Job Summary
Valla CIS Limited builds CIS Portal, a UK compliance platform that helps contractors, subcontractors and their accountants manage HMRC Construction Industry Scheme (CIS) obligations — verification workflows, deduction records, monthly reporting and the paperwork that sits between everyone in a construction supply chain.
We are a small, pre-launch product team. That means the legal and regulatory questions are not theoretical: what the law actually requires becomes a rule in the product, a field in the data model, or a line in a contract template. We are building an internal legal and regulatory knowledge base that the whole company works from.
The role
We are looking for a legal intern — a penultimate- or final-year law student, or a recent law graduate — to work on structured legal and regulatory research supporting our compliance product.
This is a research and drafting role, not a client-facing one. You will investigate defined questions, find and read the primary sources, and turn them into clear written answers our engineers, designers and directors can act on. Your work is reviewed and, where required, escalated to qualified external counsel before anything is relied upon.
If you want to see how legislation actually turns into software, this is an unusually direct view of it.
Your research questions will come from a live legal backlog. Current and upcoming areas include:
1. Employment status and self-employment
2. CIS and VAT mechanics
3. Multi-tier liability and risk flags
4. Data protection and verification
5. Contracts and e-signature
6. Payments, banking and the regulatory perimeter
7. Corporate and intellectual property
Day to day, you will
- Take a defined question, identify the primary sources (legislation, statutory instruments, HMRC manuals and guidance, case law, regulator publications), and read them properly rather than relying on secondary summaries
- Write short, structured research notes: the question, the answer, the authority for it, the residual uncertainty, and what still needs qualified sign-off
- Maintain and expand our internal knowledge base in Confluence, keeping every statement traceable to a citation
- Prepare tightly framed question packs for external counsel so that paid advice is spent efficiently
- Track legislative and HMRC guidance changes relevant to CIS, VAT and employment status, and flag what they break in the product
- Assist with first drafts of contracts, policies and notices for review
- Fact-check product copy and compliance-related wording
What we are looking for
- Currently studying law at penultimate or final-year level, or a recent law graduate
- Genuine competence in legal research: you can find the governing provision, read it accurately, and distinguish it from commentary about it
- Excellent written English — clear, precise, and short. Most of your output is written.
- Care about accuracy over speed, and the confidence to write "this is unclear and needs counsel" instead of guessing
- Comfortable working independently in a remote, asynchronous team and asking questions early
Advantageous (not required)
- Interest in or exposure to UK tax, employment, construction, financial services regulation or data protection
- Familiarity with legislation.gov.uk, HMRC manuals, BAILII, Westlaw or LexisNexis
- Interest in technology, product or compliance automation
- Working knowledge of Ukrainian is helpful for collaboration with parts of our team, though all deliverables are produced in English
What we offer
- Real, substantive legal work from week one — no photocopying, no coffee runs
- Direct exposure to a genuinely complex and commercially live regulatory area (CIS, VAT, employment status, FCA perimeter, UK GDPR)
- Feedback on your written work from senior stakeholders and, on escalated matters, from qualified counsel
- A written reference and a portfolio of research work you can point to
- Flexible hours arranged around your studies or exams
- Realistic possibility of a longer-term or paid ongoing role as the company grows
Important note about the role
This is an internal research and drafting role within a company. You will not be advising clients, and nothing you produce is issued as legal advice. Where a question requires a qualified opinion, it is escalated to external counsel — part of your job is to make that escalation efficient and well-framed.
How to apply
Send the following to [email protected] with the subject line "Legal Intern — [your name]":
- Your CV
- A short note (max 250 words) on why this area interests you
- A writing sample — a piece of legal research or analysis you have written (coursework is fine)
Shortlisted candidates will be asked to complete a short paid research task: one narrow legal question, answered in one page with citations. It should take no more than two hours.
Valla CIS Limited is an equal opportunity employer. We welcome applications from all backgrounds and will make reasonable adjustments to our process on request.
Pay: £25,420.00-£30,000.00 per year
Work Location: Remote
