The Position:
The Legal Specialist is responsible for providing timely, highest quality legal advice and support in relation to all aspects of UNFPA’s employment and accountability framework, including employment disputes, employment discipline, and disposition of investigation findings revealing proscribed practices by staff, commercial and non-commercial contractors and vendors, and individual non-staff personnel.
The Legal Specialist also provides high quality legal advice and support with regard to a range of other legal matters, as from time to time assigned.
The Legal Specialist will report to the Legal Adviser & Deputy Chief, Legal Unit (“LU”), Office of the Executive Director.
Job Purpose:
UNFPA has more than 4,000 personnel, both under appointments as UNFPA staff members pursuant to the UN staff regulations and as individual independent contractors. UNFPA’s corps of dedicated personnel is responsible for implementing UNFPA’s programmes of assistance worldwide, providing humanitarian assistance in difficult and harsh settings, and providing technical assistance to governments. UNFPA’s operations are funded from a range of dedicated government, non-profit, corporate and individual donors.
UNFPA seeks to maintain a transparent, efficient and effective labor and employment environment. This includes that legal process is managed and, as necessary, litigated with dispatch, dedication, empathy and a solid understanding of the purpose and meaning of UNFPA’s work.
Moreover, UNFPA management is strongly committed to a workplace free of exploitation and abuse, harassment, fraud, corruption and other forms of wrongdoing. Moreover, UNFPA expects the highest levels of ethical conduct from its contractors and vendors. Allegations of violations of the legal or ethical obligations incumbent upon staff members, contractors and vendors are investigated by an operationally independent office of the Organization. Investigation outcomes are enforced by UNFPA management through UNFPA’s LU. In this regard, the job is motivated, in significant part, by the need to control and mitigate legal, reputational and other organizational risk. In as far as the job contributes to the enforcement of accountability, it provides a critical contribution to the second line of defense under UNFPA’s internal control framework.
The incumbent may be assigned to serve as a leader of a team of attorneys engaged in employment law and related legal matters. As such, the incumbent will have solid functional legal competencies as well as excellent soft skills and a proven disposition of being a team player.
Requirements:
Qualifications and Experience
Education:
Advanced university degree in law.
Qualifications and Experience
● 7 years of progressive experience in relevant private legal practice or in-house legal practice with an international organization, government, NGO, business corporation or similar organization.
● Excellent analytical competencies
● Solid, high quality legal skills
● Very good drafting skills in the English language. Knowledge of other official languages of the UN is an additional asset
● Very good negotiating skills
● Great team-working skills
● Solid understanding of operational and structural requirements in development and humanitarian cooperation by UN agencies with member states
● Solid understanding of the business side of UN management.
Languages:
Fluency in English; knowledge of other official UN languages, preferably French and/or Spanish, is desirable.
We are no longer accepting applications for this position.
