Legal Research & Policy Manager

Deadline: Please submit resume, cover letter, writing sample and at least three references by Nov 14, 2025, for priority review. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis.

Law for Black Lives (L4BL) is seeking an experienced researcher who is creative and passionate about liberation to join the organization as the Legal Research & Policy Manager. This position is a unique opportunity to develop and publish a wealth of information that will support the transformation of the law for the betterment of Black people, as well as work directly with movement organizations that are leading visionary campaigns pushing us closer to Black liberation.

About Law for Black Lives

Law For Black Lives (L4BL) is dedicated to transforming the legal field by promoting movement lawyering and cultivating a national community of radical law students, lawyers, and legal workers, building the power of local organizing to defend, protect, and advance Black Liberation, and transforming the law to change the conditions of the struggle and defend Black Lives. L4BL is a fiscally sponsored project at NEO Philanthropy, Inc.

Through the coordination and provision of legal support, training, mentorship, research, political education, policy and popular education tools, we are building a legal infrastructure that is responsive, action-oriented and collaborative.

Role Description

The Legal Research & Policy Manager will serve as a key team member of the Research, Education, and Training department, supporting L4BL staff, members, and movement and legal partners nationwide by conducting and coordinating historical, sociological, policy, legal, and movement research and analysis. The Legal Research and Policy Manager will be responsible for supporting the policy and research needs of our partners and coalitions, as well as managing the organization’s research and policy contributions to the field, and supporting our political engagement through research, synthesizing relevant existing and emerging research and analysis, and developing and presenting credible and imaginative policy recommendations. The right candidate for this role will be highly organized and visionary in a way that allows them to engage in research without limiting their imagination when proposing solutions.

Key Responsibilities

The Legal Research & Policy Manager will work alongside their team to ensure the Research, Education, and Training Department meets its goal of creating and maintaining the organization’s theoretical, educational, and practical contributions to the movement and legal fields in ways that are robust, rigorous and well-vetted, promote our theory of change, and enable us to transform the law and provide support, services, and partnership to the movement for Black liberation. Specifically, the Research & Policy Manager will be responsible for managing the following key pieces of work:

LEADERSHIP:

• Support L4BL leadership in the implementation of organizational strategy
• Represent the organization to key stakeholders
• Represent the organization at key conferences and retreats
• Strive to bring the values of Law for Black Lives into practice.

RESEARCH, EDUCATION & TRAINING:

• Collaborate with the Membership and Partnerships departments to coordinate member and partner research efforts, ensuring that the research needs of Black-centered spaces are being met.
• Draft memos, reports, one-pagers, etc., to meet local community partners' historical, political, legal, and policy research needs, including local budget analysis, explainers on regulations and local codes, primers on criminal law, and the impact of proposed legislation on Black communities.
• Represent L4BL in coalition spaces and coordinate and conduct L4BL’s research contributions
• Conduct and publish rigorous research on key political, sociological, policy, and legal areas on behalf of the organization
• Synthesize relevant existing and emerging research and analysis,
• Develop and present credible and imaginative policy recommendations
• Provide the L4BL leadership with research support on organizationally published political, policy, and legal briefs on key topics,
• Work with the Research, Education, and Training team to develop and facilitate political and legal education trainings around key movement, policy, and legal issues, and the practices of movement lawyering
• Work with the Partnerships department to develop and coordinate regional Freedom Labs* for collaboration and coordination on local issues and campaigns.

STRATEGIC OPPORTUNITIES:

• Assess resource opportunities as they arise, identify points of leverage, opportunity and alignment.

Skills & Experiences

• Deep commitment to and enthusiasm for L4BL.
• Familiarity and comfort with L4BL’s values and those of fellow abolitionist movement partners with a strong understanding of Black organizing, Black liberation, intersectionality, anti-oppression principles and practices.
• Proven track record of utilizing personal and professional engagements to successfully engage with Law for Black Lives politics
• At least 3-5 years of experience conducting research.
• A background in legal, policy, movement, or sociological research.
• J.D. or similar advanced degrees with extensive research requirements is required.
• Qualitative research experience is preferred, with some proficiency with quantitative research.
• Familiarity with legal research databases.
• Experience with publishing research.
• Experience with translating big ideas to public audiences.
• Strong writing and editing skills.
• Familiarity with word processors.
• Experience with coalition building and/or working in established coalitions.
• Experience engaging community and movement organizations, preferably with strong relationships with organizations doing Black liberation work.
• Strong relationship-building skills..
• Ability to effectively facilitate and lead meetings.
• Ability to effectively facilitate workshops and/or present to groups with varied levels of prior knowledge and experience
• Able to effectively represent L4BL to a variety of audiences and communities.
• Able to provide leadership within a fast-paced environment.
• Ability to work well with a team.
• Exceptional organizational skills for effective project management.
• Ability to manage multiple project simultaneously

Position: Full-time salaried employee. Overtime exempt.

Compensation: $85,000 - $93,000 commensurate with experience. Through NEO Philanthropy, this position is offered a full benefits package, including 100% medical coverage for the employee and 90% medical coverage for dependents; 100% coverage for vision, dental, life/AD&D, long-term disability. NEO also offers a 401K retirement savings plan, Healthcare Reimbursement Arrangement (HRA), Medical FSA, Dependent Care FSA, commuter benefits, Employee Assistance Program, other supplemental benefits and paid time off.

Location: This is a remote position, however extensive travel will be required.

Start Date: January 2026

Reports To: RET Director

Vaccination Requirement: L4BL at NEO follows CDC guidance regarding staying up to date with COVID-19 vaccinations and boosters. Accordingly, and in order to ensure the wellness and safety of our staff to the greatest extent possible, NEO requires the COVID-19 vaccination and boosters for all staff. Requests for medical and/or religious exemptions from the vaccination requirement will be considered on an individual basis.

TO APPLY: Submit a cover letter, resume, writing sample, and three (3)references at bit.ly/L4BLWork.

L4BL at NEO Philanthropy is an equal opportunity employer. We consider applicants for all positions without regard to race, color, religion, creed, gender, national origin, age, disability, marital or veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or any other legally protected status. We strongly encourage black people, people of color, women, LGBTQ people, people with disabilities, and people who have been directly impacted by the criminal legal system to apply

Law for Black Lives Guiding Values

• We believe in using the law for the people and that legal tools should be used to build the power of movements.
• We are committed to the liberation and self-determination of all Black people -- including Black women and LGBTQIA folks.
• We hold ourselves accountable to support movements for Black liberation including organic uprisings. This means following the leadership of movement organizers and taking direction and feedback from our partners.
• We are political. We understand that this work requires political lawyering and explicit partnership with movement activists/organizers.
• We strive to think creatively and collectively about how the law can be used to support movements while respecting activists’ and organizers’ political choices.
• We are unapologetically committed to developing and following the leadership of Black people within the law.
• We believe in the importance and necessity of an agile and radical legal infrastructure that supports liberation movements.
• We believe in actively combatting the elitism, hierarchies, and lawyer-centric tendencies within the legal world.
• We believe in an internationalist approach that draws connections between the struggle for human rights and dignity in Black communities in the United States and across the globe.
• We are committed to continued growth and in the words of Mary Hooks, we are willing and ready to be transformed in service of the work.
• We believe in creating a space that is affirming, healing, transparent, and respectful. We work to ensure that those spaces don’t replicate the kinds of oppression, harm, and trauma that we are working against.

Through NEO Philanthropy, Inc., this position offers a full benefits package, including 100% medical coverage for the employee and 90% medical coverage for dependents; 100% coverage for vision, dental, life/AD&D, and long-term disability. NEO also offers a 401K retirement savings plan, Healthcare Reimbursement Arrangement (HRA), Medical FSA, Dependent Care FSA, commuter benefits, Employee Assistance Program, other supplemental benefits and paid time off.

Fluency in English required.