THE HEALTH JUSTICE ALLIANCE LAW CLINIC is accepting applications for a Two-Year Clinical Teaching Fellowship, from 2020 to 2022.

Clinic Description

The Health Justice Alliance Law Clinic is part of a medical-legal partnership between Georgetown Law Center and Georgetown University Medical Center. Launched in August 2017, the Law Clinic integrates law students directly into Georgetown community-based health clinics serving children and families living in poverty in Washington, D.C. Law students provide civil legal services to address barriers that affect patient health and well-being in collaboration with medical students, physicians, and other healthcare providers.

Patients at these clinics face multi-generational, complex, civil legal needs, many of which negatively impact their health and well-being. Among the needs currently being served are those related to education, housing, family law, and public benefits, including access to health insurance. By partnering directly with healthcare providers, who help identify when patients have unmet legal needs, the Law Clinic is implementing an upstream legal services approach that fills an important access to justice gap in D.C. and works to treat legal issues before they escalate into more serious legal crises. By meeting patients’ medical and legal needs in places where they already have trusted relationships, the HJA Law Clinic offers a unique and especially effective method for reducing the barriers to justice that often confront people living in poverty.  Medical students rotate into the law clinic and collaborate with law students and clinical teaching fellows in providing holistic advocacy to client families. 

Description of the Fellowship

The Health Justice Alliance Law Clinic is hiring an individual to serve as a clinical teaching fellow and supervising attorney for two years. The two-year fellowship may start as early as May 2020. The fellowship is designed for a lawyer interested in developing teaching and supervisory abilities in a setting that emphasizes a dual commitment—clinical education of law students and poverty lawyering in the context of a medical-legal partnership and in the areas of civil legal aid identified above.  The fellow will supervise law students providing civil legal services to families living in poverty and serve as a mentor and role model to law students in the clinic, which has a track record of attracting students from historically underrepresented backgrounds.  The fellow will join the clinical teaching team, which consists of a senior teaching fellow and clinic director, in supervising law students, teaching law clinic seminar classes, and facilitating case rounds. The teaching team is highly collaborative and uses a team-based approach to pedagogy planning and problem solving. Successful completion of the fellowship results in the award of an L.L.M. in Advocacy from Georgetown University.

Fellows have several areas of responsibility, with an increasing role in the clinic and student supervision as the fellowship progresses.  Over the course of the two years, the fellow will:

• Directly represent clients who are referred by our health care partners;
• Supervise students in casework and clinic projects;
• Share responsibility for designing and teaching seminar sessions;
• Assist with administrative and case handling responsibilities of the clinic;
• Participate in a clinical pedagogy seminar and other activities for the L.L.M., which is designed to support an interest in clinical teaching and legal education;
• Collaborate with law and medical students and faculty on research, policy, education, advocacy, and/or other projects designed to increase access to justice and health for underserved D.C. residents.

Teaching fellows receive an annual stipend of approximately $57,000 in the first year and $60,000 in the second year, health and dental benefits, and all tuition and fees in the LL.M. program. As full-time students, teaching fellows may qualify for deferment of their student loans and/or may be eligible for loan repayment assistance from their law schools.

Qualifications

The Health Justice Alliance Law Clinic seeks a prospective fellow with:

• Experience providing civil legal services to low-income clients (special education law, housing, and/or public benefits are areas of particular need);
• Minimum of 3 years of post-J.D. legal experience;
• Membership in the District of Columbia Bar (if not a member of the D.C. Bar must apply for admission by waiver upon accepting the fellowship offer);
• Demonstrated commitment to social justice and an interest in clinical teaching; and
• Prior medical, health-related, or mental health-related experience a plus.

Application Instructions:

Please submit a letter of interest, résumé/CV, complete law school transcript, a list of at least three references, and a writing sample (max. 10 pages) to HealthJusticeAlliance@georgetown.edu by Friday, February 7, 2020. Candidates will be considered on a rolling basis until the position is filled; therefore, we encourage you to apply as early as possible.  If you have any questions please contact Eugenia Alvarez, Office Manager for the Health Justice Alliance Law Clinic, at ea661@georgetown.edu.  

Note: Georgetown Law Center is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity employer and undertakes special efforts to employ a diverse workforce.