Open call for Internships at ESA (Deadline 31.October 2017): About Being a Legal Intern and How to Apply

First of all, Piera tell us a bit about yourself:
My name is Piera Amato, I am a young Italian graduate in Law. I am currently attending the master in European Legal Studies at the College of Europe in Bruges. During my university years, I have always looked for opportunities to go above and beyond what was strictly required by the academic curriculum.

What made you to apply for the internship at ESAs Legal Services Department?

First of all, I spent one year abroad, as an Erasmus student, at the Carlos III University of Madrid: this experience radically changed my point of view about my future career. I realized I wanted to pursue a meaningful career within the field of European and International law. 

For these reasons, once I returned from Madrid, I started looking for new experiences which could be useful for reaching my goal, and to improve my knowledge and skills. At that point I realised that I wanted to pursue an internship at the European Space Agency (ESA) in Paris, one of the most important International Organizations in the world - and a great example of cooperation between European states. I was very much supported by Professor Alberto Lucarelli, Tenured Professor of Constitutional Law at the Federico II University, and was thrilled to be admitted to do an internship at the Legal Services Department headed by Marco Ferrazzani.

Describe your role as an intern in the Legal Services Department:

Once I arrived at ESA, I immediately understood that I would have had to commit myself to the job in the fullest possible manner. The Legal Services Department comprises of twenty internationally renowned lawyers. My tutor was Ioanna Thoma, who is an international lawyer with professional experience in the private sector and academia prior to joining ESA. I assisted her in the preparation of a comparative study on the very interesting topic of competition law. I also worked on other subjects, such as Tax Law, International Civil Law, and European Union Law. The interesting aspect of working in an International Organization is that the job is always transversal: each subject you work on is always linked with other subjects, and you always need to have a global understanding of the matter you are working on, from different points of view. Furthermore, I found it really interesting that working in an International Organization, and particularly at ESA, entails a constant collaboration with political scientists, economists, and Engineers, which is incredibly stimulating and sometimes challenging.

What did you take away from your time at ESA?

The work environment was very friendly, but at the same time thought provoking: the first month was rather hard, but then, thanks to Ioanna, I started to understand how I had to undertake legal research and problem-solving, how I had to present my work in a professional (non-academic way), and how to optimize my efforts under time pressure.

The months spent at ESA were truly intense, and allowed me to learn a lot. I have learnt a lot about myself, about my limits and about my potential. I have learnt a lot about working in a professional environment, and about the subjects I have worked on. I have met a lot of interesting people and highly qualified lawyers, and each of them taught me something. At the end of my internship I knew I had improved not only my professional curriculum, but also my human curriculum.

In summary, working at ESA has been one of the best experiences of my life so far, and for this I really owe a lot to Ioanna, to my professor Alberto Lucarelli and to Marco Ferrazzani. I am sure that this internship will be a milestone in my future career.

Open Call for 2018 Internships at ESAs Legal Services Department:

If you are a student wishing to apply for an internship at the ESA Legal Services Department, please follow this link for details: http://www.esa.int/About_Us/Careers_at_ESA/Student_Internships2

Please note, that due to a temporary relocation of ESA HQ in Paris, internships in the Legal Services Department will only be offered at ESA ESTEC. Hence, we ask that you follow the instructions for submitting an application to ESA ESTEC. Deadline for applying for a 2018 internship is 31. October 2017.

The opinions expressed in this article is that of the subject(s) interviewed, and not the ECSL or ESA.

ECSL webpage editor: Mari Eldholm – mari.amanda.eldholm@esa.int