Legal Advocacy Fellow

Legal Advocacy, Case Development & Media Outreach Fellow

Organization: Make Me Visible
Work arrangement: Remote
Schedule: Part-time and flexible
Compensation: Based on experience, availability, and agreed scope

About Make Me Visible

Make Me Visible is an advocacy and accountability platform built for people who have been harmed, dismissed, or abandoned by the institutions that were supposed to protect them.

We focus on the lived consequences of disability, chronic illness, financial exploitation, elder abuse, institutional failure, and the impossible burden placed on vulnerable people to investigate and resolve their own emergencies.

We are building a new model of advocacy that brings together legal case development, evidence organization, attorney outreach, investigative research, media engagement, and public accountability.

The Opportunity

Make Me Visible is seeking a driven paralegal, paralegal student, pre-law candidate, legal researcher, or investigative advocate to help develop and advance two substantial, document-heavy matters involving financial harm, institutional inaction, disability, and failures of protection.

One matter involves the stark disparity between an estimated $40 million family estate and a permanently disabled adult currently relying on disability income and food assistance.

The second involves a Nevada financial-fraud matter in which approximately $260,000 was lost, the offender was later prosecuted, and the disabled victim has still received no meaningful recovery despite repeated outreach to financial institutions, attorneys, law-enforcement agencies, and government authorities.

This is not a traditional clerical paralegal position.

The fellow will help turn years of documents, communications, legal filings, financial information, and institutional responses into organized case materials that attorneys, investigators, regulators, journalists, and other decision-makers can understand and act upon.

What You Will Work On

Case Development

Build clear, source-supported chronologies for separate California and Nevada matters

Organize facts, parties, institutions, assets, transactions, and key events

Identify missing documents, unanswered questions, factual conflicts, and areas requiring further investigation

Create concise case summaries, attorney intake packets, evidence indexes, and issue outlines

Help distinguish verified facts, allegations, legal questions, and matters requiring attorney review

Organize documentation showing the financial, medical, housing, personal, and functional consequences of the alleged conduct

Maintain separate and confidential files for each legal matter

Attorney Research and Outreach

Research attorneys and firms based on jurisdiction, practice area, litigation experience, licensing, and potential fit

Look beyond basic search results to identify smaller firms, emerging litigators, dual-licensed attorneys, appellate lawyers, former prosecutors, and other strong candidates

Prepare personalized attorney outreach explaining why each matter may fit the recipient’s experience

Send approved outreach and maintain a detailed record of responses, referrals, conflicts, declines, and follow-up dates

Prepare concise briefing materials before attorney calls

Track statutes, deadlines, procedural developments, and questions requiring licensed legal review

Help identify possible contingency, hybrid-fee, limited-scope, co-counsel, clinic, fellowship, and public-interest options

Evidence and Records Management

Review and label documents using a consistent file system

Connect major factual statements to the records that support them

Organize court filings, correspondence, financial documents, agency communications, medical-impact records, and other evidence

Maintain a notice record showing which people and institutions were informed, what they received, how they responded, and what happened afterward

Prepare exhibit lists and document summaries

Protect confidential, medical, financial, and legally sensitive information

Media and Investigative Outreach

Research investigative journalists, editors, documentary producers, podcast hosts, legal reporters, disability reporters, and financial-crime reporters

Identify professionals whose work genuinely aligns with the matters rather than sending mass pitches

Help develop targeted media packets and concise story summaries

Track outreach, responses, referrals, follow-ups, and publication interests

Help explain the larger public-interest issue without confusing media advocacy with legal claims

Support public accountability efforts involving disability, institutional abandonment, financial exploitation, elder protection, and access to justice

Government and Agency Follow-Up

Organize previous communications with law enforcement, regulators, elected officials, adult-protection agencies, and other authorities

Prepare clear follow-up correspondence based on the existing record

Track incident numbers, complaints, referrals, assigned personnel, promises of action, and unresolved requests

Help draft public-record requests and organize agency responses

Document when institutions received notice and whether meaningful action followed

The Larger Question Behind the Work

This project examines what happens when a disabled person is deprived of the money, safety, and support needed to pursue accountability—and is then expected to finance, investigate, coordinate, and resolve the harm alone.

The work will explore questions such as:

How can tens of millions of dollars remain under the control of others while a disabled adult connected to those assets survives on food assistance?

What protections exist when financial harm creates medical, housing, and bodily risk?

Who becomes responsible when every institution treats only one narrow piece of the problem?

How can evidence be structured so that decision-makers can no longer dismiss the matter as too complicated?

What happens when the person with the fewest resources is required to perform the most work?

Who We Are Looking For

You may be a strong fit if you are:

A paralegal, paralegal student, pre-law student, law graduate, legal assistant, investigative researcher, or early-career advocate

Interested in civil litigation, financial fraud, fiduciary misconduct, elder abuse, disability rights, consumer protection, white-collar matters, or investigative journalism

Comfortable working through a large volume of documents

Able to separate facts from assumptions and write with precision

Persistent without becoming careless or inflammatory

Skilled at professional outreach and respectful follow-up

Able to understand both the legal issues and the human consequences

Highly organized, dependable, and comfortable working independently

Willing to ask questions when information is incomplete

Serious about confidentiality and responsible handling of sensitive records

Experience with California or Nevada law, trust and estate litigation, banking disputes, fraud, public-record requests, legal databases, media research, or disability advocacy is helpful but not required.

What You Will Gain

This role offers direct experience in:

Developing complex, real-world legal matters

Building attorney-ready case files

Legal and factual research

Evidence review and chronology development

Attorney and law-firm outreach

Investigative media strategy

Government and regulatory correspondence

Public-interest advocacy

Translating complicated records into clear and actionable materials

Understanding how financial harm affects housing, healthcare, disability, and personal safety

You will not be given meaningless administrative work simply to fill time. Your work will contribute to active efforts to secure legal review, institutional accountability, public visibility, and a path toward resolution.

Important Role Boundary

This is a legal-support, research, case-development, and advocacy position. The fellow will not act as an attorney, provide legal advice, represent any person in court, or make legal decisions reserved for licensed counsel.

All external communications must be reviewed and authorized before being sent.

How to Apply

Please send:

A résumé or brief summary of your experience

A short explanation of why this work matters to you

Any relevant experience involving legal research, document review, journalism, advocacy, fraud, disability, elder protection, or public accountability

Your weekly availability

One writing, research, or organizational sample, when available

In your response, answer this question:

What would you investigate first when a disabled adult is living on food assistance while approximately $40 million in family assets remain controlled by others?

About the Founder

Make Me Visible was founded by Sweta Patel, a permanently disabled entrepreneur, investigative researcher, and patient advocate who has spent years navigating complex legal, medical, financial, and institutional systems.

The platform is being built from lived experience—not from a distance—to create the structure, visibility, and protection that vulnerable people are too often denied.