Manager - Litigation Program

• Job Type: Officer of Administration
• Bargaining Unit:
• Regular/Temporary: Regular
• End Date if Temporary:
• Hours Per Week: 35.0
• Standard Work Schedule:
• Building:
• Salary Range: 90,000 - 105,000

Position Summary

The Knight First Amendment Institute defends the freedoms of speech and the press in the digital age through strategic litigation, research, and public education. Our aim is to promote a system of free expression that is open and inclusive, that broadens and elevates public discourse, and that fosters creativity, accountability, and effective self-government.

Since its establishment in 2016, the Institute has filed precedent-setting litigation, undertaken major interdisciplinary research initiatives, and become an influential voice in debates about the freedoms of speech and the press in the digital age. Its active litigation docket includes cutting-edge cases relating to transparency, surveillance, and social media. Through its research program, the Institute has hosted leading thinkers as visiting scholars and presented public programs and published series of influential essays focusing on issues including artificial intelligence and public discourse, data and democracy, the future of press freedom, the First Amendment and inequality, and the implications of economic concentration in the technology sector for the freedoms of speech and the press.

Reporting to the litigation director, the litigation program manager works closely with the litigation director to establish processes for the efficient management of the litigation program, leads and supervises the Institute’s paralegal team, and provides litigation and administrative support to the Institute’s groundbreaking free-speech litigation. 

Responsibilities

1. Working closely with the litigation director to develop, implement, and oversee processes for the efficient management of the litigation program, including:

a. Workflows for litigation and litigation-related tasks, such as document preparation, processing and publication of Reading Room records, and time tracking

b. Toolsets to assist litigators with their work, such as databases, guides, and templates

c. Guides for onboarding staff attorneys, legal fellows, and paralegals

d. Litigation support software and technologies

2. Maintaining the Institute’s internal docket

3. Helping to maintain the litigation director’s calendar

4. Supervising and supporting the Institute’s paralegal team in carrying out a range of paralegal responsibilities, including:

a. Providing administrative support to the Institute’s litigation program and staff

b. Maintaining case files, correspondence files, and internal litigation tracking systems, including the Institute’s FOIA-request tracking sheets, case summaries, and calendar of litigation deadlines and court dates

c. Helping to maintain the Institute’s litigation program webpage, case webpages, and online FOIA reading rooms

d. Cite-checking legal and related filings per the Bluebook legal citation style guide

e. Proofreading, producing, filing, and arranging for service of legal documents

f. Researching court rules and procedures

g. Conducting factual research in support of litigation and FOIA requests

h. Logging, reviewing, and helping to coordinate the review by legal interns of documents produced in response to FOIA requests

i. Handling travel arrangements for the litigation director

j. Producing reports of attorneys’ hours using the Institute’s time-tracking software

k. Tracking expenses and case costs, preparing expense reports, and maintaining database of all litigation expenses, including travel and case costs

l. Providing administrative support for the review of applications for legal fellows and summer legal interns.

5. Perform related duties & responsibilities as requested.

Minimum Qualifications

1. BA or BS degree or equivalent
2. Four years of relevant experience, including at least two years as a paralegal
3. Outstanding organizational, interpersonal, and time-management skills
4. Strong supervisory skills and the ability to mentor and guide the work of the Institute’s paralegal team
5. Ability to take initiative and work independently as well as collaboratively within a team, while maintaining collegiality, efficiency, and professionalism
6. Excellent research skills

This position is hybrid; you will be required to work in-office two days a week (subject to change with the Institute’s in-office requirements.)

Equal Opportunity Employer / Disability / Veteran

Columbia University is committed to the hiring of qualified local residents.