HARVARD LAW SCHOOL is hiring a Clinic Faculty Position for its Immigration and Refugee Clinical Program

HARVARD LAW SCHOOL invites applications for a full-time clinical faculty member in the Immigration and Refugee Clinical Program. The faculty appointment may be a Clinical Professor of Law, Assistant Clinical Professor of Law, or Visiting Assistant Clinical Professor of Law, depending on the candidate’s extent and type of experience.

The Harvard Immigration and Refugee Clinical Program

The Harvard Immigration and Refugee Clinical Program (“HIRC”) seeks to advance immigrants’ rights through clinical education. Working closely with clinical supervisors, law students take the lead in representing low-income immigrants who are fighting deportation and seeking immigration status in the United States. Students utilize a range of legal advocacy tools on behalf of their clients, including direct representation, impact litigation, policy advocacy, and community outreach.

HIRC has four primary components. First, the Immigration and Refugee Advocacy Clinic represents individuals seeking humanitarian protection and advocates for immigrants’ rights. Second, the Crimmigration Clinic focuses on the intersection of criminal law and immigration law and advocates for the decriminalization of immigration status. Third, the HLS Immigration Project, a student-run practice organization, engages in limited direct representation, community outreach, and policy advocacy. Finally, the Harvard Representation Initiative serves as an in-house counsel for members of the Harvard community whose immigration status is at risk.

HIRC offers students the opportunity to practice immigration and refugee law through work on a variety of litigation, administrative, and policy projects. This includes work with community groups, medical professionals, and nonprofit and public interest organizations at the federal, state, and local levels. HIRC also collaborates with other clinics and student-practice organizations at the Law School, including the Criminal Justice Institute, the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau, Harvard Defenders, among others. 

HIRC’s team is interdisciplinary. A licensed clinical social worker and social work interns work closely with clinical law students, staff, faculty, and clients to ensure that HIRC’s approach is holistic and trauma-sensitive.

Through HIRC, students gain legal research, writing, and oral advocacy skills. Past and current projects include direct appeals and amicus support before the Board of Immigration Appeals, federal courts of appeals, and the U.S. Supreme Court, as well as district court litigation, including habeas petitions, Freedom of Information Act, mandamus, and other lawsuits. Students also engage in policy advocacy at the local, state, and national levels, drafting reports and white papers, as well as model regulations and legislation.

Role and Responsibilities

The clinical faculty member will work with clinic staff and students to manage the legal work and operations of HIRC in conjunction with the Director and Managing Attorney, will supervise clinical instructional fellows and/or clinical instructors and administrative staff, and will have responsibility for identifying and leading various projects and initiatives. The clinical faculty member will also teach or co-teach clinical courses relating to HIRC’s work and may have the opportunity to teach additional courses at the Law School, as proposed and approved through regular curricular planning and approval processes.

Beyond HIRC, the clinical faculty member will have access to the many opportunities for engagement, collaboration, and community through the wider clinical program and intellectual life of Harvard Law School.  As a faculty member, the successful candidate will have opportunities to participate in various faculty programs, initiatives, and (unless the appointment is to a visiting position) governance.

Qualifications

All applicants must have:

·       A minimum of five years of practice experience in immigration law and policy.

·       A J.D. from an ABA-accredited law school.

·       Admission to the Massachusetts bar, OR

·       Eligibility to practice and supervise students under Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Rule 3:04 while pursuing admission.

Qualified candidates will have:

Legal Qualifications

·       Expertise and substantial lawyering experience with public interest lawyering, in particular, with issues relating to immigrants’ rights and the intersection between immigration and criminal law. 

·       A commitment to community-based legal advocacy. This commitment can take many forms but requires a demonstrated record of public interest lawyering that is responsive, adaptive, and creative. 

Teaching Qualifications

·       A track record of successful clinical teaching as demonstrated by student engagement, learning and evaluation, OR

·       Significant experience teaching and mentoring law students or junior lawyers in non-clinical education contexts. 

·       A record of contributing to scholarship, and/or legal training programming and materials, and/or other types of writing in service of the profession. 

Management and Strategy Skills

·       Ability to set vision and direction for clinical law practice and pedagogy.

·       A record of effective supervision of team members and support for individual practitioner growth and development.

·       Meaningful experience in program or project leadership.

·       Demonstrated practice and commitment to building an inclusive working and learning environment.  

Other Skillsets and Values

·       Superior oral and written communication skills.

·       Superior interpersonal skills and emotional intelligence. 

·       Collaboration and teamwork ability.

·       A demonstrated commitment to diversity, equity, and racial justice.

Apply via https://academicpositions.harvard.edu/postings/11428

Please include a letter of interest, a resume, and a list of three or more references. If applicable, please feel free to submit teaching evaluations for the last three years and/or up to three publications.

The application period will be open until September 6, 2022. Only those candidates selected for interviews will be contacted. The successful candidate will be expected to begin work no later than January 1, 2023.

Harvard Law School is an equal opportunity employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, gender identity, sexual orientation, pregnancy and pregnancy-related conditions, or any other characteristic protected by law.