The Associate Pirate

Right now I’m handling an exclusive search for ActBlue. In-house opportunities are always fun to talk about, but this one’s just awesome.

ActBlue is a small team in Harvard Square that has built a web-based platform for political fundraising, designed to allow Democrats to just click a button to contribute funds to their preferred candidates.

Essentially, they’re doing for campaign finance what Apple did for digital music, including grappling with all the thorny legal issues behind the scenes. In the last three years, they’ve managed to raise about $30 million in contributions for over two thousand Democratic campaigns and committees.

The new Staff Counsel position will help lay the legal groundwork for aggressive targets in 2008: massive growth of ActBlue’s fundraiser network, outreach to thousands of state level campaigns, and raising $100 million for Democratic candidates and committees.

Initial responsibilities will include:

• Research of campaign finance laws and regulations at the federal, state and local levels.

• Developing and implementing legal and lobbying strategies to expand ActBlue’s ability to operate at the state level.

• Ensuring compliance with all applicable campaign finance and privacy laws.

• Cultivating relationships with election offices and local campaign finance attorneys across the country.

• Responding to legal inquiries and complaints.

If you’re the kind of lawyer who really wanted to work for a cause, but have found yourself doing document review instead, this may be the kind of job you went to law school for. Campaign finance experience is helpful, but not a requirement. Frankly, there aren’t a lot of folks in the country who have a 50-state expertise. The ideal candidate will have 1-5 years professional legal experience, absorb new areas of law quickly, and thrive in a close-knit, free-wheeling environment. Unlike most in-house opportunities, both litigators and transactional attorneys will be considered for this position.

Head on over to Lateral Link to apply. Reference “ActBlue” or “Associate Pirate” or “Job 7419″ so you get routed to me.