The NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF) is the country’s first and foremost civil and human rights law organization. Founded in 1940 under the leadership of Thurgood Marshall, who subsequently became the first Black U.S. Supreme Court Justice, LDF was launched at a time when the nation’s aspirations for equality and due process of law were stifled by widespread, state-sponsored racial inequality. From that era to the present, LDF’s mission has been transformative—to achieve racial justice, equality, and an inclusive society.
LDF’s litigation, policy advocacy, and public education programs in the substantive areas of criminal justice, economic justice, education, and political participation seek to ensure the fundamental and basic human rights of all people to quality education, economic opportunity, the right to vote and fully participate in democracy, and the right to a fair and just judicial system.
Strategic Initiatives Department. In 2022, LDF created the Strategic Initiatives Department (SID), which houses specific projects and initiatives that utilize LDF’s multi-faceted advocacy tools to seek justice and equality for Black people in the United States. SID teams combine litigation, policy, organizing, research, and communications to advance affirmative and community-centered advocacy on discrete or emergent issues that demand a creative and integrated approach to achieve systemic change.
Pro Truth Initiative. The Pro Truth Initiative is a high-priority, inter-departmental initiative at LDF that seeks to carry on the legacy of Brown v. Board to ensure that individuals may freely express and receive accurate, truthful, and inclusive information about Black people and structural inequalities, throughout our nation’s history to the present day, in public spaces that include: our K-12 and higher education systems; our museums, landmarks, and cultural institutions; and private speech on matters of public concern.
LDF seeks an experienced attorney, manager, and visionary to serve as Project Director of the Pro Truth Initiative (Pro Truth Project Director). In addition to performing as a senior attorney in SID, the Pro Truth Project Director will partner with the Director of Strategic Initiatives and the Deputy Director of Strategic Initiatives to develop Pro Truth’s vision and priorities and serve a leadership role in the overall management of SID. The Pro Truth Project Director is expected to maintain and strengthen expertise in subject areas relevant to Pro Truth and engage publicly as a leader in the field, keeping the Director-Counsel, the Associates Director-Counsel, the Director of Strategic Initiatives, and other relevant members of LDF’s Senior Leadership Team apprised of relevant developments. The Pro Truth Project Director will report directly to the Director of Strategic Initiatives and serve as the first line of communication on the matters they oversee. The Pro Truth Project Director will act as the direct supervisor for a certain number of attorney and/or non-attorney staff, the exact number to be determined at the discretion of the Director of Strategic Initiatives. The Pro Truth Project Director may also have additional supervisory activities within SID, at the discretion of the Director of Strategic Initiatives. Other matters may be assigned to the Pro Truth Project Director pursuant to departmental and/or organizational needs.
LDF operates in a hybrid work environment, where employees are expected to be in the office for a minimum of two days per week, unless otherwise indicated.
Candidates must submit a cover letter, resume, and a writing sample of approximately 5 to 10 pages for consideration. Writing samples may include reasonable redactions or excerpts from longer works.
The total salary range for this position for candidates with 10-15 years post-law school graduation, exclusive of compensation for additional administrative responsibilities where applicable, is the following, and will be commensurate with experience:
New York: $184,000 - $212,000
Washington D.C.: $177,000 - $204,000
Atlanta: $162,500 - $186,500
This is not an exhaustive list of all responsibilities, duties, skills, efforts, requirements, or working conditions associated with the job. While this is intended to be an accurate reflection of the current job, management reserves the right to revise the job or to require that other or different tasks be performed as assigned. This description does not constitute a contract of employment, and LDF may exercise its employment-at-will rights at any time.
LDF offers all eligible employees a generous benefits package. To learn more, click the following link: 2026 Benefits Overview.
The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer. We are committed to providing equal employment opportunities to you without regard to race, creed, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, pregnancy, marital status, age, veteran status, medical condition or disability, genetic information, gender identity, or any other protected status under federal, state, or local law.
LDF is the nation’s first and foremost civil and human rights law organization. Since its founding under the leadership of Thurgood Marshall in 1940, LDF has been committed to transforming this nation’s promise of racial equity and justice into reality for all Americans. Through litigation, advocacy, and public education, LDF seeks structural changes to expand democracy, eliminate disparities, and achieve racial justice in a society that fulfills the promise of equality for all Americans.
Working in the areas of criminal justice, economic justice, education, and political participation, we seek to diminish the role of race in the criminal justice system; increase fairness and participation in all aspects of economic life; increase equity in education; and achieve full civic engagement and participation in the democratic process for all Americans.
We use litigation, advocacy, educational outreach, monitoring of federal and state government activity, coalition building, and policy research to achieve our goals. Additionally, through our scholarship, fellowship, and internship programs, we help students attend and graduate from many of the nation’s best institutions of higher education.
"The NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund is simply the best civil rights law firm in American history." - President Obama
