Oversight Counsel

Position Summary:

Are you a strategic and mission-driven attorney with experience in federal oversight litigation? If so, Democracy Forward Foundation (“Democracy Forward”) is hiring an Oversight Counsel to join our team. The Oversight Counsel plays a key role in advancing Democracy Forward’s mission by driving legal and oversight strategies to protect against executive branch attacks on democratic institutions, threats to civil rights and liberties, abuses of power, and efforts to erode government transparency. The Oversight Counsel will play a lead role in designing strategy for Democracy Forward’s open records requests and litigation, and will independently manage a caseload related to these requests and handle all aspects of federal open records litigation, including research, complaint and brief writing, discovery, negotiation, and oral argument.

This position is full-time. Democracy Forward’s office is located in Washington, DC. While this position offers flexibility to work remotely, it requires regular in-office presence eight (8) times per month (averaging 2 times per week) to effectively support the nature of the role. Remote candidates within the United States will also be considered. If a candidate is outside of the DC area, travel to DC is expected 1-2 times per quarter.

The Oversight Counsel will report to the Director of Oversight, with active litigation matters managed by the Senior Oversight Counsel and the Legal Directors, or their delegates.

Key Responsibilities:

Below are the key areas of responsibility for this role. The specifics of each responsibility may vary based on the needs of the organization and department.

• Litigate Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests in federal and state court and to a limited extent, other transparency-focused litigation, on behalf of Democracy Forward and other clients, with the highest standards of legal skills, and independently manage a caseload. This includes:
• Serve as lead counsel across an active, diverse caseload of federal open records litigation in courtrooms across the country, helping to propose cases, setting litigation strategy, and handling day-to-day case management.
• Research, draft, and edit court filings, including complaints, motions, and briefs at the trial and appellate levels, including, as needed, amicus briefs.
• Conduct discovery where appropriate, including written discovery and depositions, as well as participate in evidentiary hearings.
• Conduct oral arguments in federal and state courts at the trial or appellate level.
• Draft, as needed, other advocacy materials, e.g., demand letters, administrative complaints, and other tools for demanding accountability.
• Proactively, creatively, and independently propose and develop ideas or candidates for future public records cases, including novel or creative litigation and non-litigation strategies for accountability and transparency.
• Develop and draft (or consult on) FOIA requests designed to advance DF’s litigation strategy (independent of its FOIA litigation). Work closely with litigation case teams to accomplish this.
• Work with DF’s Oversight team to research and develop investigation strategies and opportunities consistent with relevant federal and state open records laws. Review investigative plans and public records request drafts and advise on FOIA and state open records laws as well as best practices for evidentiary development and reasonable request drafting.
• Negotiate with the federal executive branch and state or local open records officials in connection with a high volume of pending open records requests. Maintain active communication and follow up with FOIA or open records officers in government agencies as DF’s point of contact for assigned active open records requests, or manage such