Legal Officer, Africa, TrustLaw at Thomson Reuters

About The Role

The Thomson Reuters Foundation is recruiting a dynamic Legal Officer, Africa to support the delivery of legal activities on donor-funded projects in the region. You will report into the Legal Projects Manager, Africa and work closely with other regional TrustLaw team members. The Legal Officer will be based in our Nairobi office.

As a Legal Officer, your responsibilities will include:

• Support the Legal Projects Manager to set out, administer, implement and monitor progress against project plans, and logistical responsibilities linked to the role, in a timely manner
• Deliver key activities and work products under the guidance/review of the manager, which may include:
• Conducting outreach to TrustLaw members or partners
• Onboarding new TrustLaw members and engaging existing members
• Scoping and drafting pro bono legal requests from project beneficiaries
• Managing pro bono requests, including connecting the pro bono client with lawyers
• Designing and managing cross-border research projects that address the most critical social and policy needs facing project beneficiaries
• Coordinating the development, design and dissemination of legal resources
• Setting up and/or administering the processes, systems and tools to support the provision of legal support
• Updating Salesforce and internal record-keeping systems
• Drafting updates, presentations, reports, etc. for internal and external audiences
• Collecting feedback from project beneficiaries
• Organising and supporting the delivery of workshops, training and events
• Support other projects and tasks as needed
• Work hours that overlap with global team availability, including some evening meetings each week

This is a fixed-term contract for 3 years starting in December 2022/January 2023.

The successful candidate will likely:

• Be a qualified lawyer (1+ years PQE) with experience working either in a law firm, in-house or non-profit organisation in pro bono, international development or social change
• A good understanding of the legal and non-profit sectors in Africa, and an understanding of the challenges and opportunities that pro bono opportunities bring to law firms and legal teams
• Have some experience coordinating and delivering project or programmatic activities, including organising trainings/events. Experience working on donor-funded projects would be a plus
• Bring experience engaging with a diverse range of stakeholders, from senior corporate executives and partners of top law firms to social entrepreneurs, NGOs and donors
• Have experience supporting beneficiaries, including NGOs and social enterprises, to use a service
• Have strong organisational and project management skills, and excellent time-management abilities
• Excellent research, writing and analytical skills
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills
• Experience working with databases essential. Experience in Salesforce would be favourable
• Thrive in a fast-paced environment and be able to manage multiple priorities at once