Leslie J. Winner Public Interest and Civil Rights Fellowship Two-year fellowship to provide a staff attorney position at the NC Justice Center

Trustees of the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation are pleased to announce the inaugural Leslie J. Winner Public Interest and Civil Rights Fellowship. The Fellowship is named after Leslie Winner, former executive director of the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation.

The Winner Fellowship will provide an opportunity for a recent law school graduate, who has passed the bar exam or who is eligible for admission to the bar, to spend two years as a staff attorney at the North Carolina Justice Center – a nonprofit organization committed to alleviating poverty in North Carolina by ensuring that every household has access to the resources, services and fair treatment it needs to achieve economic security.

"Leslie Winner has been a longtime champion of the people of North Carolina," said Jock Tate, president of the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation. "This Fellowship is a tribute to the work she has accomplished over the course of her career and is intended to prepare future lawyers as they embark on a path to help promote social and economic justice, especially among some of North Carolina’s underrepresented and most vulnerable populations."

"The North Carolina Justice Center is delighted and honored to house the Winner Fellowship with the goal of training new members of the bar in high-impact, civil rights and social justice litigation for the betterment of the state," said Rick Glazier, director of the North Carolina Justice Center.

The Winner Fellow will work alongside other litigation staff at the Justice Center and will participate in high-impact trial level and appellate litigation in a wide range of civil rights and poverty law areas that may include consumer, housing, education, health, and public benefits. The Justice Center’s litigation strategies are part of a multi-disciplinary approach to advocacy that integrates legal, policy, public engagement, research, and communications strategies. While the position is primarily designed to assist with the Justice Center’s litigation efforts, the Winner Fellow will be exposed to all aspects of the Justice Center’s work.

A Winner Fellow will be selected every other year for a two-year term with a commitment to four fellowships over an eight-year period. 

Leslie Winner has spent much of her career as a public servant and public interest lawyer working on issues such as civil rights, gender equity, affordable housing, public education and higher education. She retired in January 2016 after eight years of distinguished service to the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation and nearly 40 years of service to North Carolina.

To learn more about the Fellowship or to apply, visit www.ncjustice.org/careers.