary 
of no less than $87,880 per year, dependent on years since law school graduation. Benefits 
currently provided to all ACLU-DC employees (including externally-funded fellows) include 
employer-paid health insurance, vacation and sick leave, and 401(k) availability with partial 
employer match.

This position is a member of the ACLU-DC staff bargaining unit represented by the Washington 
Baltimore News Guild and is exempt under the Fair Labor Standards Act.

QUALIFICATIONS

• By fall 2027, you will have obtained a J.D. and either be a D.C. Bar member or will seek 
  admission during the fellowship.
• You have excellent work ethic, including dependability, diligence, the ability to take ownership 
  over projects, and the commitment to see projects through to completion in a fast-paced, 
  collaborative environment.
• You are receptive to feedback, enthusiastic about learning and self-improvement, and eager to 
  incorporate feedback into future work.
• You have excellent legal research skills, including the judgment to discern what cases are relevant 
  to a particular research question, and thoroughness in covering the question asked.
• You have the capacity to engage in thoughtful and perceptive legal analysis, including the ability 
  to build a logical and persuasive argument, to read and understand legal decisions and statutes, and 
  to grasp whether and how legal authorities apply to a new set of facts.
• You have excellent legal writing skills, including the ability to present ideas in a clear and 
  organized manner and to write a memo that teaches the reader what you have learned through 
  research (whether the meaning of a specific case or the state of a body of law in general).
• You have the empathy and interpersonal skills necessary to connect with, listen to, learn from, 
  advise, and work collaboratively with clients and other community members.
• Your experience includes at least one clinical semester, one externship semester, or one summer 
  internship working in a U.S. litigation setting involving legal research and writing.
• You meet the eligibility criteria for one or more externally-funded fellowships that would fund a 
  fellowship at the ACLU-DC.
• You must be legally authorized to work in the United States.

TO APPLY
The deadline for applying is 11:59pm Eastern time on Sunday, July 12, 2026, but our 
evaluation of candidates is rolling, so earlier submission is advantageous. To apply, complete 
the application at www.acludc.org/careers. If you require accommodation(s) to complete the 
application, please email operations@acludc.org.

Please submit:

1. A copy of your resume that lists relevant experience.
2. A detailed cover letter explaining your interest in this fellowship, the nature of your proposed 
   project and the population you seek to serve, and why you are well-suited to carry out this 
   particular project.
3. A list of three references, including a sentence about each one identifying what information the 
   person can provide. At least one of your references should be a practicing attorney.
4. Your law school transcript (may be official or unofficial).
5. A writing sample that is your own work, with a brief explanatory note describing the extent of 
   others’ involvement, if any (e.g. “I wrote this draft entirely myself with no input” or “This is a 
   second draft based on feedback from a supervisor but it’s all my own writing” or the like). This 
   sample should be no more than 10 pages, and may be a section of a larger document (with a 
   cover note explaining the context if it’s unclear from the sample alone). The sample must be a 
   litigation-related document containing legal analysis or argument, such as a brief, motion, or 
   research or strategy memo about potential litigation. Complaints and academic articles do not 
   qualify.
6. A separate statement indicating whether, if your application for an Equal Justice Works, Justice 
   Catalyst or other externally-funded public service fellowship at ACLU-DC is unsuccessful, 
   your law school has a program that could fund a fellowship at ACLU-DC, and if so, what rules 
   govern the allocation of such school-based fellowships, how many such fellowships are 
   awarded each year, and any conditions attached to such funding (such as a requirement to 
   continue to apply for jobs during the fellowship year).

The ACLU-DC is an equal opportunity employer. We value a diverse workforce and an inclusive 
culture. The ACLU-DC encourages applications from all qualified individuals without regard to 
race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, age, national origin, 
marital status, citizenship, disability, veteran status, or any other classification protected by the 
D.C. Human Rights Act or federal employment law. If you have a disability and need a reasonable 
accommodation regarding any part of the application process, please include your 
accommodation request(s) in your application email. We are responsive to reasonable 
accommodation requests at any point during the application process.