Legal Policies & Procedures Intern

At Van Metre, we believe that each employee contributes directly to our growth, success, and culture. Van Metre has an exciting opportunity for a Part-time Legal Policies & Procedures Intern within our Investment Properties division!  This is a unique opportunity for a law student to work closely with our in-house legal team and corporate leaders on a large-scale policy modernization initiative.

This role is ideal for a law student interested in policy development and compliance, real estate operations, and corporate law – and is ready to gain hands-on experience working with our in-house legal team, reporting to our Vice President and Assistant General Counsel.

What You’ll Gain:

• Practical Legal Experience: You will support the strategic overhaul of more than 100 policies and procedures governing the operations of our commercial and residential Investment Properties portfolio (including both self-managed and third-party-managed properties). Your work will help modernize our policy library, improve clarity, reduce risk, and make guidance more accessible across the company.
• Real Estate Operations Insight: Learn how legal, operations, and training teams collaborate across commercial office, retail, and residential real estate assets.
• Collaboration: Work directly with our Vice President and Assistant General Counsel, Director of Training and Development, and leadership within our Investment Properties Division.
• Policy Innovation: Help design a new structure and format for our policy suite, making content more user-friendly, legally sound, and scalable.
• Flexible Work Environment: We offer flexible hours to accommodate academic schedules and are open to 100% remote work. However, we welcome candidates who enjoy working in person and offer office space for collaboration. Work any time of the day you want, anywhere you would like!
• Professional Development: If local, interns can attend Van Metre events, training sessions, and networking opportunities as part of our Summer Internship Program.

Roles & Responsibilities:

• Review, reformat, and reinvent approximately 100 existing policies and procedures..
• Help evaluate each policy for clarity, relevance, legal risk, and ease of implementation.
• Conduct stakeholder interviews or help collect input from business users and leaders.
• Identify inconsistencies, pain points, and outdated practices in the current policy structure.
• Manage policy documents and updates within our internal platform (SharePoint).
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to gather feedback and approvals on policy revisions.
• Conduct legal research on property operations, labor laws, compliance and training best practices.

Qualifications:

• Current law school student (preferred focus: employment law, labor law, or contract law)
• Strong legal research, writing, and editing skills.
• Attention to detail and ability to analyze legal and operational issues.
• Ability to work independently while managing deadlines and approval processes.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite, and ability to work within SharePoint is a plus.
• Ability to visit office in Northern Virginia during first week of internship (preferred but not required).

Onboarding & Work Environment:

• Start Date: Flexible; ideally May/June for summer start (with potential to extend into fall).
• Hours: Approximately 10-20 hours/week. Flexible working hours (work at your own pace at your preferred hours – weekends/evenings etc.) but intern will need to be available for brief virtual check-ins with their manager during standard business hours every 2-3 weeks.
• Pay: $35/hr plus bonus
• Candidates will begin the internship in person at our Fairfax Corporate Office to meet the team, receive training, and get an overview of our internal resources.
• Hybrid or remote work is available, with in-office opportunities for collaboration.

If you're a law student looking to build your policy, compliance, and corporate law experience, we’d love to hear from you!

Van Metre Core Values

Integrity; Ownership; Respect and Dignity; Diversity and Inclusion; Teamwork; Community; Work/Life Balance                                                          

Van Metre Mission Statement

The mission of Van Metre Companies is to build and continually improve upon the storied reputation, earned over the years since the Company’s founding in 1955, of providing top quality homes, investment properties and services to our customers and clients. The Company’s emphasis on integrity, professionalism and philanthropy ingrained by our founder Albert G. Van Metre, Sr. has garnered trust and respect in the Washington, D.C. area and beyond. It is critical to our future that we maintain that reputation and assure that Van Metre Companies continues to excel in real estate development and construction and in the management of apartment, retail and office investment properties, as well as in the provision of mortgage and related services. It is the task of our dedicated, energetic, and involved professionals to advance our ability to set the benchmark for luxury living and refined commercial development. The capstone of our mission is to make the “Van Metre” signature an icon for elegant residential communities, and industry leading condominium and apartment communities, as well as Class A neighborhood retail centers and office developments.