qLegal Externships Frequently Asked Questions

No. We work with a wide range of innovative start-ups tackling real-world challenges across many sectors such as GreenTech, MedTech, EdTech, LegalTech and more.

Yes. Although in-person placements are encouraged, externships can be fully remote or hybrid. You and your extern can agree on what works best.

It depends. The qLegal team matches you with an extern based on your start-up’s specific legal needs and the student’s skills and areas of interest. However, if you decide to pay your extern the London Living Wage, you'll be able to interview up to three shortlisted students before making your final choice.

Externs are bright, enthusiastic postgraduate law students from Queen Mary University of London. They come with diverse backgrounds, some have legal practice experience or qualifications in their home countries, some come from commercial or start-up roles, and all are motivated to apply their skills in real-world business settings.

No. Externs are not qualified solicitors and are not supervised by external lawyers. While some may hold legal qualifications in other jurisdictions, this is not guaranteed. Their role is to support your team with legal and commercial tasks, not to act as legal advisers.

Externs do not provide legal advice, but they can support you with:

• Reviewing and summarising legal documents;
• Researching legal and commercial topics such as IP, GDPR, regulatory frameworks;
• Preparing internal resources, founder toolkits or policy drafts;
• Helping you understand how to work effectively with lawyers;
• Developing your legal database;
• and many more...

Yes. After the programme finishes in March 2027, if both parties agree and wish to continue collaborating, you’re welcome to directly employ the extern.

Please note that any ongoing arrangement would be outside the scope of the programme and the extern would need to be paid by your start-up.