IFC (World Bank Group) Legal Intern positions available between January and September 2016 in each of the Bangkok, Beijing, Bogota, Hong Kong, Istanbul, Johannesburg, Mexico City, Mumbai, Nairobi, New Delhi, Sao Paulo and Washington D.C. offices (Typical duration: 12 - 18 weeks. Exact dates to be determined by each office)

About IFC

The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, is the largest global development institution focused exclusively on the private sector. IFC’s shareholders are our 184 member countries around the world.　Working with private enterprises in about 100 countries, we use our capital, expertise, and influence to help eliminate extreme poverty and boost shared prosperity. In the fiscal year of 2015, we invested nearly $18 billion in financing to improve lives in developing countries and tackle the most urgent challenges of development.

The IFC Washington D.C. Headquarters: Washington D.C., where most of IFC’s management sits, is IFC’s headquarters and manages IFC’s global program. Approximately 50% of IFC’s legal department is based in Washington D.C., including the General Counsel and the Deputy General Counsels.

The IFC Istanbul Operations Center:　Istanbul is the Operations Center of IFC’s Europe and Middle East, North Africa (EMENA) region and the office houses approximately 120 IFC staff. This region comprises Algeria, Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Belarus, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Djibouti, Egypt, Estonia, FYR Macedonia, Georgia, Hungary, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Kuwait, Latvia, Lebanon, Libya, Lithuania, Malta, Moldova, Montenegro, Morocco, Poland, Oman, Qatar, Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Syria, Tajikistan, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, UAE, Ukraine, Uzbekistan,　West Bank & Gaza and Yemen.

The IFC Hong Kong Operations Center:　IFC’s Hong Kong office is the hub for IFC’s East Asia and Pacific Region.　IFC staff in Hong Kong currently numbers over 100. The East Asia and Pacific Region is comprised of Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Lao P.D.R., Malaysia, Mongolia, Myanmar, the Pacific Islands, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Thailand, Timor Leste and Vietnam.

The IFC Bangkok Field Office: Located near the intersection between East and South Asia, IFC’s Bangkok office has over 30 staff members providing investment and advisory services for clients in both East and South Asia and the Pacific and support functions (legal, environment and social). IFC’s Financial Institutions Group has a large number of investment staff in this office, including the Regional Director and Regional Manager, while the Manufacturing, Agriculture and Services and Infrastructure and Natural Resources Departments are also represented. The legal team comprises two lawyers and one paralegal.

The IFC Beijing Field Office: Beijing is a large regional office with approximately 74 staff who oversee the largest portfolio in IFC.　Several Regional Managers are located in Beijing. This office serves China, Mongolia and complements the work done in the IFC Hong Kong operational center.

The IFC Delhi and Mumbai Field Offices:　IFC’s strategy in South Asia is built on three pillars:　1) IFC aims to promote economic inclusion at the base of the pyramid, particularly in the low income states of India; 2) Help address climate change impacts; and 3) Encourage global and regional integration including promoting investments from South Asia into Africa.　IFC’s office in New Delhi is the hub for business in South Asia, and provides investment and advisory services to clients and partners in India, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka.

The IFC Bogota Field Office: IFC‘s office in Bogota is the hub for the Andean Region, which comprises Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia and Venezuela. IFC supports sectors that are essential for the region’s social and economic development, such as infrastructure, health, education, agroindustry and public-private associations. This office has about 80 staff and consultants who are involved in investment and advisory services project work and support functions (legal, human resources and communications).

The IFC S?o Paulo Field Office:　 IFC’s office in S?o Paulo oversees its investments and advisory services in Brazil and houses approximately 70 staff.　IFC’s strategy in Brazil aims to support investments in the Northeast and Amazon, help innovative companies access new markets and products to promote competition, and increase IFC’s advisory support to local governments through public-private partnerships in infrastructure and the environment.

The IFC Mexico City Field Office:　 IFC’s office in Mexico City is the hub for business development and client relationship management in Mexico and Central America and the office houses approximately 56 staff. Through an integrated approach providing investments and advisory services, IFC supports private sector projects that seek long-term development impact.　IFC’s strategy in Mexico focuses on priority areas that can increase economic growth rates and reduce poverty.

The IFC Johannesburg and Nairobi Hubs: IFC’s strategy in Sub-Saharan Africa focuses on supporting agriculture, power, infrastructure, health, education and financial markets. With approximately 160 and 137 staff members respectively, the Johannesburg and Nairobi offices are the hubs for business development and client relationship management in Sub-Saharan Africa. Lawyers in these offices provide investment and advisory support across all sectors.

The IFC Legal Internship

IFC is looking for an unpaid intern for each office noted above either with a stipend/ fellowship from another source (such as a law school public service fellowship) to provide for living and other expenses, or through a semester long internship program where the student obtains academic credits from the school.　The stipend should be provided by a third party institution, and not by the intern personally. In the case of internships for academic credit, the law school needs to provide a letter to IFC confirming that the student is obtaining such credits. The intern would work directly with, and report to, IFC’s attorneys and paralegal(s) resident.　The intern would be provided with appropriate office space and generally be expected to work from 9am – 6pm on weekdays, with an hour lunch break. In the case of semester long internships for academic credits, IFC and the student would agree on a schedule to fit the student‘s class requirements.　The period from January to June 2016 is expected to be a very busy time, so we would ask the intern not to take leave during those months.　The internships generally last 12 – 18 weeks, and we prefer a longer period as it results in a better learning experience for the intern and is more practical for IFC.

While skills in any regional languages are a plus, we do not require fluency in multiple languages for the internship.　Likewise, we do not require prior experience living or work abroad, though an open attitude and an enthusiasm for this are obviously important.　Good team-work and strong communication skills are a plus, as are a good work ethic and sincere interest in public service and IFC’s mission.　We are particularly interested in diverse candidates from different backgrounds and countries.

Proposed Work for Legal Intern

In the relevant IFC office, the intern’s work will focus primarily on investments and projects by IFC (mainly loans and equity investments) to private companies located in countries in the specific region.　Other than the Washington D.C. office, most of the offices are equipped with a relatively small legal staff, so the intern will be a bit of a “Renaissance Person” having duties including anything from document intensive legal work and organizing closings, to preparing training sessions and assisting in knowledge management, to filing and coordinating with various parties involved.　By way of example, the legal intern’s duties in the IFC office might consist, inter alia, of:

-attending meetings and telephone conferences with the IFC investment officers, IFC lawyers and IFC environmental specialists, as well as IFC’s outside legal counsel in the particular jurisdiction, in order to discuss issues regarding the structuring of transactions from the local law perspective, as well as from a New York or English law perspective, negotiation of documents and related legal matters;

-assisting the IFC lawyers to prepare powers of attorney, confidentiality agreements and mandate letters required to commence work on new projects;

-reviewing term sheets and agreements for accuracy, cross-checking citations, and possibly preparing initial drafts of advisory agreements, amendatory agreements, waiver letters, loan documentation, equity documentation and other transaction agreements for IFC’s investee companies;　

-organizing the documentation, signature and closing mechanics of the projects to which the intern is assigned, including primary responsibility for compiling and verifying the accuracy of conditions of disbursement checklists; and

-preparing and organizing legal training courses for IFC staff, as well as assisting with similar knowledge sharing activities.

As part of the IFC legal team, the intern will be provided appropriate space at IFC’s office, and the resident lawyers would provide training and oversight regarding IFC’s legal agreements and project work.　Our past interns have been very pleased with the program and commented favorably on the high level of responsibility they were given and variety of interesting tasks.　They noted they felt very much part of the team and had a greater depth of “real-life” tasks than at a law firm internship or similar position.　We would be happy for short-listed candidates to speak with former interns to get their views.　

Interested candidates should send their CVs along with a cover letter expressing their interest, dates they are available, and possible sources of fellowship or similar funding, or the possibility of obtaining academic credit for semester long internships from their law schools or otherwise before Thursday, January 7, 2016 by email to:

For internships in Istanbul, Bogota, Mexico City, Sao Paulo and Washington D.C. offices:
cledsummerintern@ifc.org

For internships in Bangkok, Beijing, Hong Kong, Mumbai and New Delhi offices:
IFCAsiaLegalIntern@ifc.org

For internships in Johannesburg and Nairobi offices:
IFCAfricaLegalIntern@ifc.org

Please be sure to note in the subject line of the email your name, law school and the specific IFC office(s) in which you are interested and the dates you are available.　Please note that the Washington D.C. office will only be considering semester long internships.