Anita Hill announced Thursday she is returning to Washington part time to take a position at the plaintiffs’ firm Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll, saying she wants to merge her academic experience with the on-the-ground practice of civil rights litigation.

Hill, who teaches social policy, law and women’s studies at Brandeis University outside Boston, will be of counsel in the civil rights and employment practice group. She said she was attracted to the firm’s pursuit of class action litigation.