[Hiring] Legal Research Intern @Business & Human Rights Resource Centre

Role Description

The Business and Human Rights Centre (BHRC) is seeking an enthusiastic, reliable and well-organised Legal Research Intern to support our Corporate Legal Accountability team, including on our Just Transition Litigation project. This internship opportunity is for applicants currently enrolled at university and/or that should complete an internship as part of their studies, either studying law (LLB/LLM/JD or similar) or with a legal background.

• Period: Minimum commitment of 14 hours a week, for a period of at least 4 months, starting in January 2027.
• Location: This is a remote position in which the intern works from their home or university, with regular contact via Microsoft Teams. Candidates must have at least 3.5 hours overlap within 8.30am-6pm CET.
• Reimbursement: Lunch expenses up to GBP 7/USD 9/ EUR 9 for interns who do not have funding for the internship from their university or other institution.
• Application deadline: 22 Nov COB CET.

Your tasks include:

• Online legal research and inputs: find relevant news, commentaries, reports and court documents relating to lawsuits from around the world against companies over alleged human rights and environmental abuses, and legislative developments (including the UN binding treaty); compose abstracts and titles; create and update information on the website, including broken links.
• Supporting the development of our Just Transition Litigation Tracking Tool: research relevant just energy transition lawsuits to include in the Tracking Tool; draft a concise and accessible summary of these lawsuits.
• Drafting and updating lawsuit profiles for our strategic litigation database: research and summarise legal information about lawsuits brought against companies to redress human rights abuse and present them in a concise, accessible format. This includes lawsuits linked to the just energy transition.
• Support Programme’s outputs: Draft the CLA Quarterly Update newsletter and participate in its dissemination; select key news items for inclusion in the Centre’s Weekly Update.
• Participate in (virtual) meetings, including fortnightly Global Team meetings with all staff and Regional Researchers.
• Additional Tasks: You may also be asked to assist BHRC with general, non-legal work, such as supporting our company response mechanism; liaising with relevant organisations etc.

Please note that this internship is not academically oriented and does not involve extensive analysis or writing. Rather, it is a practical internship focused on bringing global attention to company conduct affecting people and communities, with the aim of promoting respect for human rights.

Qualifications

• Legal studies. Currently enrolled in university, either studying law (LLB/LLM/JD or similar) or with a legal background.
• Legal analysis and research skills. Academic and/or work experience carrying out legal research.
• General research and analytical skills. Ability to carry out general research, including online and to summarise information clearly and succinctly. Demonstrated academic or professional experience carrying out research and analysing information.
• Interest in and commitment to promoting human rights, especially business and human rights.
• Data input capacity. Ability and willingness to do large amount of routine data input on a daily basis.
• Language skills. Excellent English language skills (reading/writing/speaking). Fluency in French, Spanish, Arabic or Russian highly is desirable (but not essential). Good working knowledge of other languages is a plus.
• Ability to use own initiative and to work independently. Motivated by achieving results and completing tasks.

Benefits

• Reimbursement of lunch expenses up to GBP 7/USD 9/ EUR 9 for interns who do not have funding for the internship from their university or other institution.

Company Description

The Business and Human Rights Centre (BHRC) is a global non-profit organisation that works with communities, civil society, companies and governments to put human rights at the heart of business to deliver a just economy, climate justice and end abuse. BHRC tracks the human rights policies and practices of over 10,000 companies worldwide to push for better human rights protections.

• Our website is a global business and human rights knowledge hub, delivering daily news in 11 languages, with over 150,000 active users per month.
• Our Weekly Update e-newsletter has over 16,000 subscribers globally, including advocates, business-people, governments, investors and the UN.
• BHRC’s Corporate Legal Accountability (CLA) programme aims to strengthen the legal accountability of business actors so that rightsholders can exercise their rights and access justice when abuses occur.
• We view strategic litigation as a critical tool for challenging impunity.
• Through networks, analysis and information, we equip lawyers, legal practitioners and affected people around the world to build stronger cases against companies implicated in human rights abuses.