Director of Legal for The States Project
Location: Remote, with up to 5-10% of expected travel for in-person team meetings and events.
Deadline to Apply: June 23, 2026
Who We Are
We believe it is self-evident that all people are created equal, with the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness -- and that government secures these rights with the consent of the governed. We call this the American Promise.
To achieve the American Promise requires effective government, fair markets, personal freedom, and representative democracy -- and it starts, as the Declaration of Independence itself did, with the states.
Future Now (FN) is an effort to achieve the American Promise in states with high impact interventions. The Future Now family includes initiatives such as The States Project and The States Forum.
This role will support The States Project (TSP), which focuses on improving Americans' lives by winning state legislative power and working with lawmakers to achieve goals for the common good.
Position Details
This is a full-time, exempt at-will position that will work within Future Now and focus on legal compliance for The States Project. The team currently operates remotely, with occasional in-person team retreats, etc. Some travel will be required. Additional evening and weekend hours are occasionally required to fulfill the duties of this position.
The Opportunity
The Director of Legal manages day-to-day legal operations and serves as an in-house counsel for The States Project within a fast-paced team at Future Now.
Working collaboratively with Legal team members and leaders across The States Project, the Director of Legal helps ensure TSP's programs and internal operations are legally compliant, including consideration of nonprofit tax, campaign finance, ethics, lobbying, and other laws relevant to TSP's work.
What You Will Do
Principal activities will include but not be limited to:
Manage codification and creation of legal guidance and trainings for The States Project
- In collaboration with General Counsel, other Legal Team members, and TSP leaders, responsible for generating and maintaining user-friendly, actionable materials codifying legal rules to provide non-legal staff with guidelines and answers to commonly asked questions in areas including campaign finance, nonprofit tax, ethics and gift laws, and lobbying.
- Develop, design, and deliver trainings for TSP on legal topics related to TSP's electoral and governance work.
- Develop and manage process to expand guidance materials on an ongoing basis to cover new legal questions that arise as work expands, and ensure guidance reaches those executing the work.
Day-to-day management and resolution of legal questions for The States Project
- Using existing legal guidance from Counsel and outside counsel, answer legal questions for TSP.
- In collaboration with TSP team and Counsel, evaluate campaign finance questions related to outgoing electoral spending and programs.
- In collaboration with TSP team and Counsel, evaluate programmatic materials for compliance with gift, ethics and related laws.
- Provide legal input to programmatic materials and proposals such as campaign spending plans and governance materials to ensure such materials align with policies and legal positions.
- Raise new, novel legal and/or compliance questions to General Counsel and collaborate to resolve using outside counsel as needed.
- Review TSP contracts, as appropriate.
- Manage other legal matters related to The States Project, as appropriate.
Manage internal policies and procedures to ensure legal compliance at The States Project
- In collaboration with the General Counsel and team members responsible for internal policies, contribute legal input and perspective to ensure internal policies and practices at TSP comply with all relevant laws.
- Analyze risks for prioritization of mitigation strategies at TSP.
- Analyze needs to improve legal compliance and offer policy and process solutions and improvements at TSP.
- Use surveys, meetings or other tools to ensure legal work is meeting TSP's needs to achieve its mission and vision.
Legal Team participation
- Stay up-to-speed on best practices for in-house legal operations and make recommendations for improvement.
- Participate in ensuring that legal team's activities and processes are implemented in an equitable, inclusive, and values-aligned ways.
- Stay up to date on strategic priorities and evolving internal and external trends, to appropriately incorporate into principal activities.
- Stay up to speed on and implement team participation and collaboration best practices, attend internal and external trainings and contribute to internal conversations about team systems, processes, and norms as appropriate.
Qualifications
- Juris Doctorate Degree.
- At least 3-5 years of experience with campaign finance and state gift and ethics laws.
- Current bar admission(s) in good standing.
- Self-starter with a drive to make things happen.
- Highly collaborative approach.
- Capable of independently managing time and tasks associated with a fast-paced organization.
- Demonstrated ability to make legal guidance understandable to non-lawyers.
- Innovative thinker, with a track record for translating strategic thinking into action plans and output.
- Proven ability to listen deeply to what people are saying (while understanding what they aren't) to identify and resolve challenges.
- Proven track record of project management and research excellence and high standards for success.
- Demonstrated good judgment and creative problem solving skills.
Benefits
The position offers a competitive benefits package. Benefits currently offered include 75% paid coverage of medical, dental, and vision for individuals and dependents, basic life insurance, an employee assistance program, unlimited PTO, 401(k) matching, annual professional development, wellness, and work-from-home stipends and paid family leave.
Recruitment and Hiring Process
All applicants will submit a resume and cover letter. Selected applicants will be moved forward to a phone screen. The next steps will include interviews with leadership.