Remote Internships and the Four Cs at Cloudflare
Cloudflare’s summer internship program in 2020 was shaped by the pandemic and nationwide protests. For those twelve weeks, the company’s legal intern worked entirely from a living room—a setting where a puppy often interrupted video calls. The experience highlighted how the company adapted its internship structure to remote work while maintaining its mission to help build a better Internet.
Commitment Through Uncertainty
When COVID-19 hit, the company’s response differed from many other employers. Rather than rescinding offers, Cloudflare reassured incoming interns their jobs were secure and went on to double the size of its 2020 summer intern class. This stood in stark contrast to the experience of many law school peers who were left uncertain about their employment status and the feasibility of remote work.
Communication remained consistent throughout the internship. Interns were included in company-wide initiatives addressing the summer’s social climate, rather than being left on the sidelines. On June 18, the day before Juneteenth, the company held a "Day On: Learning and Inclusion," with employees worldwide joining sessions on listening, learning, and taking action in their communities. The legal intern’s manager cleared the schedule to allow participation.
Community Across Teams
The sense of community extended to day-to-day interactions. Members of the Legal, Policy, and Trust & Safety (LPT) team were available for 1:1 Zoom meetings that had nothing to do with specific projects—just conversations about how employees ended up at the company. The intern went 11-for-11 on requests for such meetings. Other interns reported similar experiences of being welcomed into team conversations rather than simply observing.
This community focus was paired with substantive work. Interns were invited to take active roles in meetings and projects rather than shadowing. The legal intern's work included researching privacy laws such as the GDPR, with findings briefed directly to team members involved in key decisions. For instance, when Privacy Counsel Tilly joined in July, the intern presented research on Data Privacy Impact Assessments (DPIAs).
Real Work and Collaboration
In another project, the intern and a fellow student were empowered to draft WIPO complaints under the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy when certain domain names were identified as likely infringing on Cloudflare’s trademark. The work introduced a range of legal topics with potential implications for future coursework and career direction.
Collaboration was built into assignments. A project on the intersection of law and public policy required working with two other team members who fielded questions, provided background materials, and invited the intern to stakeholder meetings. Support came from a buddy, a mentor, and a manager on every assignment—a structure unlike previous internships where collaboration often meant little more than an email assigning research and an open invitation to ask questions.
The internship was initially scheduled to follow an in-person interview at the San Francisco office in December. While the pandemic kept the entire experience remote, the work itself remained grounded in the company’s principles of communication, community, commingling, and collaboration. As the intern noted, these values were key to making the remote experience feel both productive and meaningful.
