General Legal Affairs Specialist

The Legal Specialist provides legal advice to FAO units on matters related to public international law, law of international organizations, international administrative law, and contract law. Assignments may include advising on contribution agreements, contracts, cooperation instruments, host country agreements, litigation, and governance legal matters.

Responsibilities

• Deliver advice to units within Headquarters and to the FAO Decentralized Offices on legal matters related to their operations in light of FAO’s regulations, rules, policies and procedures, as well as FAO’s status as a Specialized Agency of the United Nations System.
• Provide legal advice related to contribution agreements, project agreements and other instruments related to donor funding and project implementation, including instruments with international financial institutions, development banks and agencies, and multilateral financing entities.
• Advise on contracts, matters related to procurement of services from commercial and non-commercial service providers, publications, intellectual property, etc.
• Advise on memoranda of understanding and other legal instruments establishing institutional and operational modalities for cooperation with a wide variety of partners.
• Advise on instruments aimed at operationalizing, and managing engagements and partnerships with the private sector.
• Advise on tools, instruments, and services that support digital innovation, information technologies and electronic processes.
• Support host country agreements for FAO decentralized offices addressing the privileges and immunities of the Organization, including supporting negotiation of such agreements and upholding the provisions thereof.
• Handle litigation to which the Organization may be a party, including international administrative law.
• Advise the Governing Bodies and the Statutory Bodies of FAO on the interpretation or application of the legal and procedural instruments governing the operation of such Bodies.
• Perform other relevant legal duties as assigned.

Requirements

• Advanced university degree in law. A first level university degree in Law combined with an additional two (2) years of relevant work experience and with completion of professional qualification to practice law in a national/state jurisdiction may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.
• Between one to ten years of relevant legal experience (minimum one year for Category C, minimum five years for Category B, minimum ten years for Category A) in public international law, law of international organizations, international administrative law and contract law.
• Working knowledge (level C) of English.
• Extent and relevance of experience in public international law, law of international organizations and/or international administrative law.
• Extent and relevance of work experience with UN System or other intergovernmental organizations and, in particular, work experiences related to the drafting and negotiation of contribution agreements, arrangements with private sector entities, and information technology and digital innovation.
• Extent of knowledge of different legal systems.
• Ability to carry out legal research and analysis.
• Ability to write clear and concise reports and experience in drafting legal texts (legal opinions, pleadings, formal correspondence, documents for meetings of governing and statutory bodies).
• Ability to provide effective legal support in more two or more official languages of the Organization will be a consideration.
• Working or limited knowledge of one or more FAO official language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish) would be highly desirable.
• Work experience in more than one geographic location would be desirable.
• Candidates should adhere to FAO Values of Commitment to FAO, Respect for All and Integrity and Transparency.
• FAO only considers academic credentials or degrees obtained from an educational institution recognized in the IAU/UNESCO list.
• FAO only considers higher educational qualifications obtained from an institution accredited/recognized in the World Higher Education Database (WHED).

Skills

• Public International Law
• Law of International Organizations
• International Commercial Law
• Contract Law
• Legal Research
• Legal Analysis
• Legal Drafting
• Legal Opinions
• Pleadings
• Formal Legal Correspondence
• Drafting Contribution Agreements
• Negotiation of Legal Agreements
• Legal Support in Multiple Languages
• Knowledge of Different Legal Systems
• Experience with UN System
• Experience with Intergovernmental Organizations
• Legal Advice on Governance
• Legal Advice on Litigation
• Legal Advice on Cooperation Instruments

Languages

English