Presented by
Hi, it's Anuj.
This week I did something most applicants never do. I opened the actual internship ads from the legal teams at Hermès and Chanel and read them line by line. Not the summary on a job board. The full ad, including the boring bits at the bottom where they tell you who they really want.
Three ads, all live right now, all starting January 2027:
Hermès: IP and anti-counterfeiting legal intern, Paris (6 months)
Chanel: Intellectual Property intern, Geneva (6 months, full-time, in person)
Chanel: IT and Digital Contracts legal intern, Neuilly-sur-Seine (6 months)
Here's what they have in common, and what it means for you.
1. They're hiring for January now
All three ads are for a January 2027 start, and they're live in October. If you start looking in December, these are gone. The ads I read went up roughly three months before the start date, and some houses post even earlier. October and November are when you should be sending applications, not thinking about them.
2. English is non-negotiable, even in Paris and Geneva
Hermès asks for fluent written and spoken English. Chanel's IP team goes further and says the working language is English, with an advanced level of written English and strong reading comprehension required. Other languages are "a bonus".
So if you've been worried that you need perfect French to intern at a French house, relax a little. You need excellent English first. French helps you stand out; it rarely gets you in on its own.
3. They want you to have already picked IP
Chanel's IP ad asks for a completed law degree plus a specialisation in IP, "completed or currently following", with "strong knowledge of trademarks/designs". Hermès asks for a postgraduate student specialising in IP who can show experience in the field.
Translation: "I love fashion" isn't the hook. A trademark or IP module on your transcript, an IP moot, a stint at an IP firm, or even a trademark research project is. If you have any of these, they belong at the top of your CV, not buried at the bottom.
4. The work is less glamorous than you think (and that's good news)
Read the task lists and you won't see "attend fashion week". You'll see this:
Managing trademark, design and domain name portfolios across countries (Chanel)
Building evidence files for enforcement cases (Chanel) and following customs and police seizures (Hermès)
Helping draft criminal complaints against counterfeiters and monitoring websites (Hermès)
Drafting and negotiating SaaS and licensing contracts in French and English (Chanel digital)
Excel, PowerPoint and running admin databases on your own (Chanel)
This is good news because it's learnable. If you can show you're organised, careful with detail and comfortable with spreadsheets, you're already speaking their language.
5. IP isn't the only door
Right now Hermès has three legal internships open in Paris: IP and anti-counterfeiting, business law, and compliance. Chanel is hiring an intern for IT and digital contracts, which is really a tech and data law role inside a fashion house.
Everyone fights over the IP internship. Fewer people apply for compliance, contracts or digital. If you've done any contract drafting, data protection or tech law, apply there too.
6. Read the personality line, it's not filler
Hermès asks for adaptability, responsiveness, rigour and "discretion". Chanel wants someone who can "work alone with light supervision" and has "excellent attention to detail".
Luxury legal teams handle unreleased products, ongoing litigation and confidential deals. Discretion and accuracy aren't buzzwords there. Show them in your cover note with one real example, not with adjectives.
One thing to check before you apply
The Hermès IP role is a "stage conventionné", which in France usually means you need an internship agreement from your university. If you've already graduated, check this first, because it decides whether you can take the role at all.
Want help with the rest?
Reading the ad is step one. Turning your CV, cover note and interview answers into what these teams are asking for is where most people get stuck.
That's exactly what we're doing live this Friday, 9 October in Land Your First Fashion Law Internship:
Who is hiring fashion law interns for 2027, with application links and where to send them
Live CV teardowns, so you can see what a shortlisted fashion law CV looks like
The interview questions brand legal teams ask, and what a good answer sounds like
The back doors: IP firms with fashion clients, brand protection agencies and cold emails that get replies
You also get the FLJ Internship Kit (open internships tracker, CV template, cover notes, cold email scripts and an interview question bank) and first dibs on Fashion Law Journal's own next internship intake.
9:00 AM New York · 2:00 PM London · 3:00 PM Paris · 5:00 PM Dubai · 6:30 PM India. One hour, live on Zoom, recording included.
Can't make it live? Register anyway. The recording and the kit come to your inbox either way.
Hit reply and tell me which brand you're aiming for. I read every reply, and the most-requested brands are the ones I'll dig into next.
See you Friday,
Anuj
Founder & Editor-in-Chief, Fashion Law Journal
If you'd rather talk outside the inbox, I'm @anujonrecord on Instagram and Anuj Kumar on LinkedIn.
Internship details are taken from the brands' own job ads as published on 7 October 2026. Roles can close without notice, so check the ad before you apply.
Word from Today's Sponsor
Discover laptops with built-in intelligence.
Shift your workforce into hyper-productivity mode with Dell Pro laptops powered by Intel® Core™ Ultra with Intel vPro®. Shop on Dell Premier.