Head, LCR Workstream at UNOPS

The Legal Advisor will report directly to UNOPS’s Deputy General Counsel and will head the LCR workstream in the Legal Group, which handles all legal advice and services in relation to issues arising from UNOPS’ operations and activities in the Latin and Central America region (LCR).  

The Advisor works closely with the other teams within the Legal Group and the Integrated Practice and Support (IPAS) Legal team at UNOPS Headquarters in Copenhagen to ensure an integrated and harmonized approach in the provision of legal advice and services. Unit and workstream leads in LG are responsible for building and maintaining effective relationships with country offices and stakeholders at HQ. Each LG workstream lead is expected to cultivate and strive for an inclusive and high-performing team for the Legal Group overall, that enables UNOPS to deliver its mission to help people build better lives and countries achieve peace and sustainable development. 

As a workstream lead, you will require a good understanding of the operational context UNOPS works in. You must be a good communicator, open to challenges and comfortable navigating complexity. Your analytical and strategic skills will allow you to propose and implement plans to address operational matters, remove blockages and follow through with opportunities. 

In order to exercise their legal responsibilities, the incumbent acts with designated authority provided by the General Counsel. The incumbent will work in accordance with the instructions established by the Deputy General Counsel. 

Core Functions:

Advice on institutional and commercial matters:

• Lead the LG’s LCR workstream and supervise unit members to provide expert legal advice and services to internal and external stakeholders, including senior management and external partners, especially in regards to institutional, commercial and dispute resolution matters. 
• Perform and supervise the reviews of legal documents, and represent the Legal Group in internal and external meetings and negotiations in relation to cases arising out of operations and activities in LCR.
• Liaise with other team or unit leads, as required, as well as with other UN legal officers, including the UN Office of Legal Affairs.
• Keep a balance between operational implementation efficiencies and policy/rules requirements, but also contribute towards long-term solutions by leading the development and improvement of policies and processes for efficient project implementation. 
• Develop new policies or projects approaches and assess the quality of deliverables. 
• Create opportunities for expanding and developing new client relationships. 
• Undertake a number of core functions, including reviewing UNOPS documents where such advice is required, and managing claims and disputes brought against the organization by contractors and third parties.
• Represent the Legal Group on the Engagement Acceptance Committee in respect of LCR engagements.
• Work independently and drive initiatives under their portfolio with limited supervision. 
• Perform any other duties, as requested by the Deputy General Counsel and General Counsel, including in respect to human resources, ICT and procurement matters. 

Business Efficiency 

• Ensure a systematic approach to collect and address issues, feedback and suggestions from operations in regards to improvements of processes and systems related to root causes of legal issues. 
• Work closely with other HQ and field business units to address business critical issues and find solutions that are fit for purpose and contribute with specialist and practical knowledge to policy development to be responsive to UNOPS strategy; to improve efficiencies and strengthen internal controls.
• Ensure data analytics of the Legal Group related data to identify risks, opportunities, trends and root causes with a view to mitigate risks;  
• Contribute to cross-functional initiatives to ensure that internal policies, processes and systems and tools are aligned with the overall regulatory framework, practical, relevant and add value to organisational operations. 

Workstream management 

• Supervise and lead the unit, to ensure that team members are motivated in a trusting and supporting environment that fosters ownership, innovation  and learning. 
• Facilitate and encourage interaction and collaboration between the team members and the IPAS Legal  team and local lawyers, if any and other stakeholders such as policy groups, implementing units and external parties. 
• Work with data analytics and evolve the risk approach to keep track of workload and trends of the workstream’s legal activities and tasks, in order to efficiently manage the workstream and workload. 

Knowledge management and capacity building 

• Ensure knowledge and information on legal  matters is maintained and shared actively within the team, and packaged in appropriate formats that can be easily communicated with the country offices.  
• Keep abreast of internal and external developments and best practices and provide recommendations to relevant stakeholders
• Provide regular feedback to internal clients on challenges, gaps and possible areas of improvement
• Develop a strategy to ensure knowledge transfer and capacity building related to legal concepts and issues, and work closely with IPAS to provide integrated training courses where relevant.

 Education/Experience/Language requirements

Education: 

• Advanced University degree (Master's or equivalent) preferably in international or commercial law or a closely related area is required;
• A first-level university degree in law (Bachelor’s or equivalent) from an accredited university in combination with two additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.

Experience:

• Minimum 7 years of professional experience in law is required;
• Satisfaction of all requirements to practice law in a national jurisdiction of a UN Member State is desirable;
• Within the 7 years of professional experience, a minimum of 2 years supervising and leading a team and 2 years of experience in the application of regulations and rules, policies, procedures and decision-making processes of an international organisation are required;
• Experience analysing legal issues and conducting legal research in support of a legal office/government agency/international organisation is required;
• Experience in commercial arbitration is required;
• Experience in working with the status and the privileges and immunities of international organisations is required.

Language requirements:

• Fluency in English and Spanish, both written and verbal, required. 
• Knowledge of another UN language such as French is an advantage since LCR includes French speaking field operations.