FarmSTAND seeks Legal Intern
By Kelsey Eberly @ 2024-09-09T14:47 (+1)
About FarmSTAND
How our society produces, distributes, and consumes food impacts everyone. Right now, that system consistently produces harm to maximize profit. A handful of corporations have consolidated control over all aspects of the food system, including shaping laws that let them exploit animals and the environment, as well as consumers and workers – often concentrating the worst harms on the most vulnerable communities.
Our food system should nourish people and protect animals and the environment – not just exist to further enrich wealthy corporations.
FarmSTAND is the only legal project in the country dedicated solely to taking on industrial animal agriculture. We’re focused on dismantling the structures that enable the consolidation of corporate power and extractive practices in our food system and we support a vision of animal agriculture that is regenerative, humane, and owned by independent farmers. We believe we cannot make change alone, and that we must align ourselves with allies across movement sectors. In these partnerships, we combine litigation with base building and storytelling to create meaningful change.
From protecting our land, water, and animals, to standing up for the rights of workers and food producers, dismantling industrial animal agriculture moves us all closer to the world we want to see.
About the position
Reports to: Staff Attorney
Start Date: Summer 2025 (other times considered)
Location: Remote
Salary: $25/hour or academic credit if you prefer
FarmSTAND is seeking a full time, paid, legal intern for Summer 2025—full and part time interns for other parts of the year will also be considered, including possibly paid positions and positions connected with academic credit. The precise dates and hours of any internship will be determined between FarmSTAND and the accepted candidate. The intern will work with FarmSTAND’s legal team on developing and implementing the organization’s litigation designed to further FarmSTAND’s mission. Except for amicus briefs, nearly all of our litigation begins in state and federal trial courts, although we regularly pursue matters through appeal, including to the U.S. Supreme Court. Our docket currently consists of claims on behalf of farmers and farm workers, environmental suits, false advertising claims, and constitutional challenges to laws seeking to strip workers and advocates of their rights. We seek to build our cases to enhance the power of allies, using litigation as a tool to further their campaigns, and to promote an alternative narrative for how the food system can operate. You can read more about our work on farmstand.org.
Key responsibilities can include
- Conduct legal research and fact development related to case investigations and active litigation, including for complaints and briefs;
- Draft work product for cases and intakes;
- Assist in developing outreach materials, including blog posts and presentations; and
- Participate in organization-wide strategy sessions.
Desired skills
- Preference for people who will have completed their 2L year at the start of the internship;
- Superb analytical, legal research, legal writing, and speaking skills;
- Ability to juggle multiple tasks at a time;
- Self-motivation and proven ability to work independently;
- Ability to work well with others and diverse groups; and
- Excellent attention to detail and commitment to follow-through.
To Apply: Send your resume, cover letter, and a writing sample to jobs@farmSTAND.org. Please put “Legal Intern Application” in the subject line of your email. Writing samples are ideally persuasive pieces and should note the extent to which they have been edited by others. Applications will be considered starting September 30, 2024, and then on a rolling basis.
FarmSTAND is an equal opportunity employer and values a diverse and progressive workplace. Studies have shown that women and people of color may be less likely to apply for jobs unless they meet every one of the qualifications listed. We are most interested in finding the best fit, not completing a checklist. We encourage women, people of color, LGBTQ applicants, and people with disabilities, to apply.