Intern, Legal & Compliance
Kickstart your legal career in Brussels! Join South Pole as a Legal & Compliance Intern to gain hands-on experience in global entity management, governance & legal ops for the climate transition.
South Pole is an energetic, global company offering comprehensive sustainability solutions and services. With offices spanning all continents across the globe, we strive to create a sustainable society and economy that positively impacts our climate, ecosystems and developing communities. With our solutions, we inspire and enable our customers to create value from sustainability-related activities.
Our Corporate Functions team is the “enablement engine” of South Pole. Behind the scenes, we provide the business with world-class solutions and best practices that sustain business growth and success. We cover key areas such as Finance, HR, Office Management, Legal, IT, Operations, etc. If you are a smart, ambitious and dynamic professional with a strong passion to make a real difference in the fight against climate change, the below position may be right for you!
Job summary:
We are looking for a proactive and detail-oriented Legal & Compliance Intern to join our global Legal & Compliance (L&C) team in Brussels. In this role, you will support our daily legal operations, entity governance across multiple jurisdictions, and corporate secretarial duties. This is an exceptional opportunity to gain hands-on experience in corporate law, legal project management, and global legal operations within a fast-paced, purpose-driven sustainability company.
Main tasks & responsibilities:
1. Corporate Secretarial & Entity Management Support:
Board Meeting Preparation & Resolutions: Assist in compiling and organizing pre-meeting board packs (agendas, prior minutes, financial reports) and coordinate board logistics (RSVPs, quorum check, calendar invites) for entities holding quarterly meetings.
Drafting & Lifecycle Management: Draft board meeting minutes and quarterly circular/written resolutions based on approved templates (e.g., Swiss law corporate matters including director changes, AGMs, circular resolutions).
Entity Management Platform (KLEA): Provide day-to-day administrative support on KLEA, including user permissions, updating corporate data/events (officer changes, address updates), and uploading executed documents.
Director Governance: Prepare and maintain "Director Onboarding Kits" for various jurisdictions, ensuring insurance policies and country-specific duty documents are ready upon new nominations.
2. Signature Collection & Document Control:
Manage electronic signature workflows via DocuSign and coordinate physical (wet-ink) signatures required under local laws.
Maintain an up-to-date Wet-Ink Signature Tracker for all pending requests.
Organize and standardize corporate documentation to maintain a unified, clean folder structure across all legal entities.
3. Knowledge Management & Legal Operations:
Repository & Precedents: Build and maintain repositories for relevant backup clause positions and contract precedents for non-standard agreements.
Process & Folder Optimization: Reorganize and simplify the L&C team folders on Google Drive, and prepare standardized matter handover sheets for team vacations and departures.
Internal Communication & Handbooks: Update L&C team pages on Basecamp, and prepare an induction handbook and slide deck (covering legal policies, disclaimers, and business line responsibilities).
Cross-Functional Alignment: Update and maintain the registry of external legal counsels, and centralize information regarding other teams' policies that impact the legal department (e.g., finance payment terms, use of entities).
Provide general daily operational support to the legal team and assist with legal project management dashboards.
Requirements:
Essential:
Must be currently enrolled in a University or Higher Education institution and able to provide an official, university-issued internship agreement (convention de stage / stageovereenkomst).
Currently pursuing a degree in Law, Business Law, Corporate Governance, or a related field.
Strong interest in corporate secretarial tasks, entity management, and legal operations.
Excellent organizational skills with a sharp eye for detail and document structuring.
Proficiency in English (written and spoken); clear and professional communication skills.
Ability to handle confidential information with discretion and professionalism.
Comfortable working with digital tools (Google Workspace, Word, Excel/Sheets) and quick to learn new platforms (e.g., DocuSign, entity management software).
Desirable:
Familiarity with Swiss corporate law or general European corporate governance.
Prior internship experience in an in-house legal department or law firm.
Experience with legal entity management platforms (such as KLEA), project management tools (Basecamp), or e-signature tools (DocuSign).
Additional language skills (French, Dutch, German, or Spanish).
What we offer:
At South Pole, we care about our employees as much as we care about the planet. South Pole is not just an employer, we are a Team. South Pole does not just offer people a job, we offer you a career. By joining our team, you will find strong purpose and deep meaning in everything you do. You will have the chance to make a real difference for our clients and for the planet, working alongside a passionate team of like-minded colleagues, while building your knowledge/skills and developing your career in a fun, dynamic, international and fast-growing organisation.
Status: This is an unpaid curricular internship requiring an official agreement from your university/educational institution (convention de stage).
Impact & Learning: Strong purpose and deep meaning in everything you do, working alongside a passionate team of like-minded colleagues in a dynamic, international environment.
Perks: Public transport reimbursement within Brussels (STIB / SNCB) and meal vouchers.
We’re a planet of 7.5 billion unique and different people. We all have a contribution to make and South Pole is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, colour, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, national origin, marital status or disability. Our recruitment is decided on the basis of qualifications, merit and business need.
- Department
- Corporate Services
- Locations
- Brussels
- Remote status
- Hybrid
Brussels
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Work-life balance
From flexible working hours to flexible workplace (home office), with above-average vacation allowances, we strive to make the work and family life puzzle an easy one for our employees.
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Flexible Vacation Benefits
Options to buy up to 5 extra days of time off.
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Life Insurance
Available to all employees across the world.
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Care for your Wellbeing
Access to mental, physical and financial wellbeing support through our Employee Assistance Program (TELUS Health).
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Parental leave
Should any of our employees need to take time off the Iceberg as a result of a new addition to their household, we are happy to be able to offer competitive Paid Parental leave to support them during this time.
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Compassionate Leave
Sometimes life is unpredictable, and when unfortunate events occur, we want to give you peace of mind so you feel fully supported during this time.
What makes us unique
At South Pole, we are first and foremost a purpose-driven Company. People join us because they believe in our mission and want to be part of a community that fights together for our shared values and beliefs. But that is not the only reason why working at South Pole is such a rewarding experience.
- We know that our vision to help create a greener world is both bold and challenging. To achieve it, we settle for nothing less than the absolute best. We form a Community that is stronger than the sum of its parts.
- Entrepreneurial at heart. It’s not just our founders who are entrepreneurs. We actively promote an innovative mindset at all levels of the organisation, where each and every employee is encouraged to challenge the status quo and empowered to make decisions.
- Growing employees in a growing company. With a team of smart, passionate and engaged colleagues, as well as increasing demand from our clients, opportunities to learn, develop our skills and grow our careers are endless.
- All for one, and one for all! Above all other things, what truly drives our dedication and commitment to our purpose is our colleagues. We learn from each other and grow together. Because that is who Penguins are.
About South Pole
Our story began in Zurich, with 5 friends* in 2002. They had a belief and a vision to shape and change the future of the world through climate empowerment, education and projects with their non-profit organisation; MyClimate. These ‘social entrepreneurs’ went on to pioneer climate change with the introduction of South Pole in 2006*. More than 20 years on, with the support of some of the most passionate and talented entrepreneurs around them, who are empowered to all play their part and with their founding belief in aligning purpose with passion, people and profit, they have created South Pole, an organisation that has gone onto positively impact the lives of over 20 million people across the world through its projects, saving over 20,000 km2 of forests from deforestation.
*Patrick Bürgi, Thomas Camerata, Renat Heuberger, Ingo Puhl, and Christoph Sutter
*2006 Joined by Marco Hirsbrunner and Christoph Grobel