Overview
The Senior Legal Officer will lead and manage the work of the Legal Unit, providing legal advice and services to senior management and UNEP-administered multilateral environmental agreements. The role involves independently handling complex legal matters and drafting/negotiating legal instruments.
Tasks Summary
- Lead and manage the work of the Legal Unit, CSD, aligned to key performance indicators (KPI) for client service and case management of all work streams under the Unit, ensuring timely and high-quality provision of legal advice and services to the Executive Director, senior management, divisions and regional offices and UNEP-administered multilateral environmental agreements as necessary.
- Independently handle a wide range of multi-discipline, highly complex, and often sensitive and / or conflicting legal matters involving issues relating to international, public, private, contract and administrative law, from interpretation to application of instruments.
- Provide authoritative legal advice on diverse range of highly complex or novel substantive and procedural questions on UN administrative regulations and rules, which may include those related to administration, staff relations and management, institutions support, procurement and legal partnership agreements with donors, implementing partners and multi-stakeholders platforms and initiatives as well other operational matters.
- Review, draft and negotiate agreements and legal instruments, including Memoranda of Understanding, Host Country Agreements, Donor Agreements, and other implementing legal agreements between UNEP, Member States and external partners in a timely manner with solution-driven approaches, while adhering to internal controls.
- Advise on risk management, compliance and accountability frameworks and contribute to the formulation of internal policies, administrative instructions and standard operating procedures.
- Organize and supervise research studies and the preparation of legal opinions, as well as perform extensive legal research and analysis on highly complex or novel legal issues /questions and prepare studies, briefs, reports, and correspondence.
- Manage conduct and discipline cases using an effective case management system that keeps track of progress; acts as the key liaison officer for investigations managed by the Office of Internal Oversight services (OIOS); leads on management of assessments and investigative cases to be handled directly by UNEP.
- Supervise the defense and pursuit of claims on behalf of the organization; negotiate dispute settlements and prepare legal documentation relating to such settlements.
- Represent, supervise the representation of the organization before the Management Advice and Evaluation Section (MAES) in the Department of Management Strategy, Policy and Compliance (DMSPC) and Office of the Under-Secretary-General (OUSG) and the United Nations Dispute Tribunal (UNDT).
- Provide legal guidance on the interpretation and application of the UN Charter, UN staff regulations and rules, UN financial regulations and rules, administrative issuance's and internal policies .
- Serve on various standing boards, committees, ad hoc working groups and task forces, as required; promote the work of the UN and represent the organization at meetings, conferences and seminars.
- Leads team members efforts to collect and analyze data and provides insight to identify trends or patterns for data-driven planning, decision-making, presentation and reporting. Ensures that everyone can discover, access, integrate and share the data they need.
- Perform any other related duties assigned.
Experience Requirements
- A minimum of ten (10) years of progressively responsible experience in law, including legal analysis and negotiation in an international or multicultural setting is required.
- At least five (5) years of experience in the drafting, reviewing, negotiating, and developing of international agreements and other legal instruments, such as Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs), Host Country Agreements, and Conference Agreements between the UN and Member States or other stakeholders, is required.
- Experience in reviewing administrative instructions, legal representation in matters related to the UN or a similar international organization’s internal justice system, including coordination and preparation of responses, is required.
- Experience in reviewing legal partnership agreements with donors, implementing partners and multi-stakeholders and providing legal advice including on any contractual and/or commercial claims made against the organization is required.
- Experience in leading/ conducting independent assessments under strict confidentiality, of conduct and discipline related cases with legal advice to senior management is required.
- A minimum of three (3) years of experience in managing a legal office or unit and supervising the work of legal officers within the UN system or a similar international organization, including responsibility for work planning, strategic planning, and preparation of financial or administrative documents, is required.
- Experience of preparing, coordinating and delivering trainings on international law, including UN regulations and rules or from similar international organization is desirable.
- Experience providing legal advice at the senior management level on complex institutional or operational matters is desirable.
- Experience with legal risk management and compliance in organizational decision-making is desirable.
- Experience in data analytics or related area such as using artificial intelligence in legal practice is desirable.
Qualification Requirements
An advanced university degree (Master's degree or equivalent) in public international, or international corporate law or related fields is required. A first level university degree in law in combination with two (2) additional years of qualifying work experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree. Successful completion of both degree and non-degree programs in data analytics, business analytics or data science programs is desirable. Additional training in public international law, institutional law or international administrative law is desirable.
