The AFL-CIO is a voluntary federation of 57 national and international labor unions. The AFL-CIO union movement represents 12 million members, including three million members in Working America, its community affiliate. The mission of the AFL-CIO is to improve the lives of working families, and to bring economic justice to the workplace and social justice to our nation. The AFL-CIO Union Lawyers Alliance (ULA), which was founded to support legal representation for unions affiliated with the AFL-CIO, consists of over 2,000 lawyers from union legal departments and law firms across the country. The AFL-CIO and the ULA sponsor the following programs to help law students and recent law graduates interested in working in the labor movement:
The ULA Hiring Hall
The ULA Hiring Hall is a monthly list of labor law positions posted by our members. Click here to view the current hiring hall.
The ULA Resume Bank
The ULA sponsors a Resume Bank. If a ULA attorney or ULA-affiliated labor law professor sponsors you, the ULA will post your resume in the ULA Resume Bank, which is posted on the ULA members-only website, where ULA members look for job candidates. For more information, contact ula@aflcio.org.
The ULA Diversity, Outreach, Opportunities, and Recruitment (DOOR) Program
The ULA’s Diversity Program encourages law students of color to apply for summer clerkship opportunities at ULA law firms and legal departments. The outreach program seeks to introduce minority law students to the practice of law in the labor movement and to encourage them to join the ranks of union-side attorneys in the ongoing battle for social and economic justice. For more information click here, or contact Alex Roe, AFL-CIO Associate General Counsel and ULA Managing Counsel, aroe@aflcio.org.
AFL-CIO Fellowship Program
The Legal Department of the AFL-CIO annually sponsors a one-year, full-time legal fellowship open to graduating 3Ls, clerks and recent law school graduates. The fellowship offers an excellent opportunity for recent law school graduates to work with experienced union-side lawyers on a variety of issues. The fellow assists experienced lawyers working on cases and regulatory matters that affect the labor movement and the rights of workers. Click here for more information.