Legal Fellow (Spring 2027)

Overview

This legal fellowship is designed for current law students or recent law school graduates interested in free knowledge and open source issues. Fellows gain an immersive, in-house experience with education and training focused on Internet law and free knowledge organizations.

Fellow assignments cover a broad range of legal areas, including:

• Copyright-related questions
• International freedom of expression
• Mobile development
• Internal corporate compliance

Projects will be assigned based on each fellow’s interests and strengths and may include research, drafting licensing agreements, and developing internal and external policies.

Responsibilities

• Lead assigned legal projects independently, with supervision and guidance from an attorney in the Legal Department
• Conduct legal research and draft work product as assigned
• Draft licensing agreements and develop internal and external policies
• Attend and participate in internal and external meetings
• Collaborate with the supervising attorney and other stakeholders on ongoing work
• Incorporate feedback and support to learn practical aspects of practicing law in-house

Fellowship Term

• Fall and Spring fellowships: 18 weeks
• Summer fellowships: 12 weeks

When applicable, the Legal Department may work with a fellow’s university to facilitate earning academic credits and/or receiving funding for the fellow’s time.

Requirements

• Commitment to the free knowledge mission, including interest in areas such as free culture, digital rights, open source software, and Creative Commons licensing
• Ability to excel in a fast-paced, multitasking environment with fast turnarounds
• Intellectual curiosity, flexibility, and comfort tackling difficult or ambiguous problems in creative ways (strong research backgrounds preferred)
• Experience working with large online user communities (or strong desire to) (experience with wikis or Wikimedia projects preferred)
• Ability to thrive in a highly transparent, collaborative environment and work on a team with diverse demographic and cultural characteristics (multilingual candidates are a plus)
• Excellent writing skills, including the ability to communicate complex legal concepts to a broad audience with varying (or no) legal backgrounds
• Completed coursework in some or all of: internet law, freedom of expression (domestic and international), intellectual property, contract drafting, international law, privacy, data security, and/or licensing

While coursework is not required, experience in these areas is heavily preferred.

Preferred Qualifications

• Coursework and/or experience drafting agreements and/or policies
• Experience with wikis or Wikimedia projects
• Strong research background
• Multilingual proficiency
• Ability to communicate legal concepts clearly to non-legal audiences

Compensation & Benefits

• Anticipated annual pay range (applicants based within the United States): US$37.42/hourly to US$45.6/hourly
• Compensation is determined by individualized factors, including cost of living in the location
• For applicants located outside of the US, the pay range will be adjusted to the country of hire
• The employer does not request or consider applicants’ salary history

Location

This is a remote-first position. Staff (including contractors) are based in 40+ countries.

Hiring locations

Hiring is currently available for applicants in the following:

• US States: Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming
  • Territory/Federal District notes: Puerto Rico and District of Columbia are included; citizenship/permanent residency notes apply as stated below.
• Countries: Brazil, Canada, Colombia, France, Germany, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Italy, Kenya, Mexico, Morocco, Netherlands, Poland, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom
  • Citizens/permanent residents only where noted: Kenya and Singapore.

Non-US employees are hired through a local third party Employer of Record (EOR) and must have current work authorization in their location.

Equal Opportunity

The employer is an equal opportunity employer and values a diverse workforce. It does not discriminate based on any protected characteristics under applicable law.