Gerstein Harrow LLP is looking to hire an associate, ideally to begin as soon as possible and to work at least most of the time in Washington, DC. We are open to a range of experience levels but prefer someone with either a federal-district-court clerkship or plaintiffs’-side civil-litigation experience. (For this purpose, civil government enforcement counts as plaintiffs’ side.) We offer excellent benefits and will negotiate competitive compensation–including salary and performance-based pay–with the successful candidate.

We are a boutique litigation firm that divides its time between civil-rights matters (with a particular focus on first amendment cases involving public defenders and legal challenges to Trump administration policies on behalf of government and non-profit clients) and a series of novel approaches to aggregate litigation vindicating the rights of consumers against business misconduct.  

We are seeking associates with a consistent commitment to excellence and who want to practice in an environment that is quite unlike biglaw. We have a bias for action, not interminable study or delay for its own sake. We seek out novel, difficult issues, and therefore recognize that we might lose sometimes, and we actually tell our clients that. We take only cases that we think are worth our time, and we turn down cases where we don’t like the client, don’t like the issue, or will be too bored to do an excellent job.

Ideal associates, from our perspective, have outstanding legal research and writing skills and a demonstrated ability to quickly and efficiently reason through complex legal issues. Outstanding performance in law school is one way to suggest to us that you have the research and writing skills we need. And a successful interview with us and good references are two ways to demonstrate that you have the reasoning skills we need. 

To apply, please email your resume, law school transcript, and a writing sample to jason@gerstein-harrow.com. (Please spare us the cover letter.) We will schedule initial interviews as soon as we can, and likely one round of follow-up interviews thereafter.