Job Title: Legal Assistant
Hiring Organization: UN-Habitat
Location – Locality: Nairobi
Location – Region: Kenya
Industry: Non
Profit Organisation
Job Type: Full
Time
Salary: KES
Competitive
Date Posted: 03/27/2024
The Legal Unit, situated in the Office of the Executive Director (OED), is responsible for, but not limited to:
- The
provision of timely and sound legal advice to UN-Habitat through its
officials including the Executive Director, the Deputy Executive Director,
Senior Managers, and other relevant UN-Habitat officials and partners;
- Preparation
of Guidelines on handling and preventing issues such as corruption,
misconduct, fraud, inefficient use of resources, unnecessary legal claims
and liabilities which continue to pose serious threats and challenge to
the operations of UN-Habitat and its relations with its partners;
- The
efficient and timely review and clearance of all legal agreements and
legal instruments prior to their signature to reduce exposure of
UN-Habitat to risks, legal claims and liabilities;
- Provision
of appropriate legal representation before the United Nations Dispute
Tribunal (UNDT) and dispute settlement bodies; and (e) Resolving disputes
with partners and other stakeholders and ensuring that disputes are
efficiently handled and minimized. II.
Purpose
- Under
the direct supervision of the Officer-in-Charge of the Legal Office, the
Individual Contractor shall undertake specific responsibilities aimed at
achieving the required objective and results and support the realization
of UN-Habitat’s mandate. The Individual Contractor will carry out the
following duties:
- Review,
verify and process legal instruments ensuring conformity to relevant
guidelines and requirements, extract key data and update database, monitor
requisite follow-up actions, approvals, etc.
- Assist
in the preparation and filing of cases with the United Nations
Administration of Justice (UNDT and UNAT) and any other body such as the
Management and Evaluation Unit (MEU).
- Handle,
or refer to the Legal Officer as appropriate, a variety of verbal and
written inquiries from internal and external parties, including providing
information on processes and procedures related to specific legal
activities, instruments, etc.
- Conduct
basic research on assigned issues, using existing legal files and
alternative sources (e.g., computer-assisted searches using the internet,
intranet or other databases); verify facts, identify citations,
precedents, issues to be addressed, etc., and draft statements of
findings, respondent replies to appeals, etc. for review by the Legal
Officer.
- Edit
and conduct final checks for accuracy of a variety of specialized legal
documentation, instruments, and related correspondence, for final
clearance and approval.
- Participate
and assist in drafting legal opinions and correspondence.
- Assist
in the preparation of legal documents for electronic storage, access and
circulation/publication, including document scanning and conversion,
review of content and extraction of key data and text excerpts for
categorization and indexing purposes, etc.
- Schedule
appointments/meetings, monitor deadlines, etc.
- Perform
other duties as assigned.
Qualifications/special
skills
- Bachelor’s
degree in law from a recognized institution is a requirement. A master’s
degree in law or a related field would be an added advantage. Minimum
experience of one (1) year is a requirement, part of which must be related
to International and Administrative Law and Legal Research in an
international organisation.