Careers

Civil Rights Attorney – Virtual Office

You: An entrepreneurial freedom fighter with a passion for, and 3-10 years’ experience in, civil rights litigation. You find and win cutting-edge civil rights cases across the country. You will become a national spokesperson for equality before the law and economic liberty—you will speak at conferences, engage the media, and publish scholarship on the rights protected by the Fourteenth Amendment. You are determined to become a leader who will elevate PLF attorneys to be the best litigators in the nation. You have a demonstrated dedication to public interest law and civil rights throughout your career.

Them: Bureaucrats, city councils, mayors, governors, and federal agencies stripping Americans of their rights every day. There’s a lot of government discrimination out there, and it’s backed by seemingly endless resources. But fortunately, like all lumbering giants, abusive government is most vulnerable when countered by individuals who act strategically and nimbly, take calculated risks, have each other’s backs, and are confident in, and passionate for, the cause—the very sort of swashbucklers we employ in spades here at PLF.

Us: We fight back. Pacific Legal Foundation is the nation’s first and most successful public interest law firm dedicated to vindicating individual liberty. PLF has an unmatched record in the United States Supreme Court, with 17 victories out of 19 litigated at the Court. We have three cases currently pending before the Supreme Court, and we also have more than a hundred active cases across the nation.

We are a next-generation public interest law firm. What does “next generation” mean for a legal nonprofit? It means we aren’t interested in doing the same thing as everyone else. We aspire to be the best player in a constantly changing game.

Here’s what you get to do in this role:
You will generate and lead high-profile cases in PLF’s Equality and Opportunity Program. The program advances a positive vision of civil rights with liberty at its core, centered on a demand to remove racial, protectionist, and other discriminatory legal barriers that separate people from opportunity. Our high-profile cases include fighting discriminatory admissions policies targeting black and Hispanic students in Hartford, Connecticut, and Asian-American students in New York, Boston, and Virginia. We defeated race-based federal farm-loan forgiveness and are litigating against California to end its sex-based quota for Board members of publicly-traded companies. We have overturned certificate of need laws in half a dozen states and challenged other legislation that protects the profits of some by stifling the economic opportunity of others.

You will build on our success by working on landmark cases that affirm equality of freedom for all persons. You will find and win the next important Supreme Court case enforcing the Fourteenth Amendment. And you will be recognized as a nationwide leader on equality and opportunity: giving speeches, attending conferences, appearing on radio and television, and publishing op-eds and scholarly articles on these issues.

You will work on teams with junior and senior attorneys, providing your expertise and knowledge and elevating the talent and skill of our attorneys. You will have the latitude to think big and the resources to execute. You will be at the forefront of shaping the enforcement of the Fourteenth Amendment for all Americans.

In a nutshell, we’re seeking someone who’s passionate about liberty and equality, who is confident and magnanimous, and who is a bold and relentless freedom fighter.

Getting down to brass tacks, your specific job duties will likely include:

• Winning civil rights cases! Finding, developing, and litigating important civil rights cases.
• Advocating for equality before the law and economic freedom both philosophically and practically. Speaking with organizations, trade groups, academia, and media to advance PLF’s strategic goals. (A deep knowledge of the moral and constitutional basis for the Fourteenth Amendment is a huge plus.)
• Writing persuasive pieces for both scholarly and lay audiences. Drafting op-eds, journal articles, and blog posts.
• Leading other attorneys into battle and helping to set the agenda of the next years of PLF’s equality and opportunity program.

This role is ideal for someone with:

• Three-plus years of experience litigating civil rights cases
• A track record of successful litigation
• Outstanding interpersonal communications skills
• A knowledge of, and passion for, the ideas of freedom and individual liberty
• A willingness to travel approximately 10-15%

General Information:
Pacific Legal Foundation identifies and litigates important legal issues to set landmark precedents that will benefit Americans nationwide. Using strategic and principled litigation, communications, and research, we battle for freedom in the nation’s courts and the court of public opinion.

As a national nonprofit organization, PLF has brick-and-mortar offices in Sacramento, California; Arlington, Virginia; and Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, although approximately half of the staff work from home offices across the country. You can work physically in any of our offices or request to work virtually.

To Apply:
Qualified candidates should submit the following application materials (in order) in one PDF document:

• A cover letter explaining why PLF is the place for you, why you want to fight for liberty, and what distinguishes you from typical applicants
• Your resume, including your experience in the liberty movement and relevant professional experience

Applications should be submitted to Talent Market via this link: talentmarket.org/apply-for-your-dream-job/.

Questions can be directed to Stephanie Keaveney, Senior Manager of Outreach at Talent Market, who is managing the search process: ">.

There is no application deadline for this position. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis. This job will remain posted on our site until it is filled.

While we thank all applicants in advance for their interest in this position, we are only able to contact those to whom we can offer an interview. Only direct applications will be considered. No phone calls, please.

Talent Market is a nonprofit entity dedicated to promoting liberty by helping free-market nonprofits identify talent for critical roles. We provide consulting and recruiting services at no cost to 501(c)3 nonprofit organizations that clearly and directly focus on advancing the principles of economic freedom, free enterprise, free trade, free speech, property rights, rule of law, and limited regulation.

This is a full-time, permanent position. PLF is committed to recruiting and retaining the highest-quality talent available nationwide, and we offer a total compensation package that includes a competitive salary, medical and dental insurance, and employer-paid retirement savings. We take work-life balance seriously through our generous paid leave and flextime policies. We have a flexible, collaborative, positive, and collegial work environment. We take pride in investing in your future and encourage internal advancement. PLF is the place for someone principled, tenacious, and determined to succeed in positively shaping the future of our country and restoring real limits on government power. Join us.

Apply

Litigation Fellowship

Remote – Arlington, VA

You: A recent law-school graduate, a confident and entrepreneurial freedom fighter with a passion for battling onerous government. You’re looking for an opportunity to work with the best liberty lawyers in the nation, immerse yourself in the nuts-and-bolts of public-interest law, and study the legal and philosophical principles of the liberty movement.

Them: Bureaucrats, city councils, mayors, governors, and federal agencies stripping Americans of their rights every day. There’s a lot of government overreach out there, and it’s backed by seemingly endless resources. But fortunately, like all lumbering giants, abusive government is most vulnerable when countered by individuals who act strategically and nimbly, take calculated risks, have each other’s backs, and are confident in and passionate for the cause—the very sort of swashbucklers we employ in spades here at PLF.

Us: We fight back. Pacific Legal Foundation is the nation’s first and most successful public interest law firm dedicated to vindicating individual liberty. PLF has an unmatched record in the United States Supreme Court, with 17 victories out of 19 cases litigated at the Court. We also have more than 100 active cases across the nation.

We are a next-generation public interest law firm. What does “next-generation” mean for a legal nonprofit? It means we aren’t interested in doing the same thing as everyone else. We aspire to be the best player in a constantly changing game.

Here’s what you get to do in this role:

The PLF Litigation Fellowship is a year-long fellowship position for recent law school graduates. You will be added to litigation teams in ongoing cases, learn to develop a public interest case from the ground up, receive hands-on legal research and legal-writing training, and study the Classical Liberal principles that guide our work. You will also be encouraged and expected to take on additional challenges, including legal research projects and communications efforts.

You will work on teams with junior and senior attorneys, adding your skills and perspective to elevate our team’s ability to win important victories for liberty. You will have the latitude to think big and the resources to execute. You will be at the forefront of shaping the law for all Americans.

In a nutshell, we’re seeking a new lawyer who’s passionate about individual liberty, property rights, and administrative law, someone who is confident and magnanimous, and someone who is a bold and relentless freedom fighter.

Getting down to brass tacks, your specific job duties will likely include:

• Working closely with litigation teams to develop precedent-setting cases
• Actively participating throughout all stages of litigation, from pre-litigation public records requests to discovery and appellate work
• Drafting briefs, comment letters, and research memoranda

This role is ideal for someone with:

• A passion for liberty and excited to get a crash course in public-interest law
• A demonstrated interest in property rights, environmental law, separation of powers, and equality and opportunity
• Outstanding interpersonal communication skills
• A knowledge of and passion for the ideas of freedom and individual liberty
• Excellent legal research and writing skills

GENERAL INFORMATION

Pacific Legal Foundation identifies and litigates important legal issues to set landmark precedents that will benefit Americans nationwide. Using strategic and principled litigation, communications, and research, we battle for freedom in the nation’s courts and the court of public opinion.

As a national nonprofit organization, PLF has brick-and-mortar offices in Sacramento, CA; Arlington, VA; and Palm Beach Gardens, FL, though approximately half of the staff work from home across the country. Ideally, participants of this fellowship will work most days from our DC Office in Arlington, Virginia for the duration of the program, but we are open to remote work for stellar candidates.

This is a one-year, full-time position starting in the fall of 2024 for recent law school graduates. PLF is committed to recruiting and retaining the highest-quality talent available nationwide, and we offer a competitive compensation package. We have a flexible, collaborative, positive, and collegial work environment. We take pride in investing in your future and encourage internal advancement.

PLF is the place for someone principled, tenacious, and determined to succeed in positively shaping the future of our country and restoring real limits on government power. Join us

TO APPLY:

If you think you might be a good fit, submit the following application materials at the link below. We will be accepting applications on a rolling basis through January 1st, 2024, but we encourage interested candidates to apply as soon as possible.

• Your resume, including your experience in the liberty movement and relevant professional experience.
• A cover letter explaining why PLF is the place for you, why you want to fight for liberty, and what distinguishes you from typical applicants.
• A legal writing sample.

Apply

Clerk Program (Summer 2024)

Apply

Legal Secretary

You: An experienced paralegal or legal secretary, looking to accomplish something more meaningful than clocking the next billable hour. You employ exceptional time management skills and a passion for accuracy, and take pride in filing a perfect document right and on time. You’ve done your time in the trenches helping people who are tied up in red tape and fighting for the rights of your firm’s clients. But these days you feel there are bigger fights, and you want to be a part of the action. In short, you are confident, you are relentless, you elevate others, and you are a freedom fighter—the core values of Pacific Legal Foundation.

Them: Bureaucrats, city councils, mayors, governors, and federal agencies stripping Americans of their rights every day. There’s a lot of government overreach out there, and it’s backed by seemingly endless resources. But fortunately, like all lumbering giants, abusive government is most vulnerable when countered by individuals who act strategically and nimbly, take calculated risks, have each other’s backs, and are confident in and passionate for the cause—the very sort of swashbucklers we employ in spades here at PLF.

Us: We fight back. Pacific Legal Foundation is the nation’s first and most successful public interest law firm dedicated to vindicating individual liberty. PLF has an unmatched record in the United States Supreme Court, with 17 victories out of 19 cases heard by the Court. We also have more than a hundred active cases across the nation.

We are a next-generation public interest law firm. What does “next generation” mean for a legal nonprofit? It means we aren’t interested in doing the same thing as everyone else. We aspire to be the best player in a constantly changing game.

Pacific Legal Foundation seeks a fiercely detail-oriented and deadline-driven Legal Secretary to partner with our team of attorneys to execute important constitutional litigation.

PLF Legal Secretaries are responsible for the production and quality control of our legal documents. PLF’s briefs are recognized for their quality in all courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court, and our Legal Secretaries play an important role in maintaining that reputation.

This role is ideal for someone with:

• A passion for freedom and individual liberty.
• At least three years’ prior paralegal or legal secretary experience, ideally in federal court litigation.
• Experience proofreading and editing complex documents.
• Impeccable attention to spelling, punctuation, and knowledge of grammar.
• A self-starter’s mentality and a can-do attitude—can tackle the job at hand with minimal supervision and is unafraid to ask questions when needed.
• A professional we can rely on to get the job completed and be available under urgent litigation times.
• Some trial experience preferred.
• A team-oriented, customer service mindset—ready and willing to assist others.
• Proficiency in the Microsoft Office suite, including mastery of Microsoft Word, and other basic computer tasks.
• Experience with litigation calendaring software is a plus.

Your specific job duties will include:

• Production, formatting, and perfection of briefs and pleadings according to the rules of courts across the nation.
• Coordination of timely filing of documents with a team of lawyers, as well as outside contractors (printers, court reporters) and court clerks, if necessary.
• Other administrative duties (calendaring, correspondence with clients and potential clients, scheduling depositions and travel, and advanced quality control proofreading, among others) as assigned or according to your existing skills and interests..
• Communicate with your team of attorneys on a regular basis to maintain case management.
• Work under the discretion of the Workload Manager.

GENERAL INFORMATION

Pacific Legal Foundation identifies and litigates important legal issues to set landmark precedents that will benefit Americans nationwide. Using strategic and principled litigation, communications, and research, we battle for freedom in the nation’s courts and the court of public opinion.

As a national nonprofit organization, PLF has brick-and-mortar offices in Sacramento, California; Arlington, Virginia; and Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, although approximately half of the staff work from home offices across the country. You can work physically in any of our offices or request to work virtually.

TO APPLY:

Applicants must submit a résumé and cover letter. The résumé should have the usual: your professional experience, as well as your academic credentials. The cover letter should explain why PLF is the place for you, why you want to fight for liberty, and what distinguishes you from typical applicants.

Please submit your application materials by clicking the “Apply” button below.

While we thank all applicants in advance for their interest in this position, we only can contact only those to whom we can offer an interview. No phone calls please.

This is a full-time, permanent position. PLF is committed to recruiting and retaining the highest-quality talent available nationwide, and we offer a total compensation package that includes a competitive salary, medical and dental insurance, and employer-paid retirement savings. We take work-life balance seriously through our generous paid leave and flextime policies. We have a flexible, collaborative, positive, and collegial work environment. We take pride in investing in your future and encourage internal advancement. PLF is the place for someone principled, tenacious, and determined to succeed in positively shaping the future of our country and restoring real limits on government power. Join us.

Apply

General Application

Remote – Washington, D.C.

At PLF, we believe in individual liberty: that when people are free to live peacefully and productively, without interference by government, they improve themselves, their families, and their communities.

If this is a vision you align with, but are unable to find an open role that fits your background, apply here. We will contact you when a position fits your qualifications.

Apply

Separation of Powers Attorney

Virtual Office

You: An entrepreneurial freedom fighter with a passion for the separation of powers and liberty. You want to find and win cutting-edge civil rights cases across the country. You will become a national spokesperson for the Constitution. You will fight the administrative state. You are a natural leader who will help elevate PLF attorneys to be the best litigators in the nation.

Them: Federal and state agencies that are abusing their power and stripping Americans of their rights. There’s no shortage of agencies that ignore the Constitution’s separation of powers. But fortunately, like all lumbering giants, abusive government is most vulnerable when countered by individuals who act strategically and nimbly, take calculated risks, and are confident in, and passionate for, the cause—the very sort of swashbucklers who work at PLF.

Us: We fight back. Pacific Legal Foundation is the nation’s first and most successful public interest law firm dedicated to vindicating individual liberty. PLF has an unmatched record in the United States Supreme Court, with 17 victories out of 19 litigated at the Court—including three victories last term. We also have more than a hundred active cases across the nation.

We are a next-generation public interest law firm. That means we aren’t interested in doing the same thing as everyone else. We aspire to be the best player in a constantly changing game.

Here’s what you get to do in this role:
You will generate and lead high-profile cases in PLF’s Separation of Powers Program. This year, alone, we won a huge victory in the Supreme Court that rolled back the federal government’s authority to abuse land owners under the Clean Water Act. And we won important victories in other courts that eliminated judicial deference in Ohio, enjoined a federal minimum-wage regulation, and stopped the CFPB from exceeding its power and abusing small mortgage companies.

You will help find and win cases like these. Your ideas will help shape PLF strategy by identifying and litigating emerging separation of powers theories. And you will be recognized as a national leader on administrative and constitutional law by giving speeches, appearing in media, and publishing op-eds and scholarly articles.

You will work on teams with other top-notch attorneys, applying your skills, knowledge, and passion every day. You will have the latitude to think big and the resources to execute. You will be at the leading edge of Constitutional law in America.

In a nutshell, we’re seeking attorneys with a broad range of experience to help us continue our legacy of success. You must be passionate about liberty, the Constitution, and fighting the administrative state, confident and magnanimous, and a bold and relentless freedom fighter.

Your specific job duties will include:

• Generating and litigating high-impact cases: If you are an experienced litigator, you will take over cases or develop your own and run with them. If you are new to the trade, you will have ample opportunities to gain experience and lead your own cases as quickly as possible. We want confident self-starters who think big and aim high.
• Setting the Agenda: Every attorney on the team helps develop successful strategies so we can keep the victories coming.
• Advocating for separation of powers: We win in the courts of law and in the court of public opinion. You will speak with organizations, trade groups, academics, students and the public to advance our strategic goals. (A deep knowledge of the moral and constitutional basis for the Constitution’s structural protections is a huge plus.)
• Writing persuasively for all audiences: You will write briefs, op-eds, journal articles, blog posts, and more.

This role is ideal for someone with:

• Outstanding interpersonal and communications skills
• A knowledge of, and passion for, the ideas of freedom and individual liberty
• A strong work ethic
• A willingness to travel
• Litigation experience
• A clerkship or work with a state or federal agency

General Information
Pacific Legal Foundation identifies and litigates important legal issues to set landmark precedents that will benefit Americans nationwide. Using strategic and principled litigation, communications, and research, we battle for freedom in the nation’s courts and the court of public opinion.

As a national nonprofit organization, PLF has brick-and-mortar offices in Sacramento, California; Arlington, Virginia; and Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, although approximately half of the staff work from home offices across the country. You can work physically in any of our offices or request to work virtually.

PLF is committed to recruiting and retaining the highest-quality talent available nationwide, and we offer a total compensation package that includes a competitive salary, medical and dental insurance, and employer-paid retirement savings. We take work-life balance seriously through our generous paid leave and flextime policies. We have a flexible, collaborative, positive, and collegial work environment. We take pride in investing in your future and encourage internal advancement. PLF is the place for someone principled, tenacious, and determined to succeed in positively shaping the future of our country and restoring real limits on government power. Join us.

To Apply
Qualified candidates should submit the following application materials (in order) in one PDF document:

• A cover letter explaining why PLF is the place for you, why you want to fight for liberty, and what distinguishes you from typical applicants
• Your resume, including your experience in the liberty movement and relevant professional experience

Applications should be submitted to Talent Market via this link: talentmarket.org/apply-for-your-dream-job/.

Questions can be directed to Stephanie Keaveney, Senior Manager of Outreach at Talent Market, who is assisting with the search: ">.

There is no application deadline for this position. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis. This job will remain posted on our site until it is filled.

While we thank all applicants in advance for their interest in this position, we are only able to contact those to whom we can offer an interview. Only direct applications will be considered. No phone calls, please.

Talent Market is a nonprofit entity dedicated to promoting liberty by helping free-market nonprofits identify talent for critical roles. We provide consulting and recruiting services at no cost to 501(c)3 nonprofit organizations that clearly and directly focus on advancing the principles of economic freedom, free enterprise, free trade, free speech, property rights, rule of law, and limited regulation.

Apply