Legal Compliance Advisor at Marie Stopes

We particularly encourage applications from women as they are currently under-represented within MSION at the management level.

About the Organisation

Marie Stopes International Organisation Nigeria (MSION) is a result-oriented Social enterprise, which uses modern management and marketing techniques to provide reproductive health care and allied services. MSION’s goal is to meet the needs of underserved Nigerians and dramatically improve access and use of a range of reproductive health services.
MSION is part of Marie Stopes International’s Global Partnership which is in over 37 countries worldwide

The core responsibility of this post is to use:

• initiative
• energy  
• persistence   
• results orientation
• drive
• integrity
• enthusiasm   
• commitment to personal development  

to further MSI’s partnership mission: enabling individuals to have children by choice not chance.

Job Summary

The Legal Compliance Advisor will manage the Legal Compliance Unit and supervise the Legal Compliance Officer, support the country programme’s directorates and units within the organization, developing relationships with key stakeholders, to assist them with the wide variety of legal needs they may have, including contracts, governance, procurement processes etc.

The Legal Compliance Advisor will supervise the drafting and reviewing of a wide-range of legal agreements, including hotel agreements, procurement and supply of goods or services agreement, consultancy agreements, distributor agreements, property leases and tenancies etc. Ensure proper filing, scanning and uploading of legal documents in the legal database, as well as the regular update of the register of agreements. Provide operational legal support to the Country Programme in meeting its 2030 objectives. Support the Senior Management Team by providing advice on commercial transactions, vendor and supplier contracts, compliance, governance, and legal risk areas, and ensure that the Organisation is in compliance with all statutory or legal requirements.

The incumbent will need to be solutions focused, proactive, able to communicate in plain English, both orally and in writing, happy to turn their hand to a variety of legal issues, with excellent drafting and negotiation skills. He/She must be comfortable doing international work, and able and willing to get to grips with foreign legal concepts quickly. They must have sufficient experience to be able to prioritise their workload and work with minimal supervision. The post holder is required to demonstrate initiative; energy; persistence; results orientation; drive; integrity and discretion; enthusiasm; and commitment to personal development in the excellent delivery of work against these responsibilities.

Key Responsibilities

Commercial Contracts Advisory:

• Drafting, negotiating and review of contracts and other legal documents including distribution agreements, agreements for the supply of goods, procurement, consultancy agreements, outsourcing agreements, clinical agreements, marketing agreements, leases etc.
• Drafting user friendly precedents and guidance for the
• Dealing with property issues, including drafting and negotiating leases and tenancies.
• Supervising and liaising with external lawyers/ legal advisors
• Drafting user friendly precedents and guidance for the business
• Dealing with litigation in its preliminary stages, and project managing litigation in its more advanced stages.
• Providing training to the business on aspects of commercial contracts
• Liasing with the organisation’s trademark agent, looking after the trademark portfolio and answering questions on trademarks from the country programmes
• Oversee the contract management process of the legal compliance unit including the keeping of contract records, contractual obligations and terms for the purpose of compliance, required filing, scanning, upload and updates of contractual records and legal documents register.

Legal Advisory:

• Provide legal advice in response to a wide range of queries from directorates within MSION, as well as on corporate and commercial matters.
• Ensure that business activities are conducted in conformity with all applicable laws, regulations, internal policies and procedures.
• Prepare legal opinions and statutory reports.
• Review legal agreements, provide opinions and quality advice in line with the local laws and generally ensure MSION’s interest is protected.
• Undertake in-depth research into any aspect of the law in support of the business
• Gather and analyze research data, such as statutes, decisions, legal articles, and documents as it relates to MSION’s business and objectives.
• Serve as a member and Secretary to the Disciplinary Committee, providing legal advise on fraud, safeguarding and disciplinary matters as well as the drafting of disciplinary committee reports.
• Prepare legal opinions and statutory reports for the Board.
• Assist in maintaining MSION’s document library of legal advice.

Governance Advisory:

• Serve as the governance lead for the country programme updating the online global MSI governance register as well as updating the legal database.
• Manage the process of transiting the Organisation from an Incorporated trustee to a Company limited by guarantee.
• Provide reports to the MSI legal team on the country programme’s governance practices as required
• Ensure that MSION observes best practices in governance.
• Provide company secretarial services to the MSION Board and Board Committees, keeping all statutory books as well as monitoring the rendering of all statutory returns, filings and giving notification to the Corporate Affairs Commission as required under CAMA.
• Oversee Board meeting scheduling, communications, minutes and other records keeping for the Board of Directors.
• Assist with the review of governing documents and other local legal advice.
• Effectively support the Organisation’s pharmacy business to ensure best corporate governance practice.

Compliance

•  Serve as the Anti-fraud and Bribery and Data Protection programme lead, providing trainings, reporting, monitoring compliance with the policy, providing legal advise on said policies, maintaining the country programme’s data privacy, conflict of interest and gift and entertainment registers. Providing support on other key MSION policies including the Safeguarding and Modern Slavery policy.
•  Submission of an Anti-Fraud and Bribery report for the Country programme annually, sending of quarterly reminders and updates on the Anti-fraud and bribery, data protection and other policy updates to team members.
• Monitor and maintain records required to be maintained by MSI and other regulatory requirements, as well as identifying and ensuring compliance with statutory and contractual obligations.
• Oversight of the MSI due diligence policy on the vetting of employees, business partners, suppliers, vendors, consultants etc., conduct due diligence vetting of such third parties for the Country programme and ensure prompt update of the Vendor Vetting Database.
•  Ensure proper custody of hard copy insurance policies of the Organisation, upload scanned copies to the MSI Legal database and process the renewal of donor required insurance policies as applicable.

Others

• Support the procurement and supply chain team with the receipt and sharing of bids from vendors as an independent observer.
• Prepare and draft policies, correspondences, documents, and other relevant files necessary.
• Oversee payment of external legal solicitors and lawyers.
• Provide any other legal, compliance support services to the Country Programme as required by the Country Director.
• Attitude, Motivation & Orientation
• Must be Pro-choice.
• Strong commitment to the vision and mission of MSION/MSI Reproductive Choices
• Willingness to learn and to take on challenging problems and projects.
• Keen to pursue personal development.
• Result-driven.
• Constant awareness of sensitivity and confidentiality involved in the function.
• Our organisation is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults and expects all staff and post holders to share this commitment.

Qualifications

Qualifications:

• A qualified Lawyer (Called to the Nigerian Bar)
• At least 6- 9 years relevant experience
• Corporate governance and company secretariat experience.
• Relevant Higher Academic or Professional Qualification in courses related to business management will be an advantage.
• Knowledge and experience in the Public Health/International Non-governmental Organisation/Social Enterprise Sector is an added advantage.
• Fluency in English both oral and written.

Prefered Skills

Experience & Skills:

• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
• Ability to manage and motivate teams to achieve targets.
• Good team player and strong problem solving and interpersonal skills.
• Good understanding of general and specific Company and commercial law
• Excellent drafting and document review skills.
• Good judgment and strong initiative.
• Proven ability to effectively juggle competing priorities.
• Candidate must be able to work under pressure with keen attention to detail
• Excellent organizational skills and ability to interact effectively with other external counsel, global MSI team members, diverse in-house client groups, senior executives, and third parties.
• Strong ability to think strategically, creatively, and innovatively.
• High professionalism, self-motivation, efficiency, and results-oriented delivery on short timelines.
• Ability to interact effectively with business and technical clients in a fast-paced environment.