Legal Officer at Transparency International - Kenya

JOB SUMMARY

• The jobholder is tasked with proving sound legal advice to the institution in regard to both internal and external legal affairs. (S)he will be charged with coordinating public interest litigation cases, leading legislative drafting and reviews, drafting legal opinions and other relevant documents, conducting legal reviews of key documents, and undertaking legal research. The legal officer will also work closely with the Communications team to support strategic, high-level advocacy and media interventions.

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
Coordinate Public Interest Litigations

• Oversee/Conduct legal research, drafting, review and filing of pleadings, legal opinions and legal documents;
• Oversee drafting and filing of pleadings in the appropriate courts;
• Attendance of any litigation matters in court and tracking of key court processes including updating of court dates.

Legal advice

• Give accurate and timely counsel to the Executive Director, Management Team and Staff on legal matters;
• Support the drafting and review of contracts, internal policies and other organisational documents requiring legal review;
• Provide legal advice on institutional compliance to relevant laws and regulations;

Legislative drafting and review

• Coordinate the drafting and review of all corruption related legislation amendments or proposed laws;
• Coordinate submissions including oral presentations for memoranda and legal opinions drafted on legislative amendments and proposed laws.

Strategic Advocacy and Public Communications

• In liaison with the communications unit, support strategic, high level advocacy and media, and other public-centred interventions;
• Support institutional advocacy and reform initiatives;
• Translate TI-Kenya research findings into legal reform initiatives and advocate for their adoption;
• Coordinate the development and review of advocacy strategies related to TI-Kenya legal interventions;
• Write well thought out publishable articles every two months for management’s consideration focusing on anti-corruption;
• Maintain an active presence on social media that is interfaced with TI-Kenya’s presence in line with the organisation’s social media policy and guidelines, to advance anti-corruption advocacy;
• In conjunction with the Communications department, initiate and participate in mainstream and social media engagements focusing on pertinent corruption issues.

Strategic Planning and Development, Programme Management and Reporting

• Oversee legal programmatic interventions including quality control;
• Responsible for the development, implementation and reporting of all aspects of legal programmes in line with TI-Kenya’s mandate, and strategic plan;
• Support the development and effective implementation and reporting of the legal interventions in the TI-Kenya Strategic Plan;

Coordination, Networking and External Relationships

• Identify and support the development of collaborative legal initiatives with likeminded institutions.
• Establish and coordinate constructive and sustainable networks/partnerships with relevant partners.

Good Practice and Institutional Learning

• Provide support to the development of structured opportunities to facilitate internal and partner learning on best legal practices;
• Support the development of sustainability plans and strategies for legal interventions by TI-Kenya.

Resource Mobilisation & Budget Management

• Develop and track budgets, and monitor programme expenditure against budgets for legal interventions;
• Take lead in the development of resourcing strategies for legal interventions;
• Lead social enterprise and local resource mobilization efforts in line with the objectives of legal interventions.

QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE

• A Bachelor’s degree in law (LLB)
• Diploma in law from Kenya School of Law
• At least 5 years’ post qualification experience in public interest litigation and in designing and implementation of governance projects
• In-depth understanding of court processes and procedures
• Ability to carry out legal research
• Highly analytical and meticulous
• Prior experience supervising staff and short-term experts/consultants.

COMPETENCIES

• A person of high integrity that will model TI-Kenya’s core values;
• A strong commitment to the aims, objectives, and values of TI-Kenya;
• Good communication, and presentation skills – verbal and written;
• Strong interpersonal / relational skills;
• Good appreciation of advocacy and public engagement
• Computer literate (word processing, spreadsheets, database management);
• Demonstrated merit in work performance and results;
• High level of good judgment.
• Good report writing skills;
• Ability to multi-task, work within given deadlines/schedules and attention to detail;
• Excellent analytical and organisational skills.