Associate Director, Legal Strategies, Innovation

**Job Title**:Associate Director, Legal Strategies, Innovation and Research

**Department**:Global Legal Strategies

**Center Background**: The Center for Reproductive Rights (the Center) is a global human rights organization working to ensure that reproductive rights are protected in law as fundamental human rights around the world. With offices in New York City, New York; Nairobi, Kenya; Bogota, Colombia; Geneva, Switzerland; and Washington, D.C., the Center is a non-profit, non-partisan organization changing law and policy throughout Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, and the United States. Our 230+ diverse professionals are committed to advancing the Center's human rights mission through game-changing litigation, legal policy, and advocacy work. This has powered the Center's exceptional growth to an operating budget of over $40 million and won the respect of law firms in countries around the world, with an additional $29 million annually of donated legal services, representing the work of countless lawyers from more than 46 countries.

The Center's Strategic Plan sets a high mark for impact**:_By 2030, half of the world's population will be living under stronger protections for reproductive rights than they are today._** **The Center has a track record of success to back up this ambitious goal. Since our founding in 1992, the Center has transformed how reproductive rights are understood and applied by courts, governments, and human rights bodies worldwide on issues including maternal health, abortion, assisted reproduction, and adolescent sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR). We have won groundbreaking cases before national courts, U.N. Committees, and regional human rights bodies. Additionally, the Center has led the development of historic, proactive legislation advancing robust protections for reproductive rights and has built the legal capacity of women's rights advocates in more than 65 countries and counting.

**Equal Opportunity Employer**

**Commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion**

The Center's Strategic Plan commits the Center to a workplace that embraces diversity, promotes equity, and centers inclusion at all levels. We strive to embed a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) culture by introducing and strengthening interventions across policy, culture, people and metrics. We offer training and tools to foster an environment of respect and inclusion throughout our workplace and in the communities we serve.

To learn more about the Center's commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), please visit Diversity, Equity and Inclusion | Center for Reproductive Rights

**Associate Director, Legal Strategies, Innovation and Research**

The Associate Director in the Legal Strategies, Innovation and Research unit works with staff across the Center to ensure technical excellence and coherency in the Centre's strategic litigation, innovation in legal strategies and research. The Associate Director will collaborate closely with the Center's regional units on developing litigation strategies to build norms on sexual and reproductive health and rights and hold states accountable for sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) violations. The Associate Director will also help facilitate the development of institutional legal principles on key SRHR issues; pioneer new legal theories on SRHR protections under international and regional human rights laws; and contribute to thought leadership on new and emerging issues.

**Contingent on compliance with local labor laws, this position can be based in any of the Center's offices or be fully remote.**

**Fluency in Spanish or other languages is a plus.**

The role will be based in a Center office (NYC, Washington D.C., Bogota, Geneva, or Nairobi). Covid-19 vaccination is required for all US-based employees of the Center.

**Primary Responsibilities**

Working closely with the Senior Director of Global Legal Strategies, this person will:

- Provide technical support to regional teams in the development of legal strategies and new legal theories for defensive and proactive litigation.
- Scope potential new innovations in how the Center enhances legal accountability for reproductive rights violations, including the exploration of legal mechanisms beyond UN and regional human rights systems.
- Facilitate the development, dissemination, and integration/alignment with Center-wide positions on key and emerging legal issues through collaborative and participatory processes involving staff from across the globe.
- Stay up to date with reproductive rights litigation and human rights litigation with high impact in the field of reproductive rights, as well as relevant emerging reproductive rights issues; identify opportunities for the Center to contribute to the development of emerging legal norms.
- Identify opportunities to enhance internal knowledge and skills on litigation and facilitate opportunities for staff to share