This is a full-time exempt position, with a requirement of 5 days/week in-person at either the CLC office in Redwood City or on the Stanford campus, with the possibility of hybrid work during the summer months.
The Mills Legal Clinic at Stanford Law School invites applicants for a clinical supervising attorney (CSA) and lecturer-in-law position with its Community Law (CLC). The CSA will join the thriving clinical community at Stanford Law School where, together with other clinical faculty and staff, they will supervise students in representing clients and working with community partners at one of the country’s leading institutions for legal scholarship and education. The mission of the CLC specifically is to represent low-income clients in civil legal aid matters in core areas including housing, social security disability, and other public benefits. Consistent with the other clinics within the MLC, the CLC is led by a Clinical Professor as Director, and a senior CSA as Associate Director. The CSA will report directly to the Clinic Director.
The Mills Legal Clinic
CLC is one of ten clinics comprising the Mills Legal Clinic at Stanford Law School. The Stanford clinical program is unique in that students participate in their clinic on a full-time basis; the clinic is the only course a student takes during the term of enrollment. Students work in person in the clinic space each business day, and focus exclusively and intensively on their clients, cases, and projects. This model allows for an immersive, highly intentional, and reflective work and the ability for deep supervision and mentoring of students. The Mills Legal Clinic is also committed to ensuring community and belonging in all of its office and practice management, advocacy, and teaching and learning efforts. The Mills Legal Clinic (other than CLC, see below) occupies an entire floor in an award-winning, central-campus building opened in summer 2011.
Community Law Clinic
CLC is unique among the ten MLC clinics in that it is located in an off-campus, community-facing office in downtown Redwood City. The purpose of the off-site location is two-fold. First, the CLC location advances the clinic’s client-centered mission because it is proximate to other agencies and institutions with which the clinic’s client population interacts and is thus accessible and familiar to clients and partners. Second, the off-campus location provides CLC students with the opportunity to become immersed in and familiar with life and neighborhoods adjacent to the Stanford campus, giving economic and social context to the legal disputes in which they represent their clients.
CLC upholds SLS’ decades-long commitment to community-based civil legal aid practice. As the heir to the legacy of the East Palo Alto Community Law Project, CLC continues to prioritize service to the low-income and low-wage people who live and work in neighborhoods impacted by Stanford’s presence in the region. Specific areas of practice over the decades have included housing, social security disability and other public benefits, wage and hour and Unemployment Insurance enforcement, and criminal record expungement. Domains of practice are specifically selected to lie at the intersection between articulated community need and suitability for law student learning. Fundamentally a trial advocacy clinic, CLC students develop the skills to become effective, thoughtful, critical, adaptive, strategic, and creative lawyers. Students work on client matters in pairs and manage multiple matters simultaneously. In the tradition of non-directive clinical legal education, students are placed in the “first-chair” role on their cases, and, under intensive daily supervision, undertake all of the attorney work: interviewing and meeting with clients, investigating facts and interviewing witnesses and other players, designing and executing strategy, and conducting negotiations, motion practice, and oral advocacy in relevant courts and agency tribunals. CLC teachers and staff support the students’ work with up-front extensive training, intensive case supervision, and weekly seminars and case rounds sessions.
The Clinic also promotes students’ examination of key questions of the role of law and lawyers in civil society. CLC students are expected to reflect on key critiques of legal services institutions and the access to justice crisis in the United States. Students also reflect on their own development and identity as advocates and their role as leaders in communities impacted by wealth and income inequality and other structures of social organization.
The Clinical Supervising Attorney Position
Core Duties
Independently supervise certified law students in direct services civil legal matters consistent with the MLC’s pedagogical practice of non-directive supervision;
Collaborate with CLC Director and Associate Director in designing and implementing all aspects of the CLC, including developing the clinic docket and co-creating the syllabus and curriculum;
Facilitate training sessions, seminars and case rounds discussions as assigned;
Foster a sense of deep and supportive community within the Clinic; and
Participate in MLC-wide activities, teaching, and committees consistent with CSAs in the other MLC clinics.
The CSAs are part of the vibrant intellectual community within the Law School and Stanford University at large. The IRC also provides resources for its attorneys to participate in conferences, continuing education, and other professional development activities.
Candidate Qualifications
Minimum qualifications:
J.D. and at least 3 years of civil litigation experience;
Experience mentoring or supervising law students and/or junior colleagues;
Excellent oral, written, and analytical skills, including attention to detail in written product;
Demonstrated ability to oversee and direct staff;
Strong academic qualifications;
Demonstrated teamwork skills; and
Admission to practice in California or eligibility and willingness to sit for the next California Bar exam.
Preferred qualifications:
Demonstrated commitment to rigorous, strategic, and reflective legal practice;
Significant experience in direct legal services to low-income clients;
Substantive legal knowledge in at least one domain of the CLC practice (e.g., housing, social security disability, public benefits, employment rights);
Demonstrated commitment to asset-based and client-centered lawyering and partnerships;
An understanding of and engagement with access to justice debates and innovations;
Intentional cultivation of teamwork, collaboration, and interpersonal skills, including the ability to provide constructive feedback;
Strong organizational / management skills;
Ability to work in a self-directed and entrepreneurial environment; and
Second language abilities.
The Application Process
Applicants should submit resumes and other materials through https://careersearch.stanford.edu/. Applications will be considered on a rolling basis until the position is filled. Applicants are encouraged to submit their materials by August 17, 2026. The CSA will ideally begin work with CLC no later than November 1, 2026.
Applicants should submit the following materials:
- Cover letter no longer than two pages describing the applicant’s interest in clinical teaching and the relevant experience they bring to the position;
Current CV or resume;