Legal Intern/Fellow (Spring)

Summary

If you’re a current law student or recent law school graduate passionate about free knowledge and open source issues, applying to our legal internship and fellowship program can provide an immersive in-house experience with specific education and training in the areas of Internet law and free knowledge organizations. 

Description

The Foundation faces a myriad of legal issues ranging from complex copyright questions to international freedom of speech issues to mobile development to internal corporate compliance. Because of the wide array of legal issues, the interns/fellows will be assigned challenging projects based on their particular interests and strengths. These projects range from researching various legal questions to drafting licensing agreements to developing internal and external policies. Each intern/fellow will receive individualized projects that they will be expected to spearhead under the supervision and guidance of an attorney from the Legal Department.

Interns/fellows will work closely with their supervising attorney - attending and participating in internal and external meetings, collaborating on projects, receiving feedback and support, and generally learning about the practical dimensions of practicing law in-house at a web-based company.

When the opportunity exists, the Legal Department will work with an intern/fellow's university to facilitate earning academic credits and/or receiving funding for the intern/fellow's time at the Wikimedia Foundation.

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Requirements

• High energy for and commitment to the Wikimedia Foundation's free knowledge mission, including an interest in free culture issues, open source software, Creative Commons licensing, etc.

• A very good sense of humor and the ability to excel in a fast-paced, multitasking environment that demands fast turn-around.

• Intellectual curiosity and flexibility that makes them enjoy tackling difficult and ambiguous problems in creative ways.  Students with strong research backgrounds are preferred.

• Experience working with large online user communities (or at least the desire to). Students with experience with wikis or Wikimedia projects are preferred.

• The ability to flourish in a highly transparent and collaborative environment and work on a team with diverse demographic and cultural characteristics. Multilingual students (especially German, French, and/or Italian) are a plus!

• Excellent writing skills that can be adapted to communicate complex legal concepts to a large audience with varying (or no) backgrounds in law.  Students with experience and/or coursework in drafting agreements and/or policies are preferred.

• Completed coursework in some or all of the following areas of law: internet law, freedom of speech (domestic and international), intellectual property, contract drafting, international law, privacy, data security, and/or licensing.  While coursework in these areas is not required, students who have experience in these areas are heavily preferred.

Pluses

• Being a Wikimedian! (Please share your username in your cover letter.)

Please note that applicants who are still in law school during their time at the Wikimedia Foundation will be considered for internships while applicants who have completed their law degrees will be considered for fellowships.

About the Wikimedia Foundation

The Wikimedia Foundation is the non-profit organization that operates Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Wikipedia and the other projects operated by the Wikimedia Foundation receive more than 431 million unique visitors per month, making them the 5th most popular web property worldwide. Available in more than 287 languages, Wikipedia contains more than 32 million articles contributed by a global volunteer community of more than 100,000 people. Based in San Francisco, California, the Wikimedia Foundation is an audited, 501(c)(3) charity that is funded primarily through donations and grants. The Wikimedia Foundation was created in 2003 to manage the operation of Wikipedia and its sister projects. It currently employs over 208 staff members. Wikimedia is supported by local chapter organizations in 40 countries or regions.