The Center

Founded in 1947 as Southwestern Legal Foundation, The Center for American and International Law (CAIL) is a nonprofit institution dedicated to improving the quality of justice through the education of lawyers and law enforcement professionals in the United States and throughout the world. Operating from its education center in the Legacy development in Plano, Texas, CAIL develops professional communities and promotes the rule of law. CAIL has reached lawyers, judges, and law enforcement professionals in more than 130 countries through the activities of its five institutes:

• Institute for Law Enforcement Administration: ILEA provides courses and workshops for police agencies. Its mission is to provide academically based, challenging programs in a professional educational environment. Through education, ILEA facilitates innovative policing, reduces bias in decision making, empowers officers to intervene when necessary to stop improper police behavior, and creates stronger cultures of integrity within law enforcement.
• Southwestern Institute for International and Comparative Law: Promoting respect for law in the international community, SWIICL offers education for attorneys from around the world. For almost 60 years, SWIICL has hosted the Academy of American and International Law – an annual five-week course for foreign lawyers on U.S. law, international law, and comparative law.
• Institute for Energy Law: One of the oldest continuing legal education providers, IEL counts eminent attorneys among its members while also teaching leadership skills to the rising generation. It presents many educational conferences each year, publishes periodicals, and provides an important forum in which issues affecting the vital and transitioning energy sector are discussed.
• Institute for Law and Technology: ILT is a community for lawyers working in intellectual property and technology. Home to a leading annual intellectual property law conference, ILT focuses on providing premier educational and networking opportunities to professionals in the field of innovation.
• Institute for Transnational Arbitration: Through conferences, scholarly publications, and membership activities, ITA provides advanced professional development and networking for lawyers, arbitrators, academics, government officials, and other professionals concerned with the dynamic field of international arbitration.

In addressing the professional development of both lawyers and law enforcement professionals within a single organization as it does, CAIL stands alone. The organization also stands out for the extent to which academics, judges, and practicing professionals engage with one another in its programs, bridging gaps between insightful scholarship and real-world practice.

In addition, CAIL has programs addressing other important legal issues, such as its Actual Innocence conferences; training in Criminal Law (with a particular focus on the exceptionally high professional obligations of prosecutors and defense counsel alike in cases involving capital punishment); and lectures and forums addressing contemporary challenges in the administration of justice.

Two distinct groups of stakeholders are instrumental to the CAIL endeavor: (1) its staff and (2) volunteer professionals who support its work, mainly through the institutes. The current staff, which handles the daily management of CAIL and its institutes, consists of a president, three vice presidents, and approximately 22 others. The second key group – volunteer lawyers, judges, and law enforcement professionals – includes hundreds of individuals devoting time, energy, and financial support to CAIL. Most volunteers serve at the institute level, whether as an institute chair, advisory board member, or organizer or participant in an institute conference. Another key element of volunteer engagement is service on CAIL’s Board of Trustees, which has 28 voting and 5 ex officio members. Current and former Board members are and have been recognized leaders in the legal and law enforcement professions, including sitting judges and past presidents of the American Bar Association, the State Bar of Texas, and other legal and law enforcement groups.

For more information on CAIL please refer to: www.cailaw.org.

The Role

As a member of CAIL’s leadership team, the Vice President of Advancement will play a pivotal role in shaping CAIL’s future. Within the term “Advancement,” this opportunity encompasses public engagement as well as fundraising, with the goal of strengthening and expanding CAIL’s reach and impact. It is vital that this Vice President is driven to meet CAIL's mission by supporting ongoing education programs and identifying new pathways to advance justice in the public and the professions. The Vice President of Advancement will help choose key priorities and motivate constituents internally and externally. This is a unique opportunity for a strategic and innovative leader to shape the narrative, architecture, and practice of CAIL’s advancement plan.

By creating, prioritizing, and implementing innovative fundraising strategies, the Vice President of Advancement will directly impact CAIL’s ability to support professionals in the arena of justice throughout the world. The Vice President will work with the President and Trustees to develop attainable fundraising strategies, formulate actionable plans to pursue those strategies, and evaluate existing and new methods of donor solicitation, cultivation, and communication to ensure that current and prospective donors are connected to the organization’s mission and accomplishments.

As a key spokesperson for CAIL, the Vice President of Advancement will serve as an outstanding communicator who is at ease in a front-facing role, with the stature and credibility to cultivate and maintain senior-level relationships with a variety of donors including individuals, foundations, and corporations. Establishing a collaborative partnership with the President, the Board of Trustees, and members of the leadership team, the Vice President will coordinate fundraising and communication efforts.

Specific responsibilities include:

• Analyze CAIL’s local, national, and global fundraising potential to design and execute an advancement plan that employs traditional best practices and innovative strategies for long-term growth and success.
• Identify opportunities for innovative programs aligned with CAIL’s mission that enhance its engagement with the public at large.
• Craft a communication strategy that articulates a compelling case for support and enables donors to realize their specific areas of interest in the context of CAIL’s mission and strategic imperatives.
• Manage and actively participate in efforts to identify, cultivate, and solicit sources of funds and gifts.
• With the President and the Board, implement CAIL’s strategic plan and set priorities for the organization.

This role reports directly to CAIL’s President and is based at CAIL’s headquarters in Plano, Texas.

Candidate Profile

CAIL seeks a candidate who will serve as an inspiring leader with recognized fundraising skills and a track record of significant leadership in nonprofit environments. The candidate will be a strategic and dynamic individual able to energize supporters around its mission. CAIL is looking for a proven revenue generator and strategic thinker – someone with a track record of meeting revenue goals as well as proposing innovative resource-generating ideas. They will be results- and action-oriented and have the ability and stature to communicate effectively at all levels within the organization and externally. Previous campaign experience is strongly desired for the position. Communications, marketing, and/or brand experience will also be a plus.

The successful candidate will be a collaborative individual with the ability to quickly gain a true understanding of the culture and community of CAIL’s home in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex and, also, more broadly where the Center’s mission and institute memberships reach. They will have a proven ability to take a front-facing role as the lead advocate and fundraiser for strategic goals. As a key partner to the President in cultivation activities, the successful candidate will display credibility and savvy sufficient to inspire confidence among leaders within the legal, law enforcement, and business communities. In addition, this individual will possess the leadership skills necessary to maintain a culture of collaboration and innovation with other leaders.

In terms of the performance and personal competencies required for the position, we highlight the following:

Collaborating on Strategy:

• Works closely with key stakeholders to develop the optimum advancement strategy.
• Provides the strategic focus, creative vision, and leadership required to realize a new level of philanthropic success.
• Builds operating plans to enable strategic objectives and vision to be realized to enhance the organization’s impact.
• Has the flexibility to create nuanced plans that adapt to the situation and/or stakeholders at hand, while bringing to life new resource opportunities.

Executing for Results: 

• Has a proven ability to set priorities and demonstrate impact.
• Has an established track record of driving results, as well as developing, soliciting, and closing gifts.
• Balances financial wisdom and prudence with innovation and calculated risk-taking to build a strong development organization.
• Oriented to deliver sustainable and significant increases in philanthropic support and engagement.

Communicating, Influencing, and Building Relationships

• Able to articulate forward-thinking strategies and compelling stories to achieve ambitious revenue generation goals.
• Adept at establishing trust quickly by demonstrating sound judgment, strategic thinking, and meaningful expertise.
• Builds genuine, productive relationships and uses them strategically to further CAIL’s goals.
• Persuades, builds, and preserves agreement, as well as confidence and respect, among various constituencies.

Leading Teams

• Able to provide leadership that will inspire and motivate the range of people involved in and with CAIL.
• Able to build a positive, collaborative culture that fosters a high level of performance.
• Possesses a flexible, inclusive approach to leadership, which adjusts to different audiences and CAIL’s expanding capacity.

Personal Competencies

• Maintains personal drive, integrity, exemplary levels of professionalism, and resilience.
• Leads by example and possesses excellent judgment of people and situations.
• Demonstrates a healthy, balanced ego and the confidence to recognize their own strengths and weaknesses.
• Possesses a diplomatic, thoughtful, and creative nature and demonstrates intercultural sensitivity.

This is a full-time, exempt position. Compensation is commensurate with responsibilities, experience, and qualifications.

Medical, dental, and vision coverage for employee, spouse, and dependents is available with CAIL providing a partial benefits supplement. Short-term and long-term disability is offered at no cost to the employee. CAIL offers participation in a 403(b) retirement plan, with CAIL making a 100% matching contribution of up to 6% of eligible compensation. Vacation accrues at two days per month up to a maximum of twenty-two days annually.

This position is located at our offices at 5201 Democracy Drive, Plano, TX 75024. Some of the job may be performed remotely, with supervisor approval.

To apply, send cover letter and resume to:

T.L. Cubbage, President, at tlcubbage@cailaw.org

CAIL is an equal-opportunity employer.

To apply, send cover letter and resume to:

T.L. Cubbage, President, at tlcubbage@cailaw.org