Legal Analyst

Under the direct supervision of the Corporate Legal Advisor, Head of the Commercial and Institutional Law Practice, the Legal Analyst assists the Legal Group in drafting and reviewing legal documents, in providing legal advice and supporting the implementation of UNOPS standards. A major part of this role is to provide support ensuring that UNOPS implementation activities are provided with enabling and solution-oriented support on a daily basis, and that these challenges are registered and made to contribute towards longer-term policy change. The incumbent of this position would need to be able to analyze policies and processes to meet practice needs and recommend change.

The Legal Analyst works in close collaboration with the operations, programme and project teams in Regional Offices, UNOPS HQ personnel, UN agencies and Government officials to successfully deliver legal services.

Summary of Key Functions  

1.  Provides legal advice to UNOPS personnel, focusing on achievement of the following results:

• Review and draft project agreements with various funding sources;
• Draft contracts, purchase orders and other agreements to mitigate commercial risks, ensuring that organizational legal requirements and standards are met;
• Under the guidance of the Corporate Legal Advisor, provide legal advice on the application of UNOPS Financial Rules and Regulations, in particular related to procurement and contracting;
• Review and analyze various documents for the procurement process, assessing institutional risk;
• Analyze disputes and claims related to procurement and service contracts;
• Provide legal and procurement-related advice on institutional and commercial matters;
• Support the implementation of UNOPS standards and coordination and review of audit responses; follow-up of the implementation of audit recommendations;
• Provide advice on and/or development and institutionalization of new approaches and standards relevant to the legal practice;
• Develop and maintain a system for keeping records of decisions made and actions taken.
• Perform other duties as required.

• Advanced university degree (Master’s degree or equivalent) in law with 2 years of relevant experience.
• Admission to the bar in a national jurisdiction is required. 

• Relevant experience is defined as experience as a lawyer/counselor in commercial or international law, including legal analysis, advice, research or drafting of legal texts.
• Experience and knowledge at both policy and operational levels with a variety of relevant UN funding and/or operational agencies, bilateral donors and international financing institutions is desired. 

• Fluency in written and oral English (reading, speaking and reading) is required.    
• Knowledge of French is desirable.

• Please note that the closing date is midnight Copenhagen time
• Applications received after the closing date will not be considered.
• Only those candidates that are short-listed for interviews will be notified.
• Qualified female candidates are strongly encouraged to apply.
• UNOPS seeks to reasonably accommodate candidates with special needs, upon request.
• Work life harmonization - UNOPS values its people and recognizes the importance of balancing professional and personal demands. We have a progressive policy on work-life harmonization and offer several flexible working options. This policy applies to UNOPS personnel on all contract types
• UNOPS seeks to reasonably accommodate candidates with special needs, upon request.
• For staff positions only, UNOPS reserves the right to appoint a candidate at a lower level than the advertised level of the post
• The incumbent is responsible to abide by security policies, administrative instructions, plans and procedures of the UN Security Management System and that of UNOPS.  

It is the policy of UNOPS to conduct background checks on all potential recruits/interns.
Recruitment/internship in UNOPS is contingent on the results of such checks.

UNOPS is an operational arm of the United Nations, supporting the successful implementation of its partners’ peacebuilding, humanitarian and development projects around the world. Our mission is to help people build better lives and countries achieve sustainable development.

UNOPS areas of expertise cover infrastructure, procurement, project management, financial management and human resources.

Working with us

UNOPS offers short- and long-term work opportunities in diverse and challenging environments across the globe. We are looking for creative, results-focused professionals with skills in a range of disciplines.

Diversity

With over 4,000 UNOPS personnel and approximately 7,000 personnel recruited on behalf of UNOPS partners spread across 80 countries, our workforce represents a wide range of nationalities and cultures. We promote a balanced, diverse workforce — a strength that helps us better understand and address our partners’ needs, and continually strive to improve our gender balance through initiatives and policies that encourage recruitment of qualified female candidates.

Work life harmonization

UNOPS values its people and recognizes the importance of balancing professional and personal demands.