| Job Description: |
Earthjustice seeks a Deputy Managing Attorney to join our team of lawyers and advocates working to eliminate the U.S.’s dependence on coal-fired power generation by 2030, decrease the impact of fossil-fueled power generation on the health and well-being of local communities, and to halt a growing rush to gas-fired generation and promote clean energy in its stead.
We seek an attorney with strong management skills, emotional intelligence, and cultural competency. We seek an individual with at least ten years of litigation experience to both litigate and to work with a Managing Attorney and Deputy Managing Attorneys to ensure effective management of a growing, diverse team of lawyers and associated professional staff. The position will preferably be based in our Chicago or Philadelphia offices, though other locations where Earthjustice has an office or significant presence will also be considered for the right candidate.
Earthjustice is the premier nonprofit environmental law organization. We take on the biggest, most precedent-setting cases across the country. We wield the power of law and the strength of partnership to protect people’s health; to preserve magnificent places and wildlife; to advance clean energy; to combat climate change; and to advocate for vulnerable environmental justice communities. We partner with thousands of groups, supporters, individuals, and communities to engage the critical environmental issues of our time and bring about positive change. We are guided by a passionate, ambitious vision for the future for people and our planet: until justice stands for all, we will never rest. We are here because the earth needs a good lawyer.
The Coal Program uses hard-hitting litigation and administrative advocacy to work to end our nation’s reliance on dirty, expensive, and outdated coal-fired power, to challenge a growing rush by the utility industry to build new gas-fired power plants, and to transform our country’s energy sector into one that is clean, renewable, and modern. Our docket includes litigation to secure, defend, and strengthen stringent environmental standards for power plants, lawsuits challenging government or industry failure to implement such standards, and challenges to utility proposals to spend hundreds of millions of dollars or more on aging coal plants rather than investing in clean energy. For more information about the Coal Program, please visit http://earthjustice.org/about/offices/coal .
Coal Program managers, attorneys, and professional staff also work closely with Earthjustice’s Clean Energy Program, which litigates in state and federal forums to advance a swift and equitable transition to 100% clean energy. For more information about the Clean Energy Program, please visit https://earthjustice.org/about/offices/clean-energy .
RESPONSIBILITIES
Management (approximately 60-70%):
-Assist the Managing Attorney, other Deputies, and Director in developing program direction and strategy.
-Serve as direct supervisor of up to seven attorneys and professional staff.
-Ensure direct reports with supervisory responsibility are properly executing those functions.
-Collaborate with Program managers, supervisors, and direct reports to manage relationships and workloads across the program.
-Work with the Program’s leadership to recruit, evaluate, and hire qualified candidates for open positions.
-Work with the Managing Attorney, other Deputies, and Director to oversee budgeting and other financial matters.
-Work with Legal Practice staff and Regional office staff to implement internal operational policies and procedures.
-Assist direct reports in career advancement by identifying and encouraging appropriate training and professional development opportunities, and creating a development plan with each direct report.
-Advance a learning culture by providing direct reports with consistent performance feedback – both positive and constructive, acting as a coach and mentor, and ensuring that case teams are debriefing after completion of significant stages of projects.
-Help ensure the advancement of Earthjustice’s diversity, equity, and inclusion goals and values.
-Create a respectful and inclusive work environment for the team, and model respectful and inclusive behavior. Promptly address micro-aggressions, implicit biases, and other equity or inclusion concerns brought to their attention.
-Resolve interpersonal conflict among team members and bring in outside facilitators as needed.
-Communicate regularly with the team and encourage staff to raise concerns and to provide ongoing feedback.
-Facilitate staff engagement with one another to strengthen teamwork, interaction and collaboration. Create or identify strategic opportunities for team building.
-Value and uplift individual differences and talents to improve employee satisfaction and the quality of collective work. Celebrate successes and help team members understand and manage setbacks.
-Understand teams’ strengths and areas for development.
Litigation (approximately 30-40%):
-Develop and lead the Program’s environmental, regulatory, and administrative work seeking to ensure the safe and effective clean-up of coal ash pollution and to minimize the impacts of fossil-fueled power generation on the health and well-being of local communities.
-Develop and litigate cases under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, the Clean Water Act, and/or the Clean Air Act and other relevant state and federal environmental laws from beginning to end, performing all aspects of litigation including written discovery, depositions, and potentially trials.
-Cultivate new and diverse allies and coalition partners in support of our program goals, and advance our efforts to ensure that social justice considerations inform every aspect of our work.
-Collaborate and manage relationships with co-counsel, clients, and coalition partners.
Serve as spokesperson for Earthjustice, clients, and partners.
-Work effectively with other departments within Earthjustice, including Communications, Development, and Policy and Legislation.
We offer a mission- and employee-focused work environment and a competitive compensation package, including excellent benefits. Earthjustice is an equal opportunity employer and highly values diversity.
Compensation is based on experience and location.
Salary Range Philadelphia: $171,200 - $190,200
Salary Range Chicago: $180,700 - $200,800 |
| Job Requirements: |
QUALIFICATIONS
-Law school graduates who are admitted, or willing to apply for admission, to the state bar where they are located.
-A minimum of 10 years of litigation experience.
-Ability to effectively manage and lead a diverse team with emotional intelligence (self-awareness and understanding of the impact of one’s behavior) and cultural humility (an understanding of the need for additional learning about different cultures, backgrounds and orientation and implementation of that learning in daily management practices).
-Excellent management skills including delivering constructive performance feedback, promoting the career development of staff, and fostering effective communication, collaboration, decision-making, and mutual respect.
-Experience and interest in coaching, guiding, and mentoring staff.
-Commitment to and experience in developing team skills and talents to meet the evolving needs of an organization.
-Ability to manage a litigation docket effectively, lead a litigation team, and work collaboratively with colleagues and partner organizations.
-Knowledge and experience working with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and/or -State environmental protection agencies preferred.
-Knowledge and experience with the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, the Clean -Water Act and/or the Clean Air Act, and other relevant state and federal environmental laws preferred.
-Strong capacity for strategic thinking, including in designing and implementing effective advocacy.
-Proficiency at working with technical experts.
-Strong skills in communicating litigation and advocacy goals and messages to the media and supporters.
-Ability to work independently and in collaboration with client partners and staff.
-Ability and willingness to travel as needed for case work, court appearances, and presentations.
-Commitment to serving the public interest, and a passion for the role of Earthjustice and its mission.
-Demonstrates an awareness and sensitivity to the needs and concerns of individuals from diverse cultures, backgrounds and orientations.
-Contributes to the creation of a diverse, equitable, and inclusive work culture that encourages and celebrates differences. |
