Collaboration for Justice Fellowship Announcement
The Chicago Council of Lawyers was created in 1969 – fifty years ago – to give a voice to lawyers demanding fairness and effectiveness in the justice system. When the Council was founded, there was a lack of basic trust in our government and corporate sectors across the country; fundamentally unfair policies and practices were prevailing. The Council led the efforts to improve the federal bench, create stronger government ethics codes, improve the operating policies and procedures of the Chicago Department of Law, and reinvented judicial evaluations – which ultimately led to powerful but unqualified judges being voted off the bench.
The Collaboration for Justice (CFJ) between Chicago Council of Lawyers and Chicago Appleseed began in 1997. Chicago Appleseed was created to work with the Council on their systemic reform agenda. The Appleseed Network, a national organization of social justice centers throughout the United States, was created to conduct systemic reform efforts within our federal, state, and local justice systems.
For the past 20 years, the two organizations – one a 501c3 research and advocacy organization and the other a public interest bar association – have worked side-by-side to bring fairness and effectiveness to the courts and to issues relating to our system of justice.
CFJ Fellowship Opportunities
Chicago Appleseed and Chicago Council of Lawyers, together with the Appleseed Network, are seeking applications for two part-time Collaboration for Justice Fellowships, beginning in January 2020 through the end of the academic semester/quarter (May or June 2020). These Fellows will work closely with our local and national Access to Justice, Criminal Justice Reform, and Immigration Court Reform work groups.
- The Access to Justice program works on initiatives designed to identify ineffective, inefficient, and unfair court management policies and procedures, recommends improvements, and advocates for their implementation. The program is committed to strengthening fairness, integrity, effectiveness, and professionalism in the courts. Its mission supports the use of practical, evidence-based information to build and maintain an effective and independent justice system that enjoys the confidence of the public and lives up to the expectations of transparency and accountability.
- The Criminal Justice program embarks on research initiatives to develop and implement evidence-based advocacy strategies, legislative proposals, technical assistance, and project management to improve all areas of our criminal justice system. With a focus on decarceration and racial equity, we work in partnership with stakeholders, practitioners, and community groups to develop effective, systemic solutions, manageable implementation plans, and the community-based support necessary to bring about meaningful permanent change.
- Immigration Court Reform initiatives focus on the functioning of immigration courts. Our efforts focus on evaluating the fairness and effectiveness of the immigration courts’ practices and procedures, with particular interest around the independence and quality of immigration judges, immigration bond hearings, and due process concerns related to the use of videoteleconferencing to conduct court hearings.
These Collaboration for Justice Fellowships act as the bridge between Chicago Appleseed, the Chicago Council of Lawyers, and the National Appleseed Network. The Fellows will be primarily dedicated to working on projects that are both local and national in scope – incorporating the Appleseed Network, which is comprised of seventeen Appleseed Network centers across North America, including Chicago Appleseed.
Qualifications:
Graduate or professional students in the areas of Law (JD, LLM), Social Work (MA or MSW), or a related social science field (sociology, anthropology, economics, political science, etc.) or predoctoral students in similar fields with research focuses related to Chicago Appleseed’s program areas.
Commitment:
Fellows will work approximately 16-hours per week for about 15 weeks, or until the end of the academic session, totaling around 250-hours. Fellows will be compensated for their work $17.00/hour.
Duties:
Fellows will work with paid staff and a large network of volunteers to conduct project work. Collaboration for Justice Fellows will assist in the program work by doing a variety of tasks, including:
- Identifying injustices in the justice system and developing project ideas aimed at remedying those inequities
- Gathering qualitative and quantitative data and preparing memoranda based on that data
- Facilitating program committee meetings and work closely with pro bono and volunteer professionals to advance the status of the project, and then developing advocacy strategies (legislation, Supreme Court or local court rules and orders, media, and more) that bring about a fairer and more effective administration of justice
How to Apply:
- Prospective Fellows should send their resume or curriculum vitae (CV), a cover letter, and an academic or professional writing sample no longer than 2,000 words to
malcolmrich@chicagoappleseed.org.Applications should be sent by Monday, November 1, 2019.