Staff Attorney

Profile

The Nonhuman Rights Project (NhRP), a US-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit, is hiring a Southern California Staff Attorney.

The major responsibilities of the SoCal Staff Attorney will include research and preparation of lawsuits seeking common law rights for nonhuman animals. This will involve factual and legal research, drafting of legal memoranda, and preparation of litigation filings in conjunction with the work of other NhRP lawyers, as well as litigating cases in California courts, along with other work as required to further the NhRP's mission to achieve legal rights for nonhuman animals in the US and around the world.

Specific job requirements:

• You are deeply committed to attaining legal rights for nonhuman animals both in the United States and abroad.
• You want to make history.
• You have at least 3 years of relevant experience, preferably including trial, appellate, and/or clerkship experience.
• You have excellent writing skills. Published law review articles and/or books are a plus, but not necessary.
• You have excellent interpersonal skills.
• You work well both remotely and in-person on long-term complex legal projects.
• You are admitted to practice law in California.
• You are based in Southern California or are willing to relocate there.
• This position requires a deep long-term commitment to gaining personhood and legal rights for nonhuman animals and a willingness to learn how to accomplish it.

To apply:

Please send to email a cover letter and CV/resume, combined as a single PDF, to NhRP Executive Director Kevin Schneider.

The Nonhuman Rights Project is an equal-opportunity employer.

Company info

Nonhuman Rights Project

Company Profile

Founded in 1996 by attorney Steven M. Wise, the Nonhuman Rights Project (NhRP) works to secure legally recognized fundamental rights for nonhuman animals through litigation, advocacy, and education. Our mission is to change the legal status of at least some nonhuman animals from mere “things,” which lack the capacity to possess any legal right, to “persons,” who possess such fundamental rights as bodily integrity and bodily liberty and those other legal rights to which evolving standards of morality, scientific discovery, and human experience entitle them. Our current plaintiffs are members of species who have been scientifically proven to be autonomous: currently, great apes, elephants, dolphins, and whales. We are working with teams of attorneys on four continents to develop campaigns to achieve legal rights for nonhuman animals that are suited to the legal systems of these countries. We filed our first cases in December of 2013.