Legal Intern

Office of the General Counsel
OSI-New York

Application Deadline: December 4, 2009

The Open Society Institute works to build vibrant and tolerant democracies whose governments are accountable to their citizens. To achieve its mission, OSI seeks to shape public policies that assure greater fairness in political, legal, and economic systems and safeguard fundamental rights. On a local level, OSI implements a range of initiatives to advance justice, education, public health, and independent media. At the same time, OSI builds alliances across borders and continents on issues such as corruption and freedom of information. OSI places a high priority on protecting and improving the lives of marginalized people and communities.

Investor and philanthropist George Soros in 1993 created OSI as a private operating and grantmaking foundation to support his foundations in Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. Those foundations were established, starting in 1984, to help countries make the transition from communism. OSI has expanded the activities of the Soros foundations network to encompass the United States and more than 60 countries in Europe, Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Each Soros foundation relies on the expertise of boards composed of eminent citizens who determine individual agendas based on local priorities.

Responsibilities

OSI is seeking to hire a legal intern to work in its Office of the General Counsel. The Office of the General Counsel is an extremely busy office with four attorneys and four legal assistants working on a wide range of matters that include: exempt organizations law, and compliance with tax laws and regulations applicable to private foundations. The Legal Intern will work under the supervision of the Office Manager/Senior Legal Assistant, and will be responsible for:

Providing support to the legal assistants and lawyers as needed;
Maintaining the department's law library;
Maintaining and updating the department's central files;
Assisting the legal assistants with drafting contracts;
Helping coordinate logistics and preparing materials for trainings conducted by the Legal Department;
Arranging for legal documents to be certified or legalized by the NY Department of State or relevant country embassy/consulate; and
Performing clerical duties that include: scanning, filing all outgoing correspondence, incoming fax logs, and attorneys' working files, photocopying, answering phones, drafting and editing correspondence and legal documents, performing basic legal research (LexisNexis).

Qualifications

Undergraduate college student;
Ability to learn quickly and to work independently;
Ability to work under pressure and to manage workload, to prioritize and manage simultaneous tasks, and to meet deadlines within a fast-paced environment;
Excellent communication (verbal and written) skills; superior organizational skills; and strong interpersonal skills;
Pleasant, diplomatic manner and disposition when interacting with colleagues at all levels, attorneys, external contacts and the general public;
Strong computer skills in Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, as well as Internet research;
Some knowledge of LexisNexis a plus, but not necessary; and
Available to work 13-19 hours per week.

Start Date

January 2010

Compensation

Hourly rate commensurate with experience.

To Apply

Please email resume and cover letter with salary requirements before December 4, 2009, to: humanresources@sorosny.org. Include job code in subject line: LEG/INT

Open Society Institute
Human Resources - Code LEG/INT
400 West 59th Street
New York, New York 10019

FAX: 212.548.4675

No phone calls, please. The Open Society Institute is an Equal Opportunity Employer.