Legal Counsel, Director of Blackstone Professional Development

<p><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;">Make a difference with us! At Alliance Defending Freedom, we believe God has brought you here for His purpose—to stand for truth and defend the God-given right to live and speak it. Together, we protect religious freedom, free speech, the sanctity of life, marriage and family, and parental rights. Review our <a href="https://adflegal.org/about-us/careers/statement-of-faith/" target="_blank">Statement of Faith</a> to ensure we’re a fit for you.</span></p> <p><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; color: rgb(35, 111, 161); font-size: 12pt;"><strong><span style="color: rgb(0, 48, 87);">Locations:</span> </strong><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Lansdowne, VA / Dallas, TX</span></span></p> <p><strong><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; color: rgb(0, 48, 87); font-size: 12pt;">Team Overview</span></strong></p> <p><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;">The Blackstone Legal Fellowship is a rigorous formation for gifted Christian law students whose judgment and moral imagination are rooted in the rule of law, and who go on to shape law and culture—courtrooms, boardrooms, legislatures, and law schools are the visible examples, but the reach is wider: agencies and regulatory bodies, state and federal government, media and publishing, medicine and bioethics, technology, education, ministry, and the institutions that have not yet been built.</span></p> <p><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;">The Director of Blackstone Professional Development owns the quality of the counsel that shapes those decisions. The role does not place Fellows into positions. It equips them to discern, prepare for, and compete for opportunities of real consequence, and it builds the curriculum, advisor network, and institutional relationships that deliver that counsel to a full class each summer and to a growing body of alumni in practice.</span></p> <p><strong><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; color: rgb(0, 48, 87); font-size: 12pt;">Key Responsibilities</span></strong></p> <p><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;">Assessment and Investment</span></p> <ul> <li style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;">Form and defend judgments about individual Blackstone summer interns and Fellows’ capacity, trajectory, and professional fit, and calibrate those judgments over time against actual career outcomes.</span></li> <li style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;">Develop and maintain the assessment framework used across the professional development function, including the signals that predict success.</span></li> <li style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;">Deliver candid, specific assessments to Blackstone summer interns and Fellows regarding the capabilities standing between them and the positions they are pursuing.</span></li> </ul> <p><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;">Curriculum and Program Design</span></p> <ul> <li style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;">Set the intellectual direction of the professional development curriculum and own its design, sequencing, and annual revision across all phases of the Fellowship.</span></li> <li style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;">Determine what is taught, by whom, and what is removed, informed by doctrinal developments, hiring market conditions, and Fellow outcomes.</span></li> <li style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;">Establish and enforce quality standards for all workshops, seminars, guest lectures, and outside speakers.</span></li> <li style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;">Teach the portions of the curriculum where the Director's own judgment and experience are the substance.</span></li> <li style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;">Oversee the summer internship program, including placement, employer expectations, performance standards, and evaluation.</span></li> </ul> <p><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;">Clerkship and Career Advising</span></p> <ul> <li style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;">Own clerkship outcomes end-to-end, including application strategy, materials review, recommender cultivation, and interview preparation.</span></li> <li style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;">Build and maintain relationships with federal chambers and clerkship alumni sufficient to ensure Fellow applications receive serious consideration.</span>&lt