What is the Role

The National Alliance is the national nonprofit convener, advocate, and public voice for the public charter school movement. We work with members of Congress and Capitol Hill staffers, state leaders and partner organizations, and other education reform advocates to build support for public charter schools. We foster a policy and regulatory climate that allows new, high-quality charter schools to open and for the best to expand and replicate.

The legal landscape for public charter schools is entering a period of unprecedented change. Litigation involving religious liberty, state action, labor law, school funding, civil rights, and constitutional structure will shape the future of the charter movement for decades. The National Alliance seeks an experienced litigator and strategic thinker to help identify emerging legal threats before they become crises and develop national litigation strategies that protect and strengthen public charter schools.

Reporting to the Chief Legal Officer and working collaboratively with other senior attorneys, the Vice President will be relied upon to lead many of our legal programs. This role combines elements of a wide variety of activities, including strategic issue identification, litigation strategy and management, coalition building, communications, and network development. The successful candidate will help identify legal threats before they become active litigation, assist in developing long-term legal strategy for the charter movement, and position the National Alliance to shape, not simply respond to, the next generation of constitutional and statutory challenges affecting public charter schools.

What You'll Do

• Engage in federal and state litigation to protect charter schools as public schools.
• Find and engage local counsel.
• Manage counsel during litigation.
• Work in partnership with local advocates on case theory and strategy, reviewing and editing briefs and offering guidance based on other charter cases.
• Coordinate with the communications function at the National Alliance to develop media strategies.
• Recruit potential litigants (plaintiffs and defendant intervenors).
• Identify and vet high-risk/high-opportunity cases to preserve and expand state charter climates.
• Identify and vet cases to prevent encroachments on, or make advances in, charter school autonomy and funding access policies.
• Expand the movement's legal capability by cultivating the growth and development of our legal network (the Alliance of Public Charter School Attorneys) and leveraging the experience and expertise it provides.
• Develop in-person and virtual trainings to support network learning and find and cultivate new attorneys for the network, especially in high-need areas.
• Network and speak on key issues to advance the legal advocacy agenda.
• Monitor legal cases filed around the country and identify potential federal and multi-state legal policy issues that may adversely impact the charter sector or present new opportunities.

Who You Are

• You have a J.D.
• You have 7 or more years of federal district and/or appellate litigation experience or state constitutional litigation experience; public interest law firm experience is a plus.
• You have experience with media and leveraging communications as part of a litigation advocacy campaign.
• You have a strong understanding of education law and public policy, with the ability to monitor emerging legal issues and translate them into strategic action.
• You have a proven ability to identify, analyze, and balance risk and opportunity.
• You have demonstrated success working cross-functionally (legal, communications, government affairs, external stakeholders, etc.) to advance a unified advocacy agenda.
• You have strong research, writing, legal analysis, and presentation skills.
• You can communicate complex legal concepts to non-legal stakeholders.
• You have strong partnership and relationship-building skills.
• You have knowledge of charter school law and operations (preferred).
• You have experience convening stakeholders for strategic conversations and collective learning.
• You bring a collaborative spirit.
• You demonstrate intellectual curiosity.
• You have the interest in and ability to manage multiple projects simultaneously.