Attorney at Chevron

Job Overview and Description

• The successful candidate for this position will work in the Legal Department and provide day-to-day advice to clients on a broad range of legal and commercial matters, be involved in negotiations and legal drafting as well as support the litigation portfolio.

Key Responsibilities
Litigation Support:

• Receives and reviews judicial and arbitral processes on behalf of CNL and other Chevron entities in Nigeria.
• Develops the preliminary assessments on litigation and arbitration involving CNL and other Chevron entities in Nigeria, and, on the strength of these assessments, makes recommendations for assignment of the matters to outside counsel.
• Develops and refines the case plans for the defense of CNL and other Chevron entities in Nigeria and obtains the requisite approvals for these case plans, working with more senior attorneys, Upstream (Corp.) Litigation, external counsel and business owners.
• Identifies potential witnesses and works with the internal team, the witnesses and outside counsel, to develop witness statements, file witness depositions in court and conduct pre-trial conferences to prepare witnesses for trial testimony.
• Works with internal teams, external counsel and business owners to develop requisite court processes to be filed in court in defense of lawsuits involving CNL and other Chevron entities in Nigeria.
• Monitors case progress to conclusion.
• Receives, reviews and responds to claims and demand letters.

Negotiation and Review of Agreements:

• Provides legal support for the drafting, review and negotiation of various types of agreements and other legal documents including: crude handling and crude lifting agreements, farm out agreements, collateral responsibility agreements, agreements for the provision of security services, pipeline and facility surveillance program agreements, memoranda of understanding, waivers, indemnities, undertakings, confidentiality agreements, etc.

Legal Advisory Services and Legal Support:

• Reviews company publications, holding statements and other press releases and presentations to be made by various persons and departments within CNL and other CVX entities in Nigeria.
• Tracks and reviews legislative bills to identify areas of likely impact on Chevron’s operations and the oil and gas industry at large.
• Reviews environmental and other monitoring reports to ensure consistency with Corp. Guidelines and applicable local laws and regulations.
• Provides other ad hoc legal support as required.

Investigations:

• Participates, as a representative of NMA Law on multi-functional investigation teams set up to investigate alleged violations of company policies.

Litigation Reporting:

• Regularly prepares various reports for different internal and external audiences such as NMA Law Management, Upstream Litigation, other recipient CVX organizations, CNL’s JV partner (NNPC-NAPIMS), etc.

Critical Selection Criteria
Job Knowledge and Technical Proficiency:

• Ability to confer with subject matter experts, confidently engage decision makers on legal issues in routine and non-routine projects, assess risks, benefits, considerations, and proffer advice.
• Demonstrated negotiation skills.
• Basic understanding of project management

Transactional/Commercial Skills:

• Proficient in the application of principles of contract law and drafting.
• Ability to review and draft routine and non-routine agreements.
• Demonstrated expertise in a variety routine and non-routine projects

Litigation or Representation:

• Proficient in the application of principles of litigation and key legal issues relating to claims.
• Provide litigation support and manage litigation portfolio.

Leadership and Communication skills:

• Ability to serve in a leadership role in vendor/partner relationships, on industry committees etc.
• Capacity to work across organizational boundaries and is able to influence outcomes and get results.
• Proactively seeks opportunities and is able to effectively prioritize gaps.
• Possesses excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Ability to engage, instruct and supervise outside counsel as necessary to facilitate the achievement of business objectives.

Teamwork:

• Fosters cooperation on work teams.
• Collaborates across organizational boundaries
• Willingly shares knowledge and seeks to learn from others.
• Ability to handle a variety of assignments for multiple customers.

Industry/Business Knowledge and Customer Relationships:

• Demonstrated sound understanding of oil and gas industry and Chevron businesses.
• Fosters client relationships to support client business objectives.
• Developed a fundamental understanding of technical principles within business unit operating environment and how to interface with supporting disciplines.

Educational Qualification

• Bachelor of Laws Degree (Ll.B) - Minimum of Second Class Honours, Upper Division.
• Barrister at Law (B.L.) from the Nigerian Law School - Minimum of Second Class Honours, Upper Division.
• Master’s Degree will be an added advantage.

Work Experience:

• Six (6) to 8 years post call to the Nigerian Bar