Jobs

• Law Fellow
• Law Clerk

Law Fellow

Sam Tepperman-Gelfant, a Baker & McKenzie Equal Justice Works Fellow (Harvard Law School, Class of ’05), is joining Public Advocates from 2007-2009. Public Advocates, Inc. will not be seeking another Law Fellow until further notice.  Check our website for updates and learn more about the Public Advocates fellowship program below.

The Firm and The Fellowship:
Public Advocates challenges the systemic causes of poverty and discrimination by promoting civil rights through advocacy, litigation, and partnership with low-income communities, people of color, and immigrants. Public Advocates is best known for impact class action litigation and increasingly for policy and legislative advocacy and coalition efforts. Our present work focuses on education equity, affordable housing, transportation justice, and community economic development.

The fellowship provides new attorneys diverse training and experience in lawyering skills and public interest advocacy. The Law Fellow will be engaged in the full range of our work to promote equity and systemic change including assisting managing attorneys in existing major civil rights impact litigation from development through trial and appeal, legislative, administrative, and policy advocacy, project development, and coalition building with grassroots organizations.

Our Law Fellows have contributed significantly to Public Advocates’ groundbreaking work. Some of our exceptional Law Fellows have joined the staff of Public Advocates while many pursue careers in civil rights, government, non-profit law and advocacy, and the public interest. We are proud to have our current Law Fellows: the recipient of the 2006-2007 Public Advocates Fellowship, Angelica Jongco, NYU School of Law class of 2005 and Sam Tepperman-Gelfant, a Baker & McKenzie Equal Justice Works Fellow (Harvard Law School, Class of ’05), who is joining Public Advocates from 2007-2009. The two recipients of the 2005-2006 Public Advocates Fellowship, Tara Kini, UC Berkley (Boalt) class of 2005 and Elisabeth Voigt, UC Berkley (Boalt) class of 2004 received extended year-long fellowships and were promoted to Staff Attorneys. The 2004-2006 Law Fellow, Guillermo Mayer, UCLA School of Law class of 2004, and the 2003-2005 Law Fellow, Michelle N. Rodriguez, Columbia Law School class of 2003, are currently Staff Attorneys. Michelle manages the legal internship program. The 1991-1992 Law Fellow, John Affeldt, Harvard class of 1990, is a Managing Attorney. We are happy to provide any of our current or former Law Fellows as references.

Qualifications:
Candidates should be recent law school graduates including judicial clerks or third year students. Experience in enforcement of civil rights in education, housing, economic justice and related areas, and experience in using law to promote the interests of the poor and communities of color, are valued. Applicants should have a demonstrated commitment and ability to work with the poor, communities of color, and their allies and be creative self-starters with strong skills in legal writing and factual and legal analysis. Admission or immediate plans to seek admission to the California Bar required. Salary is $46,000 plus excellent benefits.

Timeline:
Applicants should provide (1) one- to two-page cover letter explaining (a) interests and qualifications, (b) experiences and commitment to working with low-income communities and communities of color, and (c) reasons for applying to Public Advocates; (2) resume; (3) writing sample; and (4) names of references.  We value cover letters that provide insight to your passion and commitment; we recommend you do not repeat your resume. Email your application to Pedro Hernandez at phernandez@publicadvocates.org or mail: Fellowship Committee, Public Advocates Inc., 131 Steuart Street, Suite 300, San Francisco, CA 94105-1241. Hard copies are discouraged.  The deadline for submission is usually in December.

Angelica Kristen Jongco, Public Advocates Fellow, 2006-2007

As the 2006-2007 Public Advocates Fellow, Angelica focuses primarily on educational equity and transportation justice issues.

As a member of the education team, Angelica has been engaged in community outreach around implementation of the historic Williams v. California settlement—providing technical assistance to PA’s community partners to ensure schools’ compliance with the new rights provided under the settlement. Angelica is also involved in follow up to PA’s litigation around California ’s High School Exit Exam requirement and efforts to equalize opportunities for all students to succeed on the exam.

As part of the transit equity team, Angelica is involved in the federal class action Darensburg v. Metropolitan Transportation Commission. Her daily work includes such tasks as research and memo-writing, drafting litigation documents, deposition preparation, and strategy conferences with co-counsel and experts. Angelica has also provided research support to the housing team and editing support to PA’s Communications Director.

Prior to joining PA, Angelica was a law clerk for the Hon. Denny Chin in the Southern District of New York and graduated cum laude in 2005 from New York University School of Law. During law school, she represented immigrants facing deportation due to criminal convictions in immigration and federal court. She also researched education and employment issues for the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund and helped lead a coalition to promote racial diversity among students and faculty at the law school. Before law school, Angelica was director of the Filipino American Coalition for Environmental Solutions and graduated magna cum laude in 2000 from Yale University .

Tara Kini, Public Advocates Fellow, 2005-2007

As a 2005-2007 Law Fellow, Tara has worked on Public Advocates’ litigation, community outreach, and policy advocacy efforts to promote educational equity in K-12 public education.

During the course of her fellowship, Tara has worked as part of the education team on efforts to delay the California High School Exit Exam (CAHSEE), beginning with a policy advocacy strategy and eventually leading to litigation. Her work has included conducting legal research and writing regarding potential legal claims; testifying before the State Board of Education and other education policy makers about the need for alternatives to the CAHSEE; drafting written comments regarding the feasibility of alternatives; and engaging in media advocacy. When policy advocacy strategies proved unsuccessful, Public Advocates filed a whirlwind suit challenging the State’s failure to study alternatives to the exit exam in a timely manner, as required by state law. The case was decided less than one month after filing. Tara participated in all aspects of the litigation in Californians for Justice v. State Board of Education, including working with potential clients and drafting the opening and reply papers.

Tara has also joined Public Advocates’ ongoing efforts to monitor the implementation of the Williams v. California settlement. Her community outreach efforts include leading regular trainings about the settlement and the new complaint process for community groups, student groups, and teacher organizations and then providing technical assistance and follow-up when community groups assert their new rights by filing Williams complaints. Tara drafted a manual on teacher misassignment issues for community groups to use as a resource when addressing teacher quality issues in their schools. Her work has also included meeting with county offices of education to monitor their implementation of the settlement legislation and drafting comments for the Commission on Teacher Credentialing regarding proposed regulations for intern teachers.

Finally, Tara has supported Liz Guillen, Director of Legislative and Community Affairs, in education budget advocacy efforts.

Tara graduated from UC Berkeley School of Law (Boalt Hall) in 2005. Her work as a Public Advocates Law Fellow is an extension of her prior career in education. In conjunction with her work in support of San Francisco ’s Proposition F, Tara authored “Sharing the Vote: Noncitizen Voting Rights in Local School Board Elections” (California Law Review 2005). After receiving her BA in Political Science and MA in Education and teaching credential from Stanford in 1998, Tara taught English and History in Bay Area public schools for four years. While in law school, she represented low-income students in student disciplinary hearings and special education meetings. She also worked part-time as a faculty supervisor with UC Berkeley’s teacher education program.

Women, people of color and underrepresented groups are strongly encouraged to apply

Updated August 2007

Law Clerk

Public Advocates, Inc. is seeking up to four legal interns each semester and up to six legal interns during the summer to join one of California’s leading civil rights law firms.

The Firm and The Legal Internship Program:

Public Advocates challenges the systemic causes of poverty and discrimination by promoting civil rights through advocacy, litigation, and partnership with low-income communities, people of color, and immigrants. Public Advocates is best known for high impact class action litigation and increasingly for policy and legislative advocacy and coalition efforts. Our present work focuses on education equity, insurance redlining, affordable housing, transportation equity, and community economic development.

Our Legal Internship Program exposes students to the diverse strategies of our impact work in an environment geared to their development as future lawyers committed to the public interest. Interns are assigned to a supervising attorney who will have primary responsibility for giving constructive and meaningful feedback on interns’ work in a positive learning environment. Public Advocates will work to ensure that interns have assignments that address a variety of skills, substantive areas and training goals. We also seek to engage students in the full range of our work to promote equity and systemic change including assisting attorneys in existing major civil rights impact litigation from development through trial and appeal, legislative, administrative, and policy advocacy, project development, and coalition building with grassroots organizations. For example, legal interns may assist in the drafting of a brief, participate in litigation meetings, attend administrative hearings, meet with policy makers, organize a public meeting or training, or build relationships in one of our coalitions.

Our Legal Internship Program also includes various social activities. For instance, in past summers we have provided a brown bag lunch program, in which attorneys discuss relevant public interest topics, hosted dinners, planned hikes, and shared in potlucks. These activities have helped to develop a supportive public interest community for our interns and given us the opportunity to share our experiences in the pursuit of social justice.

Qualifications:

We seek law students of all levels of experience and value students who have a demonstrated commitment to working on behalf of poor communities and communities of color. Summer interns are ordinarily expected to work 37.5 hours a week for 10 weeks, while semester interns are expected to work at least 14-16 hours a week, at least 2 days a week. The legal interns for the summer of 2008 are Marissa Dagdagan (UCLA), Pawanpreet Kaur Dhaliwal (Harvard University), Katrina Eiland (Stanford), Chehani Ekaratne (Harvard), Kelly Lowenberg (Stanford),
Rigel Massaro (University of Arizona, James E. Rogers College of Law), Monica Parran (American University, Washington College of Law), Shawna Reeves (Stanford), Jose Salazar (Hastings), Tinia Snow (Northeastern),
Huber Trenado (UC Berkeley).

References:

We will gladly provide former interns’ names as references. We are confident our legal interns’ rewarding and enriching experiences at Public Advocates will encourage other talented and committed law students to join us.

Timeline and Funding:

Applicants should provide a one- to two-page cover letter explaining (1) interests and qualifications; (2) experiences and commitment to working with low-income communities and communities of color; (3) reasons for applying to Public Advocates; and (4) whether they are volunteering or seeking academic credit or funding. In addition, include a resume, writing sample, and names of references. Send your materials to: Michelle N. Rodriguez, Director of the Legal Internship Program, at mrodriguez@publicadvocates.org and copy Pedro Hernandez, at phernandez@publicadvocates.org. We expect to fill our summer positions by March 1st. Applicants for summer positions are considered as early as October. We prefer to fill our spring positions before the semester begins. We strongly encourage early applications.

Women, people of color and underrepresented groups are strongly encouraged to apply

Updated October 2008

Our Commitment to Excellent Training and Supervision of Law Clerks and New Lawyers:

We are proud of Public Advocates’ internally-funded fellowship program and well-established legal internship program, guided by Michelle Natividad Rodriguez, Staff Attorney.  Students’ feedback from final internship evaluations is consistently positive and often glowing:

“The projects were very rewarding yet challenging, the people are warm and easy-going, and the environment was positive.  I have definitely grown professionally and personally due to my time spent at Public Advocates.”  (Tivonna Jones, UC Berkeley- Boalt Hall, Class of ‘08)

“It’s an ideal public interest law placement. The internship program is highly organized and nurturing, and the supervisors will employ you as an integral member of the team.” (Daniel Chin, Columbia University School of Law, Class of ’09)

“I liked that the organization is engaged in various types of cases and that it has a legislative supplement to its work.” (Nicholas Durham, New York University School of Law, Class of ’08)

        Our staff is welcoming. As summed up by Meghan Fennelly, interns “loved the environment – from the attorneys to the staff to the other interns – everyone was wonderful, warm and fuzzy.” (Georgetown University Law Center, Class of ’07)  Other students commented: 

“The people are hands down the best part.  [They are] incredibly intelligent, supportive and just fun people.” (Chioma Nwachukwu, University of Michigan ‘08)

“[My supervisor] was GREAT!  She was very receptive to my input, treated me as an equal, and made me feel like a valuable participant in the work.  She always took the time to talk with me and took an interest in my professional development.” (Elizabeth Morris, Stanford Law School, Class of ’08)

“People at Public Advocates are great to work with. They are intelligent, caring, understanding, and supportive of your growth, future, opinions. It was a wonderful work environment and I was glad to be part of the PA family.” (Taina Gomez, UC Berkeley- Boalt Hall, Class of ‘08)

The most powerful testimony to Public Advocates’ commitment to its new lawyers and the success of our summer and fellow programs is the quality of the young lawyers who want to return to or join our staff. Michelle N. Rodriguez (2003-2004 Fellow), Guillermo Mayer (2004-2005 Fellow), and Tara Kini (2005-2007 Fellow), who was introduced to Public Advocates as a 2004 summer intern, have all been promoted to Staff Attorneys. Their eagerness to be with us and their loyalty once on board speak eloquently to our reputation and effectiveness in attorney development.