NEIGHBORHOOD DEFENDER SERVICE OF HARLEM

Fall 2025 Project-Based Fellowship Sponsorship

Immigration Defense Team

OVERVIEW

The Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem (NDS) is a community-based, client-centered, holistic public defense office located in Harlem, providing the highest quality representation in criminal, civil, immigration, and family courts to residents of Northern Manhattan and the Bronx who cannot afford to hire a lawyer. The Immigration Defense Team plays an integral role in NDS’s fulfillment of its holistic mission by working to address the array of immigration consequences triggered by contact with the criminal legal and family policing systems.

NDS seeks to sponsor a law graduate interested in applying for project-based fellowships including Equal Justice Works and Skadden to begin in the Fall of 2025. NDS specifically seeks applicants interested in providing immigration legal services. Applicants must be a law school graduate at the time the fellowship commences and should have a strong, demonstrated interest in immigration advocacy and the holistic defense of noncitizens caught up in the criminal legal system and families facing child removal.

HOW TO APPLY

Interested applicants should submit a cover letter and resume in a single PDF through NDS’s website at neighborhooddefender.org/careers. Applications without a cover letter will not be considered.
Cover letters should briefly detail how the applicant anticipates carrying out the described project.

Applications will be considered on a rolling basis. Candidates are encouraged to apply as soon as possible.

Don’t meet every single requirement? Studies have shown that women and people of color are less likely to apply to jobs unless they meet every single qualification. At NDS we are dedicated to building a diverse, inclusive, and authentic workplace, so if you’re excited about this role but your experience doesn’t align perfectly with every qualification in the job description, we encourage you to apply anyways. You may be just the right candidate for this or other roles.

The Neighborhood Defender Service is committed to creating a diverse environment that reflects the community we serve. NDS is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants are encouraged to apply and will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, disability, age, or veteran status. NDS encourages people with incarcerated loved ones, formerly incarcerated people, people of color, women, queer, transgender, gender non-conforming, and gender fluid people to apply.