How to Make the Most of a Virtual Legal Internship

Virtual legal internships (including Lexfolio’s own free content internship) are now common, but many students treat them less seriously than in-person ones, which limits what they actually get from the experience. Here’s how to approach one properly.

Treat deadlines and communication as seriously as an in-person role

Virtual settings make it easy to be lax about response times and deadlines since there’s no physical office accountability. Responding promptly to feedback and meeting agreed deadlines is exactly the professionalism signal that earns a strong reference later — and its absence is noticed just as much remotely as in person.

Ask for specific, actionable feedback

Rather than accepting generic praise or criticism, ask what specifically to improve in your next piece of work — a vague “good job” or “needs work” teaches you nothing; a specific note (“your issue-spotting is strong but your citations need to follow a consistent format”) is something you can actually act on.

Build a portfolio as you go

Keep a running record of what you actually produced (drafts, research memos, published pieces) rather than relying on memory when it’s time to update your resume — specifics fade quickly, and a contemporaneous record makes writing an accurate, detailed resume entry far easier later.

Don’t treat it as passive — ask questions

A virtual setting makes it easy to stay quiet rather than ask a clarifying question, but asking shows engagement and usually produces better final work than guessing at an unclear brief.

More: Lexfolio’s free virtual internship · what to expect from your first internship · free LL.B. notes