Chief Legal Officer at University of Nairobi

LEGAL DEPARTMENT – AC/11/81/20 (1 POST)

Job specification

Applicants are required to have a PhD degree in Laws from a recognized university. Those with a Masters degree in the same field will also be considered. Applicants must also possess CPS (K) qualification. They must be Advocate of the High Court of Kenya and Commissioner of Oaths and Notary Public. They must be registered as member of a relevant, recognized professional body and be of good standing. They should have a minimum of twelve (12) years experience, three (3) of which must be at the level of Deputy Chief Legal Officer Grade 14 or a position of comparable responsibility. They must also be computer literate. In addition, applicants should have outstanding professional competence in provision of legal and corporation secretary services.

Job description

The Chief Legal Officer shall:

• Report to the Council, the Vice Chancellor (functionally) and the Deputy Vice Chancellor – Human Resource and Administration (administratively).
• In conjunction with the Vice-Chancellor, provide effective corporate Secretarial Services to the Council and advice on good corporate governance practices.
• Spearhead the effective and efficient University’s corporate legal and secretarial services functions on a diverse range of substantive and procedural questions of policy and law to firmly secure interest and generate value for the organization in relation to all parties whether within or outside in order to achieve the University's vision, mission, philosophy, and objectives and ensure that the University’s activities are in conformity with all laws and regulations.
• Be the functional head of the Legal Department responsible for managing and coordinating the activities of the Department in addition to leading all the legal teams in strategic corporate legal function that delivers practical, proactive, timely and relevant legal services in response to a broad range of complex business matters of significant strategic and financial value and to provide solutions to manage the risks.
• Formulate and develop legal and corporate secretarial strategy, plan and budget for the department to ensure legal policy guidelines and secretarial services implementation and adherence.
• Undertake interpretation of Constitution and the subsidiary legislation for and on behalf of the Council, management, staff, students and stakeholders.
• Prepare and institute suits/claims in the subordinate court, High Court, Court of Appeal, Supreme Court and arbitral Tribunals on behalf of the University, Council and Management.
• Draft, develop, review and prepare various types of contracts including service level agreements, maintenance and service contracts, project contracts, partnership agreements, dealership agreements, third party agreements, sub-contract agreements, employment contracts and all other agreements while ensuring that they are legally sound and they comply with University’s policies and procedures and mitigation of risks
• Strengthen the legal, policy and institutional framework for anti-corruption, ethics, and integrity.
• Perform any other duties assigned by the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (HRA) from time to time or any other officer authorized by the Vice-Chancellor.

NOTES

• Applicants should email their application letters and certified copies of certificates and CV giving details of their qualifications and experience.
• Applications and related documents should be forwarded through the applicants’ heads of departments, where applicable.
• Applicants should state their current designation, salary and other benefits attached to those designations.
• The application letter must bear the reference code as shown in the advertisement.
• Applicants must show evidence of compliance with provisions of Chapter 6 of the Constitution of Kenya, with specific reference to clearance by the following bodies:
  • Kenya Revenue Authority
  • Higher Education Loans Board
  • Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission
  • Criminal Investigation Department
  • Credit Reference Bureau