Legal Job | Legal Aid Lawyer at Jindal Global Law School: Apply Now!

About the Job

The Office of the Vice Dean of Clinical Legal Education, Jindal Global Law School is accepting applications for two vacancies for the position of Legal Aid Lawyer.

Clinical Legal Education (CLE) at Jindal Global Law School (JGLS) was launched with the inception of the University in 2009. Since then, JGLS clinics have been the means of community-centric thoughts and actions with social justice as their primary and paramount goal. The clinics create opportunities for students to associate themselves with lawyers and social workers who have championed causes of social justice. At JGLS, we believe that community outreach is the responsibility of lawyers and consequently, the clinics are designed to enable students to imbibe the values required from socially responsible legal practitioners.

These clinics work on social justice issues of vital importance. These issues include transgender rights, reproductive rights, rights of prisoners, and survivors of child sexual abuse. The following clinics undertake this work: the Child Rights Clinic, Criminal Justice Clinic- A Legal Aid Initiative, Environment Law Clinic, and the Law and Marginalisation Clinic. The legal aid lawyer will be required to assist these clinics.

The details of two of our clinics have been given below so as to provide an understanding of the nature of work:

The Criminal Justice Clinic

The Criminal Justice Clinic is dedicated to addressing systemic barriers in criminal justice that directly impact the right to life and personal liberty. The clinic, with the assistance of dedicated student paralegals, and in collaboration with civil society groups – India Vision Foundation and Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, has undertaken research on criminal justice issues, trained prisoner paralegals and prison staff, developed advocacy materials, made submissions to a parliamentary committee, and
worked towards improving access to legal assistance in Dasna District Jail in Ghaziabad.

The Law and Marginalisation Clinic

The Law and Marginalisation Clinic at the Centre for Justice, Law, and Society is an advocacy-community outreach and legal aid initiative that brings together activists, movements, scholars, and community members. The goals of our clinic are decided by our collaborators and friends in the Trans Justice and SRHR movement. The Clinic’s legal aid initiative was established in 2013 in response to a growing demand for legal aid and capacity-building by transgender and gender-diverse persons.

Since then, we have assisted with targeted legal interventions (including court interventions, legal advice, legal assistance, drafting representations, and legal counseling) on key issues, including legal name and gender change on identity documents, equal opportunities in education and employment, police harassment, negligence in gender affirmative surgery and fair housing. In the last three years, we have intervened in 74 cases out of which four are in legal proceedings before the Delhi High Court and Supreme Court of India. For our legal aid work, we also receive assistance from student paralegals.

Eligibility

• A minimum PQE of two years in litigation is mandatory.
• Interested candidates must hold an undergraduate degree in Law. We encourage applications from lawyers who have litigation experience in Haryana court.

Responsibilities

• Working on legal aid cases including client meetings, drafting, filing, and coordinating with lawyers and court staff, among others;
• Supervising the legal aid work undertaken by the Clinics including management and supervision of all cases for legal consultation and drafting and research for live cases before judicial forums;
• Facilitating client meetings and drafting legal notices, letters, and other such material for legal aid work at the Clinics;
• Assisting Clinics with legal policy intervention and advocacy work undertaken by them;
• Assisting Clinics with legal training, counselling, and awareness work undertaken by them;
• Supervising paralegals, interns, and students working with the Clinics on legal aid initiatives.
• Any other work required by the Office of Vice Dean for Clinical Legal Education.

Salary

These are full-time roles and the lawyer will be required to work from Sonipat, Haryana. The role pays Rs. 50,000-60,000/- per month depending on experience.

Application Procedure

Please send your updated CV with a brief cover letter to [email protected] and a copy to [email protected], [email protected], and [email protected].
Please use “Application for Position of Legal Aid Lawyer” as the subject of the email. Shortlisted candidates will be invited to participate in a brief interview prior to the final decision on applications.

Applications for the positions will be accepted until 10th February 2024 and the role commences on 1st March 2024. Shortlisted candidates will be invited to participate an interview and will be notified by 16th February 2024. Please note, only shortlisted candidates will be informed.

JGLS is an equal opportunities employer and we encourage applicants from marginalized backgrounds including Dalit Bahujan and Adivasi persons, persons with disabilities, women, trans and non-binary persons as well as persons belonging to other minority groups.