Teach For America

Intern, Legal Affairs

Position Summary

The General Counsel provides legal and strategic advice to the twenty-five Teach For America regions nationwide and the national functional teams – Program, Regional Operations, Finance, Marketing and Communications, Growth Strategy and Development and Human Assets – on a wide range of substantive areas including employment law, administrative law, nonprofit law, trademark and copyright protection, general compliance, and education laws. The work of the General Counsel includes researching complex questions of law; creating materials to ensure the legal compliance of Teach For America operations with various federal and state requirements; preparing draft regulations and legal memoranda; drafting and negotiating contracts with school districts, charter schools and other partner entities; reviewing vendor contracts; and providing legal guidance to and representing Teach For America in a variety of legal matters.

The Legal Affairs Intern will work directly with the General Counsel and Associate General Counsel on a number of mission-critical projects. The internship will be an amazing opportunity to participate in and observe the inner workings of a national non-profit that is experiencing unprecedented growth in our drive to bring our organization and our movement to scale.
Teach For America seeks individuals of all ethnic and racial backgrounds to apply for the position. The Legal Affairs Intern should be available 5-10 hours per week during the academic year (October-May). Availability during periods of law school holidays will be handled on a case-by-case basis.

Teach For America seeks individuals of all ethnic and racial backgrounds to apply for the position.

Responsibilities

Responsibilities will include, but are not limited to:

• Conducting legal research across a wide variety of substantive areas including employment and benefits law, education law and non-profit corporation and tax law
• Producing high-quality written communication for different constituencies within the organization, including training materials and presentations related to various areas of legal compliance
• Coordinating the involvement of pro bono counsel in various ongoing matters

Candidate Profile and Experience Prerequisites

Education and Experience:

• Bachelor’s degree required
• At least 1 year of law school

Knowledge, Skills, Abilities:

• Strong research skills
• Strong written and interpersonal communication skills
• Ability to work effectively in a fast-paced, deadline-driven environment, and to work independently and remotely without direct supervision
• Knowledge of MS Outlook, PowerPoint, and Excel are preferred
• Access to Lexis/Nexis, Westlaw or comparable legal research databases and materials is preferred

Benefits and Salary

This position will receive a stipend.

Anti-Discrimination Policy and Commitment to Diversity

Teach For America seeks individuals of all ethnic and racial backgrounds to apply for this position. We are committed to maximizing the diversity of our organization, as we want to engage all those who can contribute to this effort.

Additional Requirments / Information

Job Capacity:	Employee (full-time)
Minimum Education Level:	See Job Description
Visa Sponsorship:	No
Related Industries:	Public Relations

Become part of a force for change.

Teach For America is the national corps that calls upon outstanding and diverse recent college graduates to commit two years to teach in urban and rural public schools and become lifelong leaders in ensuring that all our nation’s children have an equal chance in life. Since 1989, 7000 corps members in 16 geographic areas have positively impacted students and communities while gaining the insight, network, skills and credibility to effect change after their two-year commitment.

THE CHALLENGE
Children growing up in urban areas and remote rural regions often face tremendous socio-economic challenges. Public schools are generally not set up to compensate for these challenges. The result is that children growing up in low-income communities are seven times less likely to graduate from college than children in high-income areas.

With fewer educational prospects come fewer life prospects.

IMMEDIATE IMPACT
Teach For America selects a committed, outstanding corps of diverse college graduates who will set ambitious goals for their students and work proactively and relentlessly to meet these goals. Corps members are trained to develop the leadership skills they have demonstrated and to apply them in the classroom, resulting in better educational and life prospects for the students they teach.

The 2001 corps has an average GPA of 3.5 and 35% of the corps are people of color. 86% of corps members held at least one leadership position as undergraduates.

Corps members receive intensive training in the approaches used by successful teachers in under-resourced communities and are supported at the regional and national levels throughout their commitment

96% of principals surveyed rated corps members as "advantageous" to their schools, with the majority rating them "strongly advantageous" (Kane, Parsons, and Associates, 1999).

LONG TERM CHANGE
Teach For America alumni form a network of successful, informed leaders who have insight into the changes needed to improve life prospects in under-resourced areas, and who work towards these changes through all sectors of society.

Approximately 60 % of alumni remain in the field of education, as teachers, school and district administrators, or founders of innovative new schools and programs.

Another 40% of alumni work in fields such as medicine, business, politics, journalism, and law, using their status as leaders and the insight and credibility they gained in the corps to effect change.

All alumni come out of their Teach For America experience positioned for success. Graduate schools and employers value the concrete, transferable skills gained by corps members.

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