Associate Attorney

Associate Attorney

Location: The position is preferred to be based in either Portland, Oregon, or the San Francisco Bay Area, California, in a hybrid home-office model, but fully remote is also considered for the right candidate.

Center for Food Safety (CFS) mission is to empower people, support farmers, and protect the Earth from the harmful impacts of industrial agriculture. We defend and promote your right to safe food and a clean environment through groundbreaking legal, scientific, and grassroots action.

For over 25 years, we have created a new food future, fostering a more powerful food movement against the harmful industrial agricultural system while promoting organic, ecological, and regenerative alternatives. We've won high-profile lawsuits to protect public health and endangered species from pesticides like Monsanto's Roundup and dicamba. We prevented the introduction of genetically engineered wheat, rice, potatoes, and more to the market and secured meaningful labeling to ensure that we all know what's in our food. We succeeded in instilling animal welfare requirements into the organic standards and protected the oceans from industrial aquaculture. And much more: Our groundbreaking legal cases that protect pollinators, farmworkers, and farming communities, and the earth from the devastating impacts of industrial farming, are a landmark body of case law on food and agricultural issues, transforming our food system.

About the Role

Center for Food Safety (CFS), one of the nation's top food and environmental nonprofits, seeks an Associate Attorney to join our team. The Associate Attorney position is a two-year position with the possibility of promotion and continuation with CFS. Designed for attorneys in the early stages of their environmental/advocacy career, the Associate Attorney works with the rest of the CFS legal and policy team and participates in all phases of public interest impact litigation and administrative advocacy on an ever-expanding variety of cutting-edge food and environmental issues, in support of CFS's overall mission and its specific program areas, including but not limited to:

• Consumer Advocacy
• Farmworker and Farmer Protection
• Food and Climate Change
• Food Labeling/Right to Know
• Genetically Engineered Organisms and Monocultures
• Industrial Animal Agriculture
• Industrial Aquaculture
• Pesticides & Other Toxins
• Pollinator & Wildlife Protection
• Public Health
• Regenerative Agriculture: Organic & Beyond

What You'll Do

• Work closely with other CFS attorneys, policy and communications staff, scientists, coalition partners, and clients to build cases and support policies
• Participate in a variety of tasks in litigation and administrative advocacy, including factual investigation, legal research and analysis, negotiation, discovery and record review, briefing, and oral advocacy
• Represent CFS and clients in state and federal rulemaking and agency engagement
• Maintain and develop organizational partnerships with new clients, allies, and coalition partners
• Promote and educate the public and media on various CFS issues
• Assist with hiring and supervision of law clerks

Desired Qualifications and Skills

• Law school graduate with 1-3 years of legal experience (clerkship, administrative/environmental/animal law, or related area preferred)
• Admission to the California or Oregon bar or a willingness to be licensed in either state within one year
• A passion for enforcing and strengthening environmental and food/ag laws
• Excellent legal research and writing skills
• Self-motivation and willingness to do administrative tasks
• Ability to work collaboratively with others in a small, team-oriented environment
• Interest or a background in food and agriculture issues is a plus, but not required

Compensation and Benefits

Hybrid - San Francisco: $85,000 - $98,000 USD/ year (salary)

Hybrid - Portland: $78,000 - $89,000 USD/ year (salary)

CFS offers a competitive compensation package, a flexible hybrid work environment, and a four-day workweek. In addition to salary, we offer a discretionary annual bonus and employer matching contributions to a retirement plan. Benefits include medical, vision, and dental insurance, disability insurance, a pre-tax medical savings plan, and generous vacation and leave policies. As a 501(c)(3) organization, CFS qualifies as an employer for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) Program.