Legal Advocacy Fellowship - Fall 2025

Fellowship Description

The Arc seeks rising third-year law students and recent law graduates to apply for sponsorship for an externally funded fellowship such as Skadden, Equal Justice Works, or other public interest fellowships. The fellowship would begin in the fall of 2025. The Arc is looking to host a Fellow and develop a fellowship project to engage in new and ongoing education outreach, advocacy, and litigation centered on ensuring the rights of students with disabilities to receive an education in the most integrated setting with the supports and services needed to thrive.

Students with disabilities face myriad barriers to accessing education, including being segregated in self-contained classrooms or separate schools due to stereotypes or assumptions about their capabilities; being restrained and secluded; facing disciplinary actions and alternative placements often due to manifestations of their disabilities; and not having appropriately ambitious and personalized goals, challenging objectives, and high quality instruction that they need to engage as full members of their school communities. As a result, many students with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) leave school unprepared for further education, employment, and independent living in the community.

The National Council on Disability has reported that 85% of youth in juvenile detention facilities have disabilities that make them eligible for special education services, yet under 40% receive these services while in school. A disproportionate percentage of these detained youth are youth of color. These number indicate that many disabled youth in the juvenile justice and criminal justice systems are deprived of an appropriate education that could have changed their School to Prison Pipeline trajectory. Students with disabilities who receive special education services in school have poorer outcomes and are suspended and expelled more often than their peers without disabilities. These dire statistics are even worse for students of color with disabilities, who are disproportionately classified as having an emotional disturbance or an intellectual disability and disproportionately segregated. Schools suspend students of color with individualized education plans to the most disproportionate degree.

The Arc's current litigation in this area includes:

• Challenging D.C.'s Office of the State Superintendent for Education for failing to provide safe, reliable and effective transportation to and from schools for children with disabilities, thereby denying students equal access to their education and unnecessarily segregating them from their peers.
• Challenging Georgia's Network for Educational and Therapeutic Supports Program (GNETS) which provides students with disabilities a separate and unequal education by segregating students with behavioral disabilities, the majority of whom are students of color, from their non-disabled peers in separate schools and classrooms where they received an inferior education.
• Safeguarding the rights of students with disabilities in West Virginia's Kanawha County School District, which has failed to educate children with disabilities by segregating them into separate classrooms where they receive an inferior education; are placed on homebound status where they may only receive minimal educational supports; or suspending and expelling them for behaviors associated with their disabilities.

We are seeking a Fellow to work on development of new litigation in this area as well as, outreach, education, and advocacy in collaboration with The Arc's national chapter network and other focus groups to assess the barriers facing students with IDD in receiving a free appropriate public education and how The Arc can best assist families in dismantling these barriers that disenfranchise students with IDD around the country. The Fellow will also work on public education materials surrounding this project.

This is an exciting and unique opportunity for a Fellow committed to practicing civil rights law and interested in helping grow a national practice dedicated to advancing the rights of people with IDD around the country. As part of The Arc's national office, the Fellow will also have opportunities to collaborate with and learn from staff outside of the legal department in areas such as public policy, advocacy, and national programs and will build relationships with The Arc's chapter network that engages in state and local advocacy and provides direct services for people with IDD. The Fellow will also collaborate with law firms and other disability and civil rights non-profit organizations partnering with The Arc.

Responsibilities

• Conduct legal research and analysis and develop theories to support new litigation projects
• Draft legal memoranda, pleadings, affidavits, motions, and briefs
• Interview witnesses and potential clients
• Draft and edit public education and non-litigation advocacy materials
• Engage in public speaking and attend meetings and/or conferences as needed
• Commitment to the mission of The Arc
• Center principles of access, equity, inclusion, and belonging in all work, embedding the values in program development, policy application, and organizational practices and processes
• Commitment to work collaboratively and respectfully
• Engage in special projects and other duties as assigned

Experience & Qualifications

• J.D. or expected to receive a J.D. by the spring of 2025
• Demonstrated commitment to public interest law and the rights of people with disabilities
• Willingness to work closely with The Arc through the funding application process
• Excellent research, writing, and verbal communication skills 
• Demonstrated ability to conduct complex legal analysis and fact-finding 
• Ability to work independently as well as within a team 
• Self-motivated with the ability to take initiative, manage a variety of tasks and see projects through to completion
• Prior experience with disability rights advocacy (via work or personal experience) preferred but not required
• Sponsorship is limited to people who will qualify for post-graduation fellowship funding, from their law schools or some other fellowship funding organization, for a fellowship beginning in the Fall of 2025.

Compensation

Compensation is based on the fellowship award amount. The Arc and CRDJ do not supplement fellowship salaries.

Location

This position is based in Washington, DC. The Arc allows for a combination of in-person and remote work.

Application Process:

All documents should be submitted to https://thearc.isolvedhire.com/jobs/. Applicants should submit a resume, law school transcript, writing sample, and a cover letter briefly explaining your interest in this fellowship and the project described above. The applicant should not propose a different project in their cover letter. The cover letter should generally address the applicant's interest in social justice and disability rights work, and the knowledge, skills, and any relevant professional and lived experience they would bring to this position.

We will review applications on a rolling basis, but priority consideration will be given to those who submit applications by July 1, 2024. 

Who Are We?

The Arc

The Arc is the nation's leading advocacy organization for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) and their families. Throughout its history, The Arc has been a critical partner in establishing federal disability rights laws, such as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), Rehabilitation Act of 1973, the Affordable Care Act, and the Americans with Disabilities Act. It has also played a key role in expanding programs that ensure people with IDD can live fully inclusive lives in community, including Medicaid, Social Security, Supplemental Security Income, and others.

Today, The Arc also plays an important role in enforcing the rights of people with IDD under these laws and programs through its legal advocacy program. Our current litigation docket focuses on the rights of people with disabilities to receive equal access to education, voting, and employment in addition to amicus briefs on a wide range of topics before the U.S. Supreme Court and other appellate courts.

Examples of current litigation:  HAUL v. Abbott; AME v. Kemp; G.T. v. Board of Education of the County of Kanawha;  GAO v. Georgia; Robertson v. D.C.

Examples of recent amicus briefs:  Acheson Hotels, LLC v. Laufer; City of Grants Pass, Oregon v. Johnson; Bacote v. Federal Bureau of Prisons; Perez v. Sturgis Public Schools;  In re Britney Jean Spears;  Affordable Care Act Amicus Briefs;  Public Charge Amicus Briefs

Examples of other legal advocacy work: COVID-19 Crisis Standard of Care Advocacy;  Neli Latson Pardon

The Arc's legal advocacy work is regularly featured in national and local media. Read some recent coverage in USA Today, CNN, New York Times, Washington Post, and the New Yorker.

Learn more about The Arc at www.thearc.org.

The Arc is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate in our selection and employment practices. We value a diverse workforce and strive to be a fully inclusive and equitable workplace. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, political affiliation, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, marital status, disability, protected veteran status, genetic information, age, record of arrest or conviction, or other legally protected characteristics. Black people, Indigenous people, people of color; lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex people, people of marginalized genders; people with disabilities; and protected veterans are all strongly encouraged to apply.

When an applicant with a disability needs an accommodation to have an equal opportunity to compete for a job, they may request it orally or in writing.

For more information, or to apply now, you must go to the website below. Please DO NOT email your resume to us as we only accept applications through our website.

https://thearc.isolvedhire.com/jobs/1204266-238544.html