Staff Attorney, TLPI (part time), Harvard Law School
General Description:
The Trauma and Learning Policy Initiative (TLPI) is a collaboration of HLS and Massachusetts Advocates for Children (MAC); its mission is to ensure that all children traumatized by exposure to family violence and other adverse childhood experiences are able to succeed in school. The Initiative uses multiple strategies to accomplish its goals, including individual case work, legislative and administrative advocacy, coalition building, cross disciplinary research and report writing, education of the public and outreach to the media. TLPI has been successful at many levels, from securing the adoption of laws and administrative policies to creating a coalition of schools in Massachusetts and other states devoted to trauma-sensitive approaches to education. TLPI’s landmark publication, Helping Traumatized Children Learn, has 25,000 copies in print and is used in hundreds of schools and numerous university courses, including Lesley University’s scheduled fall series of courses on trauma sensitive approaches to educating students.
The TLPI course and clinic, Educational Advocacy and Systemic Change: Children at Risk, is integral to the Initiative. Students in the course learn to incorporate federal and state laws, education policy, and psychological and neurobiological research into their advocacy on behalf of vulnerable children. HLS students bring the lessons learned from their individual case work to the state legislature, executive offices, and the courts where systemic changes and legal judgments can be made. In addition to individual case representation, student work has included organizing legislative briefings, lobbying on budget issues at the state house, participating in administrative advocacy at the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, presenting to psychologists on legal requirements in special education evaluations, presenting to parents on special education rights, running a domestic violence outreach project, and presenting cases in court.
The TLPI seeks to hire an attorney to work on a cross-section of the project’s advocacy, policy, coalition building and outreach efforts in close collaboration with the Director and the Clinical Professor of Law, colleagues, students, and community partners. The staff attorney position presents an opportunity for an attorney to become a key member of a dynamic and innovative legal practice that provides much-needed services, the benefits of which will extend beyond our local community. Some travel may be required.
Basic Qualifications:
JD and minimum 3 years of experience in related field.
Additional Information:
This is a term appointment currently expected to extend to September 30, 2018, subject to funding and departmental need.
Read full call here!