Senior Advisor, Affiliate Legal Programs

ABOUT THE JOB

The ACLU seeks applicants for the full-time position of Senior Advisor, Affiliate Legal Programs in the Affiliate Support and Nationwide Initiatives Department of the ACLU’s National office in New York, NY, Washington, DC, San Francisco, CA, or Durham, NC. This is a hybrid role that has in-office requirements of two (2) days per week or eight (8) days per month. consideration. This position may be approved for remote work.

The Affiliate Support and Nationwide Initiatives Department (ASNI) builds state capacity and strengthens and maintains the connections between the ACLU and its network of 54 state affiliates and the 1,500 staff who work out of the state offices. Their work constitutes an unparalleled bulwark defending and advancing our civil liberties and civil rights. The Department helps the ACLU thrive as a nationwide organization by strengthening its affiliates, connecting National and affiliates, and building the capacity, relationships, and opportunities that enable the federation to do its best work. 

The Program and Strategy Team within the Department works with ACLU affiliates in two interrelated ways.  The team builds and cultivates excellence, best practices, and alignment in communications, legal, digital, legislative, advocacy, and organizing programs in ACLU affiliates.  The team also works with affiliate and national staff to drive and coordinate regional, multi-state, and nationwide efforts to advance civil rights and liberties issues.  The team collaborates with other ASNI teams, ACLU national office partners, and ACLU affiliate program staff to advance high-impact collaborative efforts with affiliates, grow durable capacity and power in affiliates, and support strong and resilient organizations that center equity, diversity, inclusion, and belonging.  

This position is part of a collective bargaining unit. It is represented by ACLU Staff United (ASU).

WHAT YOU'LL DO 

Reporting to the Senior Director of Program and Strategy, the Senior Advisor, Affiliate Legal Programs serves as a senior resource and strategic advisor to affiliate Legal Directors and their teams, helping affiliates build and sustain strong, effective legal programs appropriate to their unique circumstances and contexts. Drawing on deep expertise in nonprofit civil liberties and civil rights legal program practice and management, the Senior Advisor proactively identifies opportunities to strengthen affiliate legal programs and works with affiliate leaders to develop and implement improvements in legal strategy, docket development and management, cooperating attorney relationships, program infrastructure and systems, staffing and leadership, and alignment with affiliate priorities.   

A central part of the role is helping affiliates drive legal work as part of an integrated advocacy strategy. The Senior Advisor works alongside affiliate legal, advocacy, communications, organizing, legislative, and other colleagues to help determine how the range of tools can be deployed most effectively to achieve shared goals. This includes helping affiliates assess when litigation is the right tool, when it should be combined with other tools or other approaches, and how different capacities and strategies can reinforce one another to maximize impact.  

While there is no one single model for a strong affiliate legal program, the Senior Advisor also works across the affiliate network to identify emerging needs, share and scale effective practices, strengthen connections among legal leaders, and develop resources and approaches that advance effectiveness across the nationwide organization. The role will also partner with National colleagues to strengthen affiliate legal programs and advance integrated advocacy.

YOUR DAY TO DAY

AFFILIATE LEGAL PROGRAM STRATEGY, CAPACITY, AND LEADERSHIP 

• Serve as a senior resource and strategic advisor to affiliate Executive Directors, Legal Directors, and other leaders building and sustaining high-quality, effective legal programs tailored to their differing circumstances; help leaders assess the strengths and limitations of their current programs and proactively identify opportunities for improvement; work with affiliate leaders to develop and implement strategies to strengthen legal program quality, effectiveness, and impact. 
• Support affiliate Executive Directors in hiring and onboarding Legal Directors, and advise Legal Directors on building and managing strong legal programs, including developing strategically focused, organizationally-aligned, and appropriately resourced legal dockets, case selection and prioritization, litigation management, staffing and supervision, program planning, intake and referral systems, and effective management of cooperating attorney relationships, and other external legal resources. 
• Work with Legal Directors and legal staff to understand legal program strengths, needs, and opportunities; help affiliates set ambitious, right-sized goals; and support implementation and progress toward those goals. 

NETWORK-WIDE PROGRAM DEVELOPMENT, TOOLS, & BEST PRACTICES, AND LEARNING 

• Drawing experience across the affiliate network, identify, develop, and scale effective practices for building and running powerful and impactful affiliate legal programs; translate learnings into practical frameworks, tools, and models, and proactively support their adoption and adaptation by affiliates within their own circumstances and capacity. 
• Help affiliate leaders develop, implement, and manage integrated advocacy approaches that align legal, organizing, legislative, communications, and other capacities to advance shared goals. 
• Promote and support the application of Department resources, such as the Program and Strategy Playbook, Envisioning a Stronger Future: A Guide to Building ACLU Legal Programs, and related frameworks to advance meaningful improvements in affiliate legal programs, adapting approaches to differing circumstances and capacity.  
• Develop practical tools for assessing affiliate legal program capacity, effectiveness, and progress; establish approaches to regular reflection, debriefing, and learning that help Legal Directors and affiliates understand what is working, where change is needed, and what can be learned across the network. 
• Identify and synthesize trends, innovations, challenges, and lessons across affiliate legal programs and translate that learning into practical guidance, tools, and advice for Legal Directors, ASNI, and relevant National colleagues. 
• Identify and leverage technologies, tools, and operational efficiencies that strengthen affiliate legal programs and increase their effectiveness. 
• Create and sustain learning communities or other cohorts for affiliate legal staff, including ongoing cohorts, in-person convenings, workshops, and other opportunities focused on skills and topics critical to the leadership, management, growth, and impact of affiliate legal programs. 

NATIONAL OFFICE-AFFILIATE STRATEGY & ORGANIZATIONAL ALIGNMENT  

• Represent the Department in National and affiliate program and legal planning processes, ensuring alignment with broader organizational strategy, integrated advocacy approaches, and nationwide priorities. 
• Bring the perspectives, experience, and needs of affiliate legal programs into National strategic and programmatic discussions, helping national leaders understand the implications of national strategies and initiatives for affiliates with differing capacities and contexts. 
• Lead or facilitate, as appropriate, collaboration between National and affiliate legal programs around shared priorities, including multi-state legal strategies and projects, while respecting affiliate autonomy and ensuring purposeful and effective coordination. 
• Strengthen connections between affiliate legal programs and relevant National departments, proactively surfacing opportunities, barriers, and points of tension and helping colleagues identify solutions that advance both affiliate and federation-wide goals. 

ASNI COLLABORATION, ADVISING, AND ORGANIZATIONAL INTEGRATION 

• Advise ASNI colleagues on grants and other investments in affiliate legal programs, bringing substantive expertise about legal program capacity, quality, sustainability, and impact to inform investment and programmatic decisions. 
• Seek advice and counsel, as appropriate, of Department leadership on matters related to high-functioning leadership teams; Escalate matters to Department leadership where there is significant organizational risk. 
• Work closely with ASNI colleagues responsible for affiliate strategic planning and leadership development to integrate legal priorities and capacity into broader organizational strategies and structures, and strengthen legal leadership pipelines, competencies and succession planning. 
• Support a culture of transparency and trust by proactively sharing relevant information with ASNI leadership, where appropriate, to contribute to effective and holistic assessments, evaluations, and interventions. 
• Manage or work with vendors and consultants, as appropriate; contribute to special projects, events, and organizational priorities. 
• Frequent travel is a core component of this role.
• Perform other role-related duties to support the department's objectives. 

FUTURE ACLU'ERS WILL 

• Be committed to advancing the mission of the ACLU
• Center and embed the principles of equity, inclusion and belonging in their work by demonstrating commitment to diversity with an approach that respects and values multiple perspectives
• Be committed to work collaboratively and respectfully toward resolving obstacles and conflicts

WHAT YOU'LL BRING

• Significant experience leading or advancing a civil rights/civil liberties legal program at a national and/or state organization  
• Experience recruiting, training, managing, and motivating diverse and high-performing legal teams in a non-profit setting 
• Demonstrated experience and familiarity with building legal strategies or programs that integrate advocacy and communications