About Kirkland & Ellis

At Kirkland & Ellis, we don’t just meet the standard for legal excellence — we set it. Our culture is built on teamwork, ingenuity and an unwavering commitment to continuous growth. We tackle the most sophisticated legal challenges with bold ideas and innovative solutions, powered by the exceptional experience and ambition of our 7,000+ people, including 4,000+ attorneys, across 23 offices worldwide. Our dedicated professionals share our lawyers’ commitment to excellence and show up each day to do meaningful work that helps drive global business, investment and innovation forward.

What You’ll Do

Curious about how a high-performing Talent organization runs behind the scenes—and eager to help improve the way work gets done?

The Talent Business Operations Intern supports keeping critical initiatives organized, coordinated, and moving forward. This role provides hands-on exposure to the operational side of Talent, helping ensure the tools, systems, and processes that support the team run smoothly and efficiently.

In this position, you’ll contribute to daily operations while also helping the team think critically about how work is done. You’ll explore new tools and technologies, assist with projects, and support efforts to improve efficiency, accuracy, and scalability across Talent operations. Success in this role comes not just from completing tasks, but from helping make processes better.

This internship is designed as a year-round, in-office opportunity—part-time during the academic year with the potential for additional hours during summer school breaks. Interns are expected to work a minimum of 15 hours per week during the school year. While schedules are flexible to accommodate academic commitments, work will take place onsite during normal business hours to allow for mentorship and guidance from the Talent Business Operations team.

• Operational & Administrative Support – Assist the Talent Business Operations team with daily tasks, including preparing documents, coordinating activities, and responding to requests.
• Internal Communications Coordination – Support the planning and production of the Talent team’s monthly departmental newsletter and other internal communications.
• New Hire Onboarding Support – Help coordinate onboarding for new Talent team members by maintaining documentation, managing system access, sending welcome communications, and supporting hiring managers with tools and templates.
• Operational Infrastructure Management – Help maintain distribution lists, shared folders, and digital workspaces while supporting access requests and tracking operational issues through resolution.
• Documentation, Reporting & Research – Create and maintain spreadsheets, presentations, trackers, and reference materials while assisting with research and special projects.
• Process Improvement & Technology Exploration – Identify opportunities to streamline manual work, explore artificial intelligence tools, and support the rollout of new processes or technologies.

What You’ll Bring

• Must be currently enrolled in a college or university local to Chicago with a major in Business, Human Resources, Operations Management, Information Systems, or a related field, with a GPA of 3.5+.
• Some prior work experience preferred.
• Exceptional ability to manage details, organize information, and produce accurate, high-quality work.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills paired with a service-oriented approach to supporting internal teams.
• A proactive, resourceful mindset with the ability to work independently and follow through on tasks.
• High level of discretion and sound judgment when working with sensitive or confidential information.
• Solid working knowledge of Microsoft 365, including Excel, Word, and PowerPoint.
• Interest in learning and experimenting with new technology and operational tools; experience with platforms such as Microsoft Teams, Copilot, Power Automate, Power BI, SharePoint, or other workflow and automation tools is a strong plus.

If you’re excited to gain hands-on experience in Talent operations while helping improve processes, explore new technologies, and support the systems that keep a Talent team running at its best, we’d love to hear from you.

Compensation

The base salary range below represents the low and high end of the salary range for this position in Chicago. This range may differ based on your geographic location and cost of living considerations. At Kirkland & Ellis, we consider compensation more than just a base salary. We offer an exceptional range of flexible benefits including comprehensive healthcare, paid time off, and retirement. We also offer personal support and tailored learning and development opportunities all designed to help you realize your full potential both in life and at work.

Compensation Range:

Chicago: $25 per hour

How to Apply

Thank you for your interest in Kirkland & Ellis LLP. To complete an application and submit your resume, please click "Apply Now."

Don't meet every job requirement? That's okay! If you're excited about this role but your experience doesn't perfectly fit every qualification, we encourage you to apply anyway. You may be just the right person for this role or others at Kirkland.

Equal Employment Opportunity

All employment decisions, including the recruiting, hiring, placement, training availability, promotion, compensation, evaluation, disciplinary actions, and termination of employment (if necessary) are made without regard to the employee’s race, color, creed, religion, sex, pregnancy or childbirth, personal appearance, family responsibilities, sexual orientation or preference, gender identity, political affiliation, source of income, place of residence, national or ethnic origin, ancestry, age, marital status, military veteran status, unfavorable discharge from military service, physical or mental disability, or on any other basis prohibited by applicable law.

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