University Overview

The University of Pennsylvania, the largest private employer in Philadelphia, is a world-renowned leader in education, research, and innovation. This historic, Ivy League school consistently ranks among the top 10 universities in the annual U.S. News & World Report survey. Penn has 12 highly-regarded schools that provide opportunities for undergraduate, graduate and continuing education, all influenced by Penn’s distinctive interdisciplinary approach to scholarship and learning. As an employer Penn has been ranked nationally on many occasions with the most recent award from Forbes who named Penn one of America’s Best Employers By State in 2021.

Penn offers a unique working environment within the city of Philadelphia. The University is situated on a beautiful urban campus, with easy access to a range of educational, cultural, and recreational activities. With its historical significance and landmarks, lively cultural offerings, and wide variety of atmospheres, Philadelphia is the perfect place to call home for work and play.

The University offers a competitive benefits package that includes excellent healthcare and tuition benefits for employees and their families, generous retirement benefits, a wide variety of professional development opportunities, supportive work and family benefits, a wealth of health and wellness programs and resources, and much more.

COVID-19 vaccination is a requirement for all positions at the University of Pennsylvania. New hires are expected to be fully vaccinated before beginning work at the University. For more information about Penn’s vaccine requirements and the use of Penn Open Pass, visit the Penn COVID-19 Response website for the latest information.

Posted Job Title

Communications and Legal Projects Coordinator, Gittis Legal Clinics (Hybrid Eligible)

Job Profile Title

Coordinator, Program

Job Description Summary

The Communications and Legal Projects Coordinator is responsible for developing and coordinating clinic communications; planning and coordinating internal and external clinic activities and events; assisting faculty with pedagogical exercises, research, legal practice projects; and providing general clinic support to ensure the smooth functioning of the high quality educational and legal services provided by the Gittis Legal Clinics.

Job Description

The University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School is one of the nation’s oldest and most distinguished law schools. Penn Carey Law offers a distinctive cross-disciplinary legal education, drawing on the depth and breadth of the University of Pennsylvania. The resulting intellectual opportunities and professional relationships bridge traditional boundaries and disciplines, making Penn Carey Law an extraordinarily supportive academic community for its scholars and students alike.

Penn Carey Law staff play a critical role in providing a world-class educational environment, supporting faculty, students, alumni, and fellow staff members in a collaborative and ambitious environment.

The Gittis Legal Clinics are Penn Carey Law’s dynamic teaching law firm, comprised of eight in-house clinics and a robust externship program that offer students unique opportunities to develop essential lawyering skills and professional values from experiential learning in diverse practice areas. The Gittis Legal Clinics have a special mission to meet the educational needs of students while serving the legal needs of clients and underserved communities.

The Communications and Legal Projects Coordinator is responsible for developing and coordinating clinic communications, planning and coordinating internal and external clinic activities and events, assisting faculty with pedagogical exercises, research, legal practice projects, and providing general clinic support to ensure the smooth functioning of the high quality educational and legal services provided by the Gittis Legal Clinics. The Communications and Legal Projects Coordinator will serve as a collaborative member of the GLC staff team and report directly to the GLC Executive Director. This permanent full-time position is hybrid eligible, consistent with Penn Human Resources policy.

Responsibilities include:
Communications

• Monitor activities of the Gittis Legal Clinics to identify potential content to include in internal and external communications. This may include regularly conducting interviews of clinic faculty, staff, and students to gather information and vitalize content with first-hand perspectives as well as liaising with the Law School’s Communications department.
• Design and coordinate messaging for internal and external audiences using the Penn Law website, Kitcast, social media, and other platforms.
• Maintain clinic website content, using the Law School’s CMS, including the content on each clinic’s webpage.
• Assist in developing a social media strategy to highlight activities of the Gittis Legal Clinics, prepare dynamic and compelling content across platforms, and coordinate social media activities.
• Participate in the creation and editing of multimedia content, including off-screen interviewing, and narrative arcs/scripts for videos and podcasts.
• Collaborate with faculty and staff to create and produce training materials for students, informational materials for community outreach, and other types of presentations using PowerPoint, Publisher, Canva, and other software.
• Develop and maintain systems for tracking GLC alumni and donors and coordinate varied communications to engage them.
• Provide communication support via email, mail, and phone to a variety of inquiries.

Project Coordination

• Plan, schedule, coordinate, promote, and implement clinic activities, academic workshops, and community outreach events. This will include: creating event publicity; ordering food; purchasing supplies; collaborating with other Penn Law departments and community partners; editing presentation materials and other documents; and responding to other requests.
• Assist faculty with varied pedagogical, research, and legal practice projects: preparing clerkship recommendation letters and other correspondence; converting documents from MS Word to Adobe Acrobat or vice versa; editing manuscripts; and scheduling meetings and maintaining electronic calendars.
• Coordinate application management systems for prospective clients.
• Create and coordinate client satisfaction surveys and other evaluation tools for each clinic.
• Handle other special projects as needed.

Digital Course Materials and Supports

• Collaborate with the Curriculum Affairs and Biddle Law Library staff to ensure support for faculty in identifying and compiling digital course materials.
• Support faculty (full-time and adjunct) in posting materials to their online course portals (currently in Canvas) and migrating course materials across semesters as needed.
• Assist faculty in using Canvas functions and other courseware tools for smooth course management.
• Provide support for legal practice simulations, classroom exercises, guest speakers, and other course-related activities.
• Organize and prepare digital course materials and collaborate with internal partners and external vendors to ensure accessibility of materials for all students.

General Clinic Support

• Represent the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School and the Gittis Legal Clinics to visitors, callers, and external partners.
• Contribute daily to a professional, welcoming, collaborative, comfortable, inclusive, and creative problem-solving environment. Triage issues presented and direct to appropriate colleagues as needed.
• Manage the GLC conference rooms and meeting space and reserve space outside the GLC for various events and needs.

Other Duties as Assigned

Candidate Qualifications:
A Bachelor’s Degree and 3-5 years of experience in developing social media and web content, training materials, and other written or electronic materials for an educational or other mission-driven organization. Experience in project management, including planning, organizing, coordinating, and executing educational, community, and/or corporate events. Demonstrated experience in working within a collaborative and team structure.

Also required: excellent verbal and written communication skills; excellent critical thinking skills and a proven ability to problem solve creatively and diligently; a proven ability to distill complex ideas and concepts into accessible terms and messaging; excellent organizational skills and attention to detail; experience creating and managing data management tools; and strong facility in both Microsoft Suite (Word, Excel, Power Point, Publisher) and Canva or a similar graphic design program. Experience with course management software (Canvas or others) as well as content management systems (CMS) a plus.

Proficiency in spoken and written Spanish is desirable.

Commitment to the Penn Law Ideals is required.

In addition, these attributes are highly valued:
• An appreciation for the mission of the Gittis Legal Clinics, the clients we serve, and the students we educate;
• A background and/or experiences that will contribute to the diversity, vitality, and cultural perspective of our clinical education program, staff, and clients;
• Experience with using interpreters, translators, and other language access resources;
• The ability to learn quickly and think creatively;
• A willingness to learn and embrace new technology;
• The ability to work in a fast-paced environment, multi-task and prioritize, and manage tasks under pressure;
• A commitment to learning new systems and improving upon existing systems;
• The ability to work well both independently and collaboratively with colleagues throughout the law school and with outside partners; and
• Demonstrated reliability, responsibility, initiative, and enthusiasm for contributing to high quality services and work products.

Special Requirements: Applicants submit a cover letter and resume to apply. A background check will be required after a conditional job offer is made. Consideration of the background check will be tailored to the requirements of the job.

Job Location - City, State

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Hybrid Eligible - This position is eligible for a hybrid work schedule with a work week divided between working onsite and working remotely.

Department / School

Law School

Pay Range

$24.13 - $36.36

Affirmative Action Statement
Penn adheres to a policy that prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, creed, national or ethnic origin, citizenship status, age, disability, veteran status, or any other legally protected class.

Special Requirements
Background check required after a conditional job offer is made. Consideration of the background check will be tailored to the requirements of the job.

University Benefits

• Health, Life, and Flexible Spending Accounts: Penn offers comprehensive medical, prescription, behavioral health, dental, vision, and life insurance benefits to protect you and your family’s health and welfare. You can also use flexible spending accounts to pay for eligible health care and dependent care expenses with pre-tax dollars.

• Tuition: Take advantage of Penn's exceptional tuition benefits. You, your spouse, and your dependent children can get tuition assistance here at Penn. Your dependent children are also eligible for tuition assistance at other institutions.

• Retirement: Penn offers generous retirement plans to help you save for your future. Penn’s Basic, Matching, and Supplemental retirement plans allow you to save for retirement on a pre-tax or Roth basis. Choose from a wide variety of investment options through TIAA and Vanguard.

• Time Away from Work: Penn provides you with a substantial amount of time away from work during the course of the year. This allows you to relax, take vacations, attend to personal affairs, recover from illness or injury, spend time with family—whatever your personal needs may be.

• Long-Term Care Insurance: In partnership with Genworth Financial, Penn offers faculty and staff (and your eligible family members) long-term care insurance to help you cover some of the costs of long-term care services received at home, in the community or in a nursing facility. If you apply when you’re newly hired, you won’t have to provide proof of good health or be subject to underwriting requirements. Eligible family members must always provide proof of good health and are subject to underwriting.

• Wellness and Work-life Resources: Penn is committed to supporting our faculty and staff as they balance the competing demands of work and personal life. That’s why we offer a wide variety of programs and resources to help you care for your health, your family, and your work-life balance.

• Professional and Personal Development: Penn provides an array of resources to help you advance yourself personally and professionally.

• University Resources: As a member of the Penn community, you have access to a wide range of University resources as well as cultural and recreational activities. Take advantage of the University’s libraries and athletic facilities, or visit our arboretum and art galleries. There’s always something going on at Penn, whether it’s a new exhibit at the Penn Museum, the latest music or theater presentation at the Annenberg Center, or the Penn Relays at Franklin Field to name just a few examples. As a member of the Penn community, you’re right in the middle of the excitement—and you and your family can enjoy many of these activities for free.

• Discounts and Special Services: From arts and entertainment to transportation and mortgages, you'll find great deals for University faculty and staff. Not only do Penn arts and cultural centers and museums offer free and discounted admission and memberships to faculty and staff. You can also enjoy substantial savings on other goods and services such as new cars from Ford and General Motors, cellular phone service plans, movie tickets, and admission to theme parks.

• Flexible Work Hours: Flexible work options offer creative approaches for completing work while promoting balance between work and personal commitments. These approaches involve use of non-traditional work hours, locations, and/or job structures.

• Penn Home Ownership Services: Penn offers a forgivable loan for eligible employees interested in buying a home or currently residing in West Philadelphia, which can be used for closing costs or home improvements.

• Adoption Assistance: Penn will reimburse eligible employees on qualified expenses in connection with the legal adoption of an eligible child, such as travel or court fees, for up to two adoptions in your household.

To learn more, please visit: https://www.hr.upenn.edu/PennHR/benefits-pay