Legal Affairs Specialist

How can you make a difference? 

We seek to hire a Legal Affairs Specialist under a fixed term appointment to join the Legal Team, including in our Brussels office. The initial appointment will be for two years, with the possibility of extension.

• The Legal Affairs Specialist in Brussels (or another location) will support on a broad spectrum of legal matters ranging from commercial contracts to partnerships, climate finance, disputes, programmes, and institutional matters. The Legal Affairs Specialist in Brussels will report to the Senior Legal Affairs Specialist, New York, who reports to the Chief Legal Counsel, also based in New York.
• Members of the UNICEF Legal Team are expected to be open-minded and resourceful, responsive, and dynamic, transparent and approachable, and clear and authoritative. The overall direction of the Legal Team is set by the Chief Legal Counsel in New York.
• The Legal Affairs Specialist is expected to perform the functions of the role autonomously, collaborating closely with other team members, all under the supervision of the Senior Legal Affairs Specialist

The Legal Affairs Specialist will:

Provide substantive legal advice in the following areas:

• partnerships with governments and international financial institutions (including direct and indirect financing agreements);
• climate finance, including agreements with multilateral climate funds;
• commercial and financial transactions, including guarantee and capital markets structures;
• institutional matters, including privileges and immunities; and
• policy development and interpretation.
• Collaborate closely with teams across the organization, at the headquarters / divisional level, and at the regional and country office level, in widely varying development and humanitarian contexts.
• Lead and advise on structuring and negotiations involving key partnership, commercial and financial arrangements, including the development and review of complex contracts and agreements, templates, legal frameworks, and other arrangements.
• Advise on the legal interpretation of decisions, regulations, rules, procedures, and other elements of the UNICEF regulatory framework.
• Develop and provide training and capacity building to teams across the organization; proactively share knowledge with other team members.
• Participate actively in projects managed by the Team throughout their entire lifecycle, including design & planning, stakeholder engagement, monitoring & evaluation.
• Take on other tasks and duties as required.

The Legal Affairs Specialist will be expected to:

• Be alive to the bigger picture. Connect dots, identify trends, develop solutions. This involves: taking ownership and having sense of accountability over your portfolio as a whole, consciously answering the need for creativity and resourcefulness in all situations (i.e. show initiative, be proactive, create and use networks, think outside the box).
• Take leadership in action and be responsive with client, while keeping your supervisor posted. This involves communicating with the client regularly, maintaining high levels of responsiveness to the client, keeping your supervisor regularly informed and seeking their input and guidance appropriately, managing the expectations of the client and knowing when to escalate.
• Take charge – be responsible and be accountable. This involves:
• taking a risk-based approach, prioritizing and, where matters warrant your investment, taking a forward-looking strategic approach – demonstrating coherence, rigor and thought over your matters;
• being pro-active in stakeholder management, and following up on outstanding matters and queries;
• being resourceful, for example, use networks to unlock matters.
• Exercise good judgement on emerging challenges, especially where there is a need to escalate so as to avoid or overcome an impasse and involve your supervisor in a timely manner.

To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have…

Minimum requirements:

• Education: A minimum of a post-graduate university law degree (for example. LL. B post-graduate; LL.M.; J.D.) in a relevant field of law (e.g. international law, commercial law, finance and capital markets) is required; or, at the discretion of the Chief Legal Counsel, a first-level university degree in combination with an additional two years of qualifying work experience may be accepted in lieu of an advanced university degree.

Work Experience:

• A minimum of eight (8) years’ of progressively responsible experience in the practice of law in a relevant field is required (e.g. international law; commercial law, finance and capital markets).  Experience in a law firm, in private practice or as in-house counsel, or in the legal team of an international organization or multilateral development bank is highly desirable.
• Language Requirements: Fluency in English is required. Proficiency in another language, particularly one of the other official languages of the United Nations (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian, Spanish) is highly desirable. Proficiency in another language is also desirable, including, for example, Portuguese.

Source: https://jobs.unicef.org/cw/en-us/job/573875