Where Will Your Legal Education Take You?

Graphic by Alondra Pulido

Founded in 1940 under the guidance of Thurgood Marshall, the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund (LDF) is the United States' first civil and human rights law firm. Counsel for the LDF helps the organization promote racial equality, due process of the law, and inclusivity through litigation and advocacy. The LDF is at the forefront of significant racial justice policies, and they have provided expert legal advocacy in the Supreme Court for decades.

There are a number of legal careers in the LDF, including opportunities in litigation, public policy advocacy, and public education programs. These opportunities tend to focus on policies related to criminal justice, economic justice, and political participation. LDF lawyers may head one of these programs—for example, as the director for the Legal Scholars Program, which is a scholarship program aimed at racial justice attorneys working in the South—or assist the LDF more broadly, as assistant counsel, policy counsel, or senior counsel. 

One responsibility of counsel for the NAACP LDF is investigating cases and claims involving police misconduct. Such cases may involve instances of racial discrimination, unconstitutional seizures, excessive use of force, and the mistreatment of protestors. Counsel for the LDF also helps the organization advance its goal of policing reform. To achieve this, the LDF has launched its Race and Policing Reform Campaign, which seeks to transform policing practices in order to eliminate racial bias and end police violence against citizens.

Photo by History in HD on Unsplash

Law students interested in pursuing a career with the NAACP may consider the Race and Justice Clinic at the University of Washington School of Law. Through representation and advocacy, clinicians work to disrupt the systemic, disproportionate representation of of youth of color in the adult and juvenile criminal justice systems.

• The Legal Defense Fund

  • Assistant Counsel/Senior Counsel

  • Careers

  • Legal Scholars Program

  • Policing Reform Campaign

  • Policy Counsel

  • Supreme Court Case

• History of the NAACP LDF

• NAACP Homepage

• NAACP LDF Contact Information

• Race and Justice Clinic [University of Washington School of Law]

• University of Washington School of Law Faculty:

  • Kimberly Ambrose - UW Director of the Tools for Social Change: Race and Justice Clinic

  • Lisa Kelly - UW Bobbe & Jonathan Bridge Professor of Children and Family Advocacy

    Served as local counsel for the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund for 10 years.

  • Eric Schnapper - University of Washington School of Law Professor

    Served as assistant counsel for the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund for 25 years.