Protect a tech startup as it grows. Prove it on the record.
Gain real legal experience and create evidence you can show employers. You help a tech startup with its contracts, data protection, compliance and company records, under the founder's direction, and you leave with real deliverables and a Tech Founder reference.
Open to every level, from first steps to leading the team. Voluntary and fully remote, up to three hours a day across a 60 Volunteer day term.
Real documents, real decisions, early in your career.
Legal training is long and early roles can be narrow. In an early tech startup you see contracts, privacy, intellectual property and company records side by side, and your preparation helps a founder make faster, safer decisions.
Real documents
Contracts, policies and registers for a live company.
Broad exposure
Commercial, data protection, IP and corporate in one place.
Evidence you can show
Templates, reviews and registers you prepared.
Find your starting point.
Tech startups need legal people at every level. Check which description fits you, what you should already know and what you would take on.
Law students
Law students and graduates, including those preparing for legal qualifications.
- You should already know
- Legal research and clear, careful writing.
- You would take on
- Research, document preparation and keeping company records in order with guidance.
From another field
People from compliance, contracts, procurement, HR or administration.
- You should already know
- How to read a contract and follow a process carefully.
- You would take on
- Contract tracking, policy updates and data protection registers.
Already in legal
Paralegals, trainee and junior lawyers and compliance officers who want startup experience.
- You should already know
- Contract review, data protection and company law basics.
- You would take on
- Reviewing contracts, drafting templates and owning a compliance area.
Ready to lead
Qualified lawyers, in-house counsel and compliance leads, including people semi-retired or returning after a break.
- You should already know
- How to advise a business and manage legal risk.
- You would take on
- Leading the legal team, setting priorities and preparing matters for sign-off.
Seven legal roles, one pathway.
These are the legal roles tech startups recruit as they sign customers, handle data and prepare to raise funding. Start in one, then grow across the team as your Volunteer Terms add up.
Legal Lead
Owns the legal priorities, reviews the team's output and prepares matters for the founder's sign-off.
Commercial Contracts
Reviews and prepares customer, supplier and partner contracts.
Data Protection and Privacy
Keeps privacy notices, consents and data registers in line with GDPR.
Company Secretarial and Governance
Keeps statutory registers, board minutes and filings in order.
Intellectual Property Support
Runs trade mark searches and keeps IP records and assignments in place.
Compliance and Risk
Tracks the rules that apply and keeps the risk register current.
Legal Research and Policies
Researches questions and keeps terms, policies and templates up to date.
Opportunities change daily. Create your free Volunteer profile to see live legal opportunities and apply.
What a Volunteer Term can look like.
Every tech startup is different. This example, a data protection project, shows the kind of deliverables a legal Volunteer takes on, step by step.
Learn the product and its data
Map what personal data the product collects and why.
Build the data register
Create a record of processing activities with the founder.
Update the privacy notice
Draft an updated privacy notice and cookie policy in plain English.
Check the suppliers
List the suppliers that handle data and the agreements in place.
Prepare for sign-off
Summarise gaps and next steps for the founder and their lawyer.
Contributor, then owner, then lead.
Many Volunteers continue for up to three consecutive Volunteer Terms by mutual agreement. Each term can add responsibility, and every handover matters, because succession planning keeps the startup moving when you move on.
Contribute
Research, prepare documents and keep company records in order.
Own
Own a legal area such as contracts or data protection.
Lead
Lead the legal team, coach newer Volunteers and hand over documented templates and registers.
Leave with evidence, not a list of courses.
Depending on your role and the deliverables you complete, a Volunteer Term can leave you with evidence a hiring manager can check.
Documents you prepared
Contracts, policies and templates for a live company.
Registers you built
Data protection, IP and company registers.
Research you delivered
Clear answers to real legal questions.
Risks you flagged
Gaps found and fixed before they became problems.
A Tech Founder reference
You can ask the Tech Founder you collaborated with for a reference.
Global connections
Connections with founders and legal professionals across 158+ countries.
AI drafts. People are accountable.
AI can now draft clauses, summarise contracts and research questions in seconds. It can also be confidently wrong. Checking, judging risk and taking responsibility remain human tasks, and Volunteers who can use AI carefully will stand out.
Faster first drafts
Use AI for first drafts, then check every line.
Spot the risk
Know which clauses matter and why.
Accountable people
A person, not a tool, signs off what leaves the company.
Collaborate across the startup.
No team stands alone at an early tech startup. These are the pathways you will collaborate with most.
Finance
The finance team you support on contracts and company records.
HR
The people team whose agreements and policies you help keep current.
Operations
The operations team whose suppliers and tools you review.
All career pathways
See every pathway, from market research to legal.
What happens after you click.
Four simple steps from sign up to your first deliverable.
Create your free profile
Sign up as a Volunteer. It takes a couple of minutes.
Set out your legal skills
Add your experience, the tools you know and any results, honestly.
Apply to opportunities
Apply to legal opportunities at tech startups, up to three live applications at a time.
Agree and deliver
Interview, sign the Volunteer Agreement, agree the outcome brief and deliver from Day 1 with daily and weekly updates.
Before you apply.
Can I join as a law student? +
Is this paid? +
How much time must I commit? +
Will I give legal advice? +
Can this count towards my legal training? +
Will this help me get a job? +
Help a startup grow on solid legal ground.
Join a tech startup's legal team for a 60 Volunteer day term. Free, fully remote and flexible.
Create your free profile, set out your skills and interests, and apply for suitable tech startup opportunities. You can hold up to three live applications at a time.