Legal Fellow (Spring 2027)

About the role

This position is listed on behalf of a partner company, who manages all applications and next steps. Our partner is looking for a Legal Fellow (Spring 2027) based in the United States. This fellowship offers current law students and recent law graduates an immersive opportunity to gain practical in-house legal experience in a global, technology-driven environment.

Responsibilities

• Research and analyze complex legal questions across areas such as internet law, intellectual property, freedom of expression, privacy, data security, international law, contracts, and licensing.
• Take ownership of individualized legal projects based on your interests, strengths, and the needs of the legal team.
• Draft and review legal documents, including licensing agreements, contracts, policies, guidelines, and other legal materials.
• Support the development and refinement of internal and external policies addressing legal and operational issues.
• Work directly with a supervising attorney, receiving guidance, feedback, and professional mentorship throughout the fellowship.
• Participate in internal and external meetings and contribute to discussions involving legal, technology, policy, and organizational matters.
• Translate complex legal research and concepts into clear, practical recommendations for audiences with varying levels of legal knowledge.
• Collaborate with colleagues across legal, technology, policy, and other functions in a highly distributed and international environment.
• Contribute to projects involving large online communities, open-source technology, digital rights, free culture, and the broader internet ecosystem.

Requirements

• Current law student or recent law school graduate with a strong interest in gaining practical in-house legal experience.
• Genuine enthusiasm for free knowledge, free culture, open source software, digital rights, and the broader mission of making information freely accessible.
• Strong intellectual curiosity and the ability to tackle complex, ambiguous, and unfamiliar legal questions creatively.
• Excellent legal research and analytical skills; candidates with strong research backgrounds are particularly encouraged to apply.
• Excellent written communication skills, with the ability to explain sophisticated legal concepts clearly to audiences with limited or no legal background.
• Coursework or practical experience in areas such as internet law, freedom of expression, intellectual property, contract drafting, international law, privacy, data security, or licensing is highly desirable.
• Experience drafting agreements, policies, or other legal documents is an advantage.
• Interest in or experience working with large online communities, collaborative platforms, wikis, or open-source projects is preferred.
• Able to work effectively in a fast-paced, multitasking environment with competing priorities and short turnaround times.
• Strong organizational skills, flexibility, and the ability to manage multiple projects simultaneously.
• Excellent interpersonal and collaboration skills, with the ability to work effectively with people from diverse demographic, professional, and cultural backgrounds.
• Comfort working in a transparent, collaborative, and globally distributed environment.
• Multilingual abilities are a plus.
• Experience participating in or contributing to Wikimedia projects or communities is an additional advantage.

Benefits

• 18-week Spring 2027 fellowship offering substantial practical in-house legal experience.
• Individualized projects aligned with your legal interests, strengths, and professional development goals.
• Direct supervision, mentorship, and feedback from experienced legal professionals.
• Exposure to a broad range of legal issues involving technology, intellectual property, digital rights, licensing, privacy, and freedom of expression.
• Opportunity to collaborate with international colleagues across diverse professional and cultural backgrounds.
• Hands-on experience working within a mission-driven, technology-focused legal environment.
• Potential opportunity to work with your university to facilitate academic credit and/or funding, where applicable and available.
• Opportunity to develop practical research, drafting, communication, stakeholder-management, and legal problem-solving skills.
• Meaningful exposure to legal issues affecting open knowledge, online communities, and the future of the internet.
• Contract-based opportunity with applicable local statutory benefits, where required.

Schedule

The Spring fellowship runs for 18 weeks.

Pay

Details regarding pay are not specified in the job posting.