Legal Intern

CIBT•,

18h•$30 - $35•Remote

About The Position

We are seeking a highly motivated and detail-oriented Legal Intern to join our Legal Department. In this role, you will play a central part in building and standardizing our contracting infrastructure — from the ground up. You will work closely with the Chief Legal Officer and cross-functional stakeholders to design, document, and implement processes that govern how the organization enters into, manages, and renews commercial agreements. This is a hands-on, project-heavy role ideal for a law student or undergraduate who wants substantive exposure to commercial contract law, vendor management, and legal operations in a fast-paced environment.

Requirements

Currently enrolled in or recently graduated from an undergraduate or an accredited law school (JD program).
Strong academic record with demonstrated interest in commercial, transactional, or corporate law.
Excellent written and verbal communication skills — ability to draft clearly and precisely.
Strong analytical and organizational skills with meticulous attention to detail.
Self-starter with the ability to manage multiple workstreams independently.

Nice To Haves

Prior exposure to contract drafting, legal operations, or in-house legal environments (through coursework, clinic, or prior internship).
Familiarity with contract lifecycle management (CLM) tools or legal document management platforms.
Experience with or coursework in commercial law, vendor contracts, or procurement.
Comfort working cross-functionally with business, finance, and procurement teams.

Responsibilities

Develop end-to-end workflows for initiating, reviewing, executing, and renewing commercial contracts.
Map current-state processes, identify gaps, and propose streamlined future-state procedures.
Establish clear timelines, approval checkpoints, and ownership at each stage of the contract lifecycle.
Create renewal calendars and alert mechanisms to ensure no contracts lapse unnoticed.
Design a standardized naming convention framework for all contract documents, templates, and related files.
Ensure conventions are intuitive, scalable, and compatible with the organization's document management systems.
Draft a naming conventions guide and obtain sign-off from relevant stakeholders.
Build a "must-have" matrix identifying clauses and provisions required in all vendor agreements (e.g., indemnification, limitation of liability, confidentiality, data protection, termination rights).
Develop a "prohibited terms" matrix documenting provisions that cannot be included in agreements due to legal risk or commercial policy (e.g., uncapped liability, perpetual auto-renewal without notice, unilateral amendment rights, termination due to change in control).
Maintain matrices as living documents, updated as legal risk appetite or commercial policy evolves.
Draft a clear, tiered escalation procedure for handling material deviations from standard commercial terms.
Define what constitutes a "significant change" requiring escalation (e.g., payment terms beyond net-60, liability caps below a defined threshold, IP ownership shifts).
Map escalation paths by contract value, risk category, and business unit, including designated approvers at each tier.
Create a decision-tree or flowchart version for ease of use by non-legal staff.
Design a standardized intake form for business teams to complete before submitting contracts for legal review.
Template to capture: contract background, counterparty details, key commercial terms, business justification, risk flags, and any pre-agreed deviations.
Ensure the template reduces back-and-forth and enables legal to conduct faster, more targeted reviews.
Develop clear guidelines for determining when to use a contract amendment versus when to start afresh with a new agreement.
Audit existing contract templates to identify inconsistent or suboptimal governing law and jurisdiction clauses.
Establish a preferred governing law position for domestic and international agreements.
Update all standard templates to reflect the approved governing law position.
Identify and evaluate appropriate channels for communicating and deploying contract template updates across the organization.
Develop a rollout plan that addresses: Stakeholder communication and training, Version control and template repository management, Transition periods for in-flight negotiations, Feedback loops for continuous improvement.
Propose governance mechanisms to ensure templates remain current and are not bypassed.