IFC Legal Internship-Beijing Office
March 2017
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 2016, we invested more than $18 billion in financing to improve lives in developing countries and tackle the most urgent challenges of development.
The IFC Beijing Field Office:Beijingisa large regional office with approximately 70 staff whooversee the largest portfolio in IFC. This office serves China, Mongolia and complements the work done in the IFC Hong Kong operational center.
The IFCLegal Internship
IMPORTANT NOTE PLEASE READ: As strictly provided by our policy, IFC is looking for an unpaid intern for Beijing office i)with a stipend/ fellowship from external source(such as a law school public service fellowship or external entity, e.g. law firm, sponsorship for internship with public/international organizations such as IFC) to provide for living and other expensesin an amount satisfies IFC’s salary rate standard. The 2017 rate for short term intern is RMB 81.4 per hour and 651.2 per day (8 hours), which means, for example, if you are available to do internship with us for 60 working days, your founding resources shall be able to provide funding in an amount not less than RMB39,072and you will be required to provide evidence (e.g. a letter issued by your funding resources) with such information in it before the internship. The stipend should be provided by a third party institution, and not by the intern personally (including the candidate’s parents and relatives, scholarship previously received by the candidate which was not specifically for purpose of supporting internship with public/international organizations such as IFC); ii) through a semester long internship program where the student is able to obtain academic credits from the school. In this case, the law school needs to provide a letter to IFC before the internship confirming that the student is able to obtainsuch credits upon completion of the internship and another letter to IFC after the internship confirming the student has obtained such credits since she/he completed the internship.
The intern would work directly with, and report to, IFC’s attorneysand 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 internships generally last 12 – 18 weeks, and we prefer a longer period and full week schedule as it results in a better learning experience for the intern and is more practical for IFC.
The ideal applicant will have the following attributes:
1. Bachelor or Master of law candidate from a leading law school;
2. Native mandarin speaker and with a high level of English proficiency;
3. Self-motivated, detailed-oriented, team player and quick learner;
4. Previous experience as legal intern is preferred;
5. Strong communication skills;
6. Good work ethic and sincere interest in public service and IFC’s mission.
Proposed Work for Legal Intern
In theIFC office, the intern’s work will focus primarily on investments and projects by IFC (mainly loans and equity investments) to private companies. Beijing officeis 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 Beijing office might consist, inter alia, of:
- attending meetings and telephone conferences with the IFC investment officers, and IFC lawyers, as well as IFC’s outside legal counsel, in order to discuss issues regarding the structuring of transactionsfrom 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 powersof 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;
- supporting the IFC lawyers and external counsel IFC engaged for the security registration, checking and updating the security tab in IFC system.
- 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 a statement about your founding sourcesor the possibility of obtaining academic credit for semester long internships from their law schools or otherwise (we do not accept application without founding information), before March 31,2017by email to:
Please be sure to note in the subject line of the email your name, law schooland the dates you are available.