Staff Attorney - Nonprofit

The role

Minnesota has more than 10,000 nonprofit employers, together employing roughly 13 percent of the state's workforce. Many are very small, run by one or two people doing five jobs each.

This past year, those organizations have faced terminated federal grants, confusing IRS correspondence, and compliance demands arriving faster than a small organization can answer. They have always needed a lawyer. Most have never been able to afford one. This role exists to change that.

You will advise low-revenue nonprofits across Minnesota on formation, governance, compliance, contracts, employment questions, and risk. A significant share of that work runs through the Minnesota Nonprofit Legal Services Initiative, our statewide partnership with the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits, which provides a legal help desk, compliance clinics, legal needs assessments, and one-on-one limited scope counsel to organizations that qualify. For a full job description visit https://legalcorps.org/employment/.

What you will do

• Advise nonprofit organizations on formation, governance, and operational legal questions, and manage a portfolio of clients from intake through completion.
• Assist with incorporation and federal tax-exempt status applications, including IRS Forms 1023 and 1023-EZ.
• Counsel boards and executive leadership on fiduciary duties, governance practices, and compliance obligations.
• Advise on charitable solicitation registration, fundraising compliance, tax-exempt rules, lobbying and political activity limits, and unrelated business income.
• Draft, review, and negotiate bylaws, conflict-of-interest policies, service agreements, partnership agreements, and corporate resolutions.
• Support organizations through mergers, restructuring, affiliations, and dissolution.
• Teach workshops and compliance clinics across Minnesota, and build practice guides and templates for volunteer attorneys.
• Keep client and outcome records current, which is how we report to funders and how we know whether a program is working.

What you bring

If you meet most of these and are interested in this work, we encourage you to apply. We would rather read your cover letter and have a conversation.

• Juris Doctor from an accredited law school, and licensed and in good standing in Minnesota or eligible for admission by reciprocity.
• At least two years of legal experience with clients, with meaningful exposure to nonprofit law, tax-exempt organizations, corporate law, or a related area.
• Working knowledge of federal and state laws governing nonprofit organizations.
• Strong research, writing, and analytical skills, and the ability to explain complex legal concepts in plain language.
• Good judgment about priorities when several matters are moving at once, and comfort working independently and with clients, volunteers, and colleagues.
• A real commitment to public service and to expanding access to legal help.
• Willingness to travel within Minnesota for clinics, trainings, and partner events.

Helpful, but not required. Experience with community-based organizations and mission-driven clients. General transactional business law experience, since strong corporate fundamentals transfer well here. Experience teaching or presenting. Service on a nonprofit board, which gives you a view of the problem from the client's chair. A language in addition to English, particularly Spanish, Hmong, or Somali.

Why attorneys come to LegalCORPS

Our team came here from private practice, in-house roles, government, and other nonprofits, driven by mission. Here is how the work is structured.

• No billable hours. Our services are free to the people we serve, so the role carries no billable hour requirement and no origination expectations.
• A sustainable caseload. We set caseloads deliberately, so you have time to do careful work and keep regular hours.
• Clients you meet in person. You sit across from the people you are helping, often at the moment a decision matters most.
• Real autonomy. You manage your own matters and make your own judgment calls, with colleagues available for a second opinion.
• A schedule that bends. Hybrid, with [2 to 3] days per week in the office. We are flexible about which days and about the hours you keep around them.
• A practice at a moment that matters. Nonprofit legal need in Minnesota is sharper right now than it has been in years. The advice you give reaches organizations deciding whether they can keep their doors open.

About LegalCORPS

Since 2004, LegalCORPS has provided non-litigation transactional and intellectual property legal help to entrepreneurs, small business owners, inventors, and small nonprofits who could not otherwise afford counsel. Last year more than 5,000 people came to us, 25 percent more than the year before. Our staff and more than 500 volunteer attorneys delivered 7,777 hours of advice and representation, an investment of more than $4.2 million that helped create or maintain 5,144 jobs. Of the clients we served, 51 percent were female founders, 47 percent identified as Black, Indigenous, or people of color, and 69 percent lived below 200 percent of the federal poverty level.

Benefits, location, and schedule

Benefits. Health, dental, and vision coverage; retirement plan with employer contribution; paid time off and holidays; Minnesota bar dues and professional development support.

Location. Our office is on the Minneapolis campus of the University of St. Thomas, 1000 LaSalle Avenue, TMH 331, Minneapolis, MN 55403. Hybrid, with [2 to 3] days per week in the office, plus travel within Minnesota for clinics and partner events roughly one to two times per month.

To apply

Send a resume and cover letter to employment@legalcorps.org by November 20, 2026. A writing sample is welcome but not required. For a full job description visit https://legalcorps.org/employment/. Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis and accepted until the position is filled.

Tell us in your cover letter why this work interests you. We care more about that than a perfect match to every qualification above.

We are a small team and cannot take phone calls about applications, so please reach us by email.

LegalCORPS is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to any characteristic protected by applicable law.