Legal Officer at Tenwek Hospital

Job Summary

• The Legal Officer will provide in-house legal advisory, compliance oversight, and risk mitigation support to AGC Tenwek Hospital. The role is critical in managing medical-legal exposure, labour relations matters, data protection compliance, contract management, and litigation coordination, while supporting sound governance and institutional integrity.

Key Duties & Responsibilities

Medical-Legal & Clinical Risk Support

• Provide legal advice on medical negligence claims, patient complaints, and medico-legal exposure.
• Review and advise on incident reports, adverse event investigations, and medico-legal documentation.
• Coordinate with insurers, external advocates, and clinical leadership on claims management and litigation strategy.
• Support development and review of clinical consent frameworks, patient rights policies, and medico-legal SOPs.

Labour & Employment Relations

• Advise HR on disciplinary cases, grievances, terminations, suspensions, and appeals in line with the Employment Act, CBA provisions, and hospital policies.
• Review and clear disciplinary investigation reports and recommendations before implementation.
• Support management in labour disputes, union engagements, conciliations, and court cases (currently and future).
• Ensure alignment of HR practices with labour laws, CBAs, and best industrial relations standards.

Contract Review & Legal Documentation

• Review, draft, and vet contracts, MOUs, SLAs, consultancy agreements, supplier contracts, and partnership agreements.
• Ensure contracts adequately protect the Hospital from legal, financial, and reputational risks.
• Maintain a central legal contract register with key terms, expiry dates, and risk flags.
• Advise departments on contract interpretation and enforcement.

Litigation & External Counsel Management

• Coordinate all litigation matters involving the Hospital (medical, labour, commercial, data protection).
• Liaise with external advocates, insurers, regulators, and courts.
• Track legal cases, costs, timelines, and outcomes; prepare periodic litigation status reports for management.
• Support out-of-court settlements where appropriate and cost-effective.

Data Protection & Regulatory Compliance

• Support compliance with the Data Protection Act, 2019, including staff and patient data handling.
• Advise on data breaches, investigations, and mitigation actions.
• Support compliance with healthcare regulatory bodies and statutory requirements applicable to Level 6 Teaching & Referral Hospital.

Governance, Ethics & Advisory

• Provide legal advisory support to Management, Committees, and the Board through the Director HR & Admin.
• Support policy development, review, and interpretation from a legal compliance perspective.
• Promote ethical conduct, risk awareness, and legal compliance culture across the Hospital.

Credit Control & Finance Legal Support

• Support the Finance Unit on credit control legal matters, debt recovery processes, and enforcement.
• Review legal aspects of credit agreements, guarantees, and recovery actions.
• Advise on legal risk exposure related to non-performing accounts and contracts.

Qualifications & Experience

• Bachelor of Laws (LLB) from a recognized university
• Advocate of the High Court of Kenya
• Valid practicing certificate
• Minimum 4-6 years post-admission experience, preferably: In healthcare, insurance, labour law, or corporate legal practice