Clifford Chance

In 2020, we launched our Global Virtual Internship programme to enhance access to the legal profession. Since launch, the programme has provided far-reaching access to world-class development resources that clearly tapped an appetite for learning; we have received over 150,000 enrolments from students from more than 1,300 universities and 143 countries. The learning was developed alongside our Global Clifford Chance Academy and external learning specialists, and the topics covered include Antitrust, Cybersecurity, Climate Change, Business & Human Rights and Sustainable Finance.  

Each internship consists of four to eight hours of bitesize content designed around three to four tasks, each of which has an introductory video, supporting documents and instructions. Upon completion, individuals receive a Global Clifford Chance Academy certification.

One of the internships developed in FY23 is on the topic of ‘Risk and Resilience’ and involved partnering alongside global insurance and reinsurance business Swiss Re.

The Risk and Resilience internship is designed to help future lawyers develop practical skills in key risk and resilience areas, including building a foundation and understanding of insurance and reinsurance, drafting and written communication skills, identifying and assessing ESG risk issues and exploring the variety of insurance and reinsurance policies available to cover climate-related risk.

“Our teams have produced a novel, practical and enjoyable joint module,” said Hermann Geiger, Group Chief Legal Officer, Swiss Re. “The offering represents a rare opportunity to see legal work from both in-house and private practice perspectives. The virtual internship is a fantastic global initiative where students get to learn a great deal from these real-world tasks.” 

Cheng Li Yow, Partner, Clifford Chance, explains how the initiative came about: “The idea was born when we were sharing ideas about our mutual commitment and excitement around sustainability. The internship focuses on risk and resilience, which was the perfect combination of both those things. We wanted to give as many aspiring lawyers as possible an insight into working for a client such as Swiss Re and to understand the critical and fascinating role that (re)insurance plays in making our world more resilient to climate change. The platform breaks that down and does so in an interactive and interesting way.” 

Our Global Virtual Internships are open access, which means anyone can participate and have access to these programmes from anywhere. They contribute to United Nations' Sustainable Development Goal 4, Quality education. Register for an internship today!