Senior Staff Attorney

Food & Water Watch is a leading national public interest organization that runs dynamic, cutting edge organizing campaigns to protect our essential resources—food, water and climate. Our mission is to stand up to corporations that put profits before people, and advocate for a democracy that improves people’s lives and protects our environment. In 2011, Food & Water Watch was the first national organization to call for a ban on fracking.

We have won significant victories in the courts and in communities, including advancing the law around FERC’s review of fossil fuel projects’ indirect climate impacts, requiring EPA to include pollution monitoring in Clean Water Act permits for factory farms, banning fracking in states and communities across the country, and fighting water privatization in dozens of communities. Our legal work is focused on climate and energy issues, factory farming, and water privatization, all in pursuit of our organizational theory of change. Our work has been featured in the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Baltimore Sun and numerous other major media outlets.

Position Summary

We are seeking a Senior Staff Attorney to focus on legal advocacy related to climate and energy issues. The Senior Staff Attorney will be responsible for:

1. Developing and implementing litigation strategies to reduce fossil fuel use and pollution, strengthen regulation, and promote a rapid and just transition to renewable energy.
2. Engaging in federal and state regulatory proceedings related to climate and energy issues.
3. Reviewing and drafting federal and state energy policies; and
4. Working closely with other FWW staff, including on our organizing, communications, and development teams, to promote and implement our climate and energy priorities. 
5. Manage FWW’s climate and energy Staff Attorney and climate and energy docket.

Office Location: Washington, DC preferred; will consider remote candidates.

Compensation: Competitive salary, depending upon experience.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

• Research, develop, and implement various legal strategies, including a combination of leading and supporting all stages and aspects of litigation, to reduce fossil fuel use and pollution, strengthen federal and state oversight of relevant industries, oppose false climate solutions like carbon capture and sequestration, and delay and stop new fossil fuel infrastructure across the country.
• Effectively coordinate with co-counsel and outside counsel and act as FWW plaintiff contact in coalition litigation.
• Engage in both state and federal regulatory proceedings, including rulemaking, through drafting legal comments to pressure decision makers, strategically build administrative records, and preserve arguments for litigation.
• Provide guidance and support for FWW’s climate and energy Staff Attorney.
• Provide legal support for our in-house organizing staff advancing climate and energy campaigns across the country, as well as our key partners on climate and energy issues, by engaging in campaign strategy meetings, providing targeted legal research and analysis, and advancing specific legal tactics. 
• Work in coalition with a wide range of partner organizations on climate and energy litigation, legal comments, and policy advocacy, and represent FWW in relevant coalition spaces.
• Support FWW’s policy advocacy, including by analyzing and drafting local, state, and federal legislation and participating in meetings with policymakers, to deter fossil fuel reliance and promote a rapid and just transition to 100 percent renewable energy.
• Act as a public spokesperson for FWW’s climate and energy work, including in media and at public forums, seminars and public hearings.
• Help develop and review educational and development materials such as factsheets, action alerts, website content, newsletter articles, and grant proposals and reports related to our climate and energy work.
• Other duties as assigned.

Qualifications

• Education: JD from an accredited law school with bar admission in good standing.
• Experience: At least seven years of relevant litigation experience, ideally related to climate and energy work. Relevant management experience.
• Knowledge: Legal advocacy, case development, and litigation; strong understanding of environmental issues and relevant environmental law, particularly around climate and energy; working with the media.
• Skills: Excellent written and oral communication skills, including legal writing and oral advocacy; strong interpersonal and planning; excellent organizational and docket management skills.
• Capabilities: Ability to work independently and in teams to develop and implement a wide range of creative legal strategies; ability to think creatively and quickly to respond to rapidly changing events and circumstances; ability to work well with a wide variety of people and to coordinate diverse tasks; comfortable presenting aggressive viewpoints to a mix of audiences; ability to present technical concepts to a mass audience; can-do attitude and commitment to public interest work; work well under pressure, handle multiple tasks at once; high level of independent judgment.             
• Conditions: Strong interest in and commitment to advancing Food & Water Watch’s mission and campaigns.     
• Applicant must be legally eligible to work in the United States.                          

To Apply

Please click "Apply" below to email your resume, cover letter and three professional references to be considered.

We will review your application and if we feel that your knowledge, skills and abilities are potentially a good match for our organization, we will be in contact with you. Please include a Cover Letter with your submission. Position open until filled. Incomplete applications will not be considered. Food & Water Watch (FWW) strives for a diverse work environment and encourages women, people of color, LGBTQ individuals, and individuals with disabilities to apply.

NOTE: Food & Water Watch (FWW) is committed to the health and safety of its staff members. Moreover, FWW, as an organization, promotes science-based policy. Science clearly shows that unvaccinated populations drive the spread of the coronavirus and the emergence of new variants, and that unvaccinated people are more likely to contract COVID and experience severe symptoms. Effective immediately, prospective new staff members are required to provide proof of vaccination or request a waiver as a condition of their offer of employment.