The Internet Freedom Foundation (IFF) is one of India’s non-profit organisations growing with energy and excitement towards its work on issues of online privacy, free expression and censorship, network neutrality and innovation. The expanse of this work is wide, and in a sector which is seeing rapid policy developments which requires full time staff and administration of existing initiatives. To do this IFF has started hiring a team of staffers to build a culture of public advocacy on digital rights that is effective and has impact.
The bedrock for a lot of these efforts will be a “Litigation and RTI Counsel”. The timeline for the hire is by July, 2019.
The litigation and RTI Counsel will attend to all litigation, RTI and court related matters with regard to digital rights, that is engaged by the Internet Freedom Foundation. This will include any and all drafting, filing and monitoring of cases deemed pertinent.
Role and Responsibilities
1. Administrative duties
- Docket systems:
- Maintain the IFF filing docket with a spreadsheet tracker
- Mark and maintain a shared calendar on all such court hearings to ensure timely work execution.
- Record maintenance: Create and maintain all files of matters IFF is a litigant or interested in matching the court record
- Coordination with teams and personnel: Coordinate with teams of external counsel and clerks to ensure filing and timely updates
- Finance coordination:
- Create and input into budgets
- Estimate costs and maintain it within budgetary outlays
- Coordinate on finance related tasks for clearing all expenses and invoices
- Prepare knowledge reports: Prepare a quarterly report of litigation trends in relation to digital rights in India which may then be used for the preparation of an annual litigation report
2. Court and RTI centered drafting, coordination and execution
- Broader strategy development:
- In a systemised manner monitor pending cases and RTIs in which IFF may have a role to play by monitoring press reports and talking to IFF staff
- Develop strategy and expected positive outcomes through collaboration and seeking the views of external stakeholders and IFF’s network of external counsel
- Work closely with colleagues to ensure that preparatory materials and sufficient policy engagement has been attempted prior to approaching court
- Set targets and timelines for yearly outcomes from each IFF court centered engagement
- Case specific work:
- Independent related research and drafting of Appeals and Writ Petitions.
- Briefing and counsel coordination
- Supervising filing of cases by clerks and assistance and attending hearings
- Assist and coordinate with a pool of advocates who handle IFF’s litigation and streamline communication to the Executive Director
- Travel may be necessary for out of station litigation
3. Communications and Community
- Social Media: Workflow for Social media channels; regular updates (in daily coordination with the team and any other IFF programme staff, volunteers) and community focused engagement on all litigation matters.
- Volunteer engagement: Interacting with our volunteers and community members (regular updates, and talking to volunteers on the Slack is a part of the work culture at IFF).
- Press and public relations: Talk to the press when necessary, prepare explainers and summaries to make complex legal issues easy, even fun to engage
- Opinion and commentary: Write publicly on these issues through blog-posts & op-eds.
How to apply
The ideal candidate is a law graduate with a strong understanding of public law and a shared belief and passion in building organisations. You must believe in our shared mission to ensure technology serves human freedom and our constitutional values. Prior work experience in litigation is not a requirement but a bonus.
This is a full-time position where a Litigation and RTI Counsel will be retained by IFF and will report to the Executive Director. We are looking to hire as soon as possible and joining dates will be latest by July, 2019. Kindly send applications, with a resume and explaining your interest in this position to jobs@internetfreedom.in.
Click here for the official website.
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