Legal Fellow

Summary

Join the Wikimedia Foundation's legal fellowship program for an immersive in-house experience focused on Internet law and free knowledge organizations. Fellows will tackle challenging projects based on their interests and strengths, ranging from legal research to drafting agreements and developing policies. Each fellow receives individualized projects under attorney supervision, participating in meetings and collaborating on projects. The program may facilitate academic credit or funding through the fellow's university. The Wikimedia Foundation is committed to free knowledge and open source issues, offering a unique opportunity for law students and recent graduates.

Requirements

• High energy for and commitment to the Wikimedia Foundation's free knowledge mission, including an interest in free culture issues, digital rights, open source software, Creative Commons licensing, etc
• A good sense of humor and the ability to excel in a fast-paced, multitasking environment that demands fast turn-arounds
• Intellectual curiosity and flexibility that makes them enjoy tackling difficult and ambiguous problems in creative ways
• Experience working with large online user communities (or at least the desire to)
• The ability to flourish in a highly transparent and collaborative environment and work on a team with diverse demographic and cultural characteristics
• Excellent writing skills that can be adapted to communicate complex legal concepts to a large audience with varying (or no) backgrounds in law
• Completed coursework in some or all of the following areas of law: internet law, freedom of expression (domestic and international), intellectual property, contract drafting, international law, privacy, data security, and/or licensing

Responsibilities

• Research various legal questions
• Draft licensing agreements
• Develop internal and external policies
• Spearhead individualized projects under the supervision and guidance of an attorney from the Legal Department
• Attend and participate in internal and external meetings
• Collaborate on projects
• Receive feedback and support
• Learn about the practical dimensions of practicing law in-house at a web-based company

Preferred Qualifications

• Being a Wikimedian!
• Candidates with strong research backgrounds
• Candidates with experience with wikis or Wikimedia projects
• Multilingual candidates
• Candidates with experience and/or coursework in drafting agreements and/or policies
• Students who have experience in these areas of law: internet law, freedom of expression (domestic and international), intellectual property, contract drafting, international law, privacy, data security, and/or licensing