Backend API Engineer

Backend / API Engineer Intern

Design the systems that everything else sits on top of.

About Us

We're a group of affiliated law firms and legal technology ventures building modern, tech-forward practices across estate planning, business transactional work, litigation, patent law, and AI-powered legal education. Interns joining us don't work inside a single silo — they plug into a connected ecosystem where legal work and product development happen side by side.

• Legacy First Law (LFL) — Boutique firm focused exclusively on estate planning and business transactional work. Wills, trusts, powers of attorney, entity formation, operating agreements, and contract work for families and closely held businesses.
• Amicus Lex Law (ALX) — Litigation-oriented firm handling probate, estate pre-litigation, business pre-litigation, and personal injury matters. Strategy-driven work focused on shaping outcomes before cases escalate.
• Thaler IP Law — Patent firm with a dedicated AI patent practice. Full patent lifecycle work plus specialized focus on protecting machine learning systems, model architectures, and AI-enabled inventions.
• Law School AI — AI platform that teaches people about law and provides legal information without requiring them to attend law school. A product-first venture building tools that make legal knowledge accessible to anyone.

When you apply, tell us which role(s) you're interested in and which venture appeals to you — we'll place you where the fit is strongest. You may also work across multiple ventures depending on project needs.

What You'll Do

• Design, build, and maintain APIs that power internal tools and client-facing applications
• Work on data models, authentication, access control, and the infrastructure that keeps everything secure and reliable
• Integrate third-party services and AI APIs (LLM providers, embeddings, vector databases, document processing)
• Write clear, well-tested code and participate in architectural decisions
• Debug production issues, improve performance, and clean up technical debt when you find it
• Help shape how our backend evolves as the business and product scale

Where You Might Work

• LFL: APIs and data models supporting document automation, client intake, and secure communication
• ALX: Backend systems handling case data, document management, and integrations across pre-litigation workflows
• Thaler IP Law: Infrastructure supporting patent docketing, prior art search, and AI-assisted disclosure review
• Law School AI: Core product backend — retrieval systems, LLM orchestration, and the data layer powering user learning

You're a Good Fit If You

• Are proficient in at least one backend language (Python, Node.js, Go, or similar)
• Are comfortable designing REST or GraphQL APIs, working with databases (SQL and NoSQL), and handling auth/security basics
• Have real experience integrating with AI APIs — you've built something that calls an LLM in a production-ish context
• Understand why tests, logging, and observability matter before something breaks
• Are self-directed, ask sharp questions, and can work through ambiguity

What We Offer

•  Ownership of backend systems that matter to the business

•  Exposure to AI integration work at a practical, applied level

•  Mentorship and code review from engineers who care about quality

•  Remote, flexible hours

•  Work you can actually point to in future interviews