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qLegal officially launches 2026-27 Externships Programme

This year’s qLegal Externships programme has 52 host organisations providing externships for CCLS students.

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qLegal is proud to announce the official launch of the 2026-27 Externships programme. This programme offers students the opportunity to spend seven hours a week for five months supporting startup and established companies.

After a summer of recruitment, the programme has grown significantly and now has the largest number of host organisations qLegal has ever worked with. This year, 55 externs have been placed across 52 host organisations of all sizes, from newly incorporated start-ups to more established companies. The externship hosts come from sectors including MedTech, HealthTech and Life Sciences, AI and B2B SaaS, CleanTech and Energy, Deep Tech, EdTech, FinTech, Transport and Mobility, Food and Agriculture, Travel, and LegalTech.
 
After a very successful placement with the Queen Mary University of London Business Development team last year, thanks to Alex Gardiol, PhD,(QMUL Director of Business Development) and Cheta Anyachebelu (QMUL Legal Contracts Manager), Queen Mary Innovation has joined the programme and is hosting two externs this year. Thank you to Phil Clare (CEO of Queen Mary Innovation) and Reitesh Desai (Finance Director of Queen Mary Innovation) for their collaboration.
 
This year’s qLegal kick-off event was hosted at the CMS UK London offices. At this event qLegal wanted hosts and externs to hear from alumni who has been through the programme himself. Samanth Dushyanth (Technology, Media and Telecommunications Law LLM, 2024) was an extern in 2023–24 and stayed on with his host start-up as a legal designer after his externship ended. He shared practical tips on how both externs and hosts can get the most out of the placement.

Some hosts travelled from other cities to meet their externs in person. For many, it was the first time hosts and externs met face to face, this provided a lovely opportunity for externs and hosts to have this first meet and have conversations turn into plans for the months ahead in this externship programme.

qLegal would like to extend its sincere thanks to all 52 host organisations for their support and collaboration. We look forward to following the externs' progress and celebrating their achievements throughout the programme.

We wish all our externs and hosts a successful and rewarding year ahead!

You can find out more about qLegal and everything they do on their website.

 

 

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