Cool Job Opening! Policy Director, Harvard Animal Law & Policy Program

David Cassuto

From the email:

Policy Director – Job Description

Harvard Animal Law & Policy Program

Overview

The Harvard Law School Animal Law & Policy Program is inviting applications for a Policy Director to develop and oversee a broad range of federal, state, and local policy projects to improve the treatment of animals by the legal system. The Animal Law & Policy Program engages with academics, students, practitioners, and decision makers to foster discourse, facilitate scholarship, develop strategic solutions, and build innovative bridges between theory and practice in the rapidly evolving area of animal law and policy.

The Policy Director will be a legally trained practitioner with at least 7 years of demonstrated experience in, and commitment to, the development of animal law and policy. The Policy Director will collaborate with faculty, staff, fellows, and students to build-out existing projects into longer-term initiatives, launch new policy initiatives, and help advance policy-relevant research within the Animal Law & Policy Program. The new position will include the development of interdisciplinary initiatives with other Harvard departments and schools on the intersectional aspects of animal welfare, human health, food safety, workers’ rights, human rights, climate change, and the environment.

Duties & Responsibilities

The Policy Director’s duties will include, but are not limited to:

• Developing new policy initiatives that promote Harvard Law School’s influence in ongoing policy debates concerning animal law, with a focus on industrial agriculture, the use of exotic animals in public displays, circuses, and as pets, wildlife trafficking and poaching, and the abuse of breeding dogs in puppy mills.
• Forging coalitions with other public interest causes to explore creative solutions to intersectional policy problems that have eluded the traditional legal remedies commonly deployed by animal, environmental, public heath, and civil rights organizations.
• Supervising Animal Law & Policy Program Fellows with the formulation, research, writing, and application of policy-relevant research.
• Supervising student research and writing projects concerning animal law & policy;
• Developing lectures and workshops for national conferences and events that highlight the Program’s work to promote a deeper understanding of how animal welfare problems affect other public interest fields, and foster collaboration across traditional public interest disciplines. • Other duties, as assigned by the Faculty Director or Executive Director, concerning the day- to-day work of the Animal Law & Policy Program.
• Helping develop strategies for the ongoing development and success of the innovative work of the Animal Law & Policy Program.

Basic Qualifications

J.D. plus 7 or more years of significant animal law and policy experience, including experience training, teaching, or mentoring junior lawyers and law students.

Additional Qualifications

Successful candidates should have significant experience with a variety of strategies and methodologies for the advancement of animal law and policy, including fact-finding investigations and advocacy efforts, legislative drafting, litigation in state and national fora, media advocacy, policy initiatives, coalition building, and corporate and governmental negotiation. Candidates should possess the following skills and attributes: strong writing, research, and communication skills; creative problem-solving skills and demonstrated ability to work innovatively within broad program goals; strong organizational, time management, and project management skills; demonstrated leadership experience; ability to work independently, as well as in teams, and in demanding and periodically high stress circumstances; and relevant academic or professional experience.

Additional Information

This is a full-time term appointment with a flexible start date. The term of the position will be through June 2018. The appointment is renewable for subsequent one-year periods, subject to continued funding and departmental need.