Columbia University summer internship opportunity with the Business and Human Rights Centre Corporate Legal Accountability Programme

Columbia University summer internship opportunity with the Business and Human Rights Centre Corporate Legal Accountability Programme 

**This opportunity is specific to the Columbia Human Rights Internship Program. External applicants will not be considered** 

About the opportunity 

The Business and Human Rights Centre team welcomes an enthusiastic and reliable law student committed to human rights to work with our Corporate Legal Accountability (CLA) Programme over the summer. The CLA operates the only global information hub on corporate legal accountability where we track strategic lawsuits against companies over human rights abuses, and monitor legislative development to help hold companies accountable. We do so that lawyers and legal advocates are equipped with the tools they need to support communities’ access to legal remedy.  

 
This is a Berlin-based internship. There is a possibility of also being based in London if the student already has the right to work in the UK. 

Your tasks and learning components will include: 

1. Online legal research (find and analyse 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 on corporate accountability) and support with tasks related to the Centre’s priority topics, such as:   
 

• technology and human rights; 

• just transition litigation;  

• regulatory frameworks (mandatory human rights due diligence and access to remedy globally and in Europe; UN Binding treaty on business and human rights), and  

• corporate criminal accountability. 
   

2. Drafting and updating lawsuit profiles: research and summarise legal information about lawsuits brought against companies over human rights abuses and present them in a concise and accessible format.   
 

3. Familiarise and support with regular Programme outputs:  

• draft and support the dissemination of the CLA Quarterly Update newsletter highlighting a specific timely topic as well as key developments in corporate legal accountability;  

• select key news items for inclusion in the Centre’s Weekly Update newsletter.  
   

4. Participate in (virtual) meetings, including fortnightly Global Team meetings with all staff and Regional Researchers across the global organisation.  

5. Additional Tasks: from time to time, you may also be asked to assist the Centre with general corporate legal accountability advocacy work, such as supporting our company response mechanism; liaising with relevant organisations etc. 

Eligibility criteria 

• JD students currently enrolled at Columbia University Law School 

• Secure funding from the Columbia Human Rights Internship Program 

• Demonstrated academic or professional experience carrying out international and/or multi-jurisdictional legal research, analysing and summarising information. Prior law degree is a plus   

• Interest in and commitment to promoting human rights, especially business and human rights 

• Excellent English language skills (reading/writing/speaking). Fluency in another language such as French, Spanish, Arabic or Russian is a plus  

• Ability to work independently in a multicultural team and use own initiative 

About us 

The Business and Human Rights Centre (BHRC) is a global non-profit organisation that works with communities, civil society, companies and governments to drive 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 e-newsletter has over 16,000 subscribers globally, including advocates, business-people, governments, investors and the UN. 

The Centre’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 in ending this impunity and aim to equip lawyers, legal practitioners and affected people pursuing strategic litigation around the world with networks, analysis and information to help build stronger cases against companies implicated in human rights abuses, support the development of novel legal strategies, establish effective legal precedent and improve access to legal remedy. 

In practice, this is reflected through the Programme’s general work of: 

• Informing: Daily monitoring of international legal and legislative developments in the field of business and human rights on our website. Given the Centre’s current thematic priorities, we track the latest legal news related to natural resources and the just transition, tech and human rights and labour rights.  

• Reflecting and Strategising: Highlighting and analysing timely topics and sharing key legal developments through our CLA Quarterly Update . These updates highlight critical topics in the corporate legal accountability field, provide objective and concise information on key legal developments, include new and updated profiles of lawsuits against companies over alleged human rights abuses and offer key resources for grassroots and community practitioners. 

• Monitoring: Adding cases of strategic litigation to our lawsuit profiles database, which already contains over 300 cases brought against companies over allegations of human rights and environmental abuses. This database is the only substantial repository of corporate legal accountability cases and judgements that is freely accessible. It provides important insight into trends and challenges in respect of strategic human rights litigation against companies, and aims to aid legal practitioners in developing strategies to counter corporate abuse in local and regional contexts. 

• Connecting: Through our Strategic Litigation Network in Latin America, Lawyer Directory and convenings, we connect communities, legal practitioners and other experts from around the globe to foster exchange, cooperation, and peer-to peer learning on key CLA issues. 

To apply 

Please submit a cover letter, a CV and writing sample via the Bamboo HR portal. If you need any additional support, please contact Bea Ocampo at: [email protected].