Legal & Compliance Officer at African Academy of Sciences

Purpose: The Legal and Compliance Officer is responsible for leading and directing the management of all legal issues involving the AAS and has overall responsibility for ensuring that the Academy’s legal risks and compliance requirements are assessed and mitigated appropriately.

Works in close collaboration with legal firms that may be contracted to offer legal services to the Academy.

Responsibilities

• Serve as the primary legal advisor to the Governing Council, Executive Director and advises the Academy on the management of all corporate and commercial legal matters, litigation risks posed by key decisions and providing preventive counsel as required.
• Negotiate, draft and oversee the implementation of multi-party agreements, including financing documents and those relating to strategic alliances as well as other contracts, agreements and correspondence for Academy.
• Organise and manage Governing Council’s activities, including the facilitation of Governing Council and Committee meetings, providing corporate secretarial services, and advising on various issues such as corporate governance and fiduciary duties, ethics and compliance and strategic transactions.
• Work with the President and the Executive Director in laying out meeting agendas and distribute the necessary documentation required for the meeting.
• Advise the management team on the contents of the Governing Council Board meeting and coordinate the organisation of memoranda and presentation required to ensure the smooth operations of the Academy.
• Develop strategies for assessing and mitigating legal risks across all the AAS operations and for managing people and resources in a manner that effectively supports the achievement of the Academy’s objectives and put mechanisms and structures in place for the execution of such strategies.
• Work with the senior management team to define strategic goals and organisational needs, provide legal counsel, and establish and influence appropriate ethical standards and legal considerations which must be considered when decisions are made and in developing the strategic plan.
• Conduct research on laws, rules, regulations and legal precedents and stay current on any legal changes that are made that apply to the Academy.
• Select and manage outside counsel, communicate and respond to litigation and regulatory matters and cost-effectively manage the resources required to address those matters.
• Work to ensure that the organisation’s intellectual property is protected. In the first instance, ensure that an optimal centralised document management system is put in place to support the storage and retrieval of paper and electronic documents for the AAS.
• Maintain and update the record of all open and closed legal cases. Manage and follow up on all open criminal, civil, regulatory and other legal proceedings internally and with outside counsel to seek redress for Academy.

Job Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Law or its equivalent.
• Commissioner for Oaths and Notary Public.
• Member of Institute of Certified Public Secretaries of Kenya (ICPSK) or relevant professional body.
• At least 3 years’ relevant experience in legal, Company Secretary dealing with Boards.

Personal Attributes

• High moral standing with impeccable integrity.
• Good communication and interpersonal skills.
• Good planning and organisational skills.
• Enthusiastic, results oriented with excellent presentation skills.