Legal Officer (Finance and Impact Investments)

The Legal Officer provides legal services supporting IFAD's operations, focusing on finance and impact investments. The role involves research, legal advice, drafting legal instruments, knowledge management, and managerial functions to ensure compliance and support IFAD's mandate.

Responsibilities

• Conduct research and analysis, prepare studies, reports and correspondence on legal issues concerning IFAD's operations.
• Provide legal advice and opinions on issues concerning IFAD's operations and mandate.
• Assist departments, divisions and units on all legal matters including project design and administrative law.
• Provide legal advice to internal committees and interdepartmental meetings.
• Prepare and review drafts of legal instruments, contracts, agreements, internal rules and regulations related to IFAD's operations.
• Perform legal work related to institutional, operations, financial, impact investments, corporate and administrative matters.
• Share results of legal research and analysis with colleagues and ensure legal opinions and instruments are properly filed and accessible.
• Manage assigned IFAD resources with integrity, transparency and equity, including staff supervision as applicable.
• Prepare, review, negotiate and advise on legal instruments related to Treasury and market operations, derivatives, collateral support arrangements, repo transactions, capital market activities, resource mobilization instruments, credit enhancement structures, and impact investments focusing on fund structures.

Requirements

• A first level university degree in law or another relevant field (e.g., LL.B.).
• An advanced university degree in law (e.g., LL.M. or J.D., or equivalent) is highly desirable and considered an asset.
• Relevant fields include international law, administrative law, commercial or economic law or other related disciplines.
• Degree must be from an accredited institution listed on https://www.whed.net/home.php.
• A recognized qualification to practice law in at least one jurisdiction of a Member State (civil or common law), including bar admission, state legal examinations, regulated legal traineeships, or licensing by a competent national authority.
• At least five years of progressively responsible and relevant professional experience in legal document analysis, research on legal practices and precedents, and application of legal principles.
• At least two years of experience at the international level in international organizations, financial institutions or international financial institutions.
• Knowledge of procurement policies, rules and regulations applicable to IFAD HQ and/or Country Programmes/Projects.
• In-depth knowledge of IFAD's governance structure, mandate, strategic priorities and technical work.
• Ability to lead and manage the development and implementation of medium to longer-term strategies for IFAD or respective divisions.
• Know-how in advising on legal and technical aspects of corporate, institutional, lending, grant and investment-related matters.
• Ability to advise internal committees and bodies on substantive and procedural matters.
• Know-how in drafting legal instruments including financing agreements, policy frameworks, internal rules and regulations, and other materials.
• Know-how in identifying and assessing potential legal, reputational, ethical risks and liabilities related to the Fund's activities.
• Ability to manage risks by advising senior management on contingency and mitigation strategies.
• Legal expertise relevant to international administrative law, public international law, and privileges and immunities of international organizations.
• Outstanding ability to synthesize and simplify complex technical information for non-technical audiences.
• Strong critical thinking and communication skills to liaise between business and technologies to understand problems and identify solutions.

Skills

• Legal Document Analysis
• Legal Research
• International Law
• Administrative Law
• Commercial Law
• Economic Law
• Legal Practice
• Bar Admission
• Legal Drafting
• Financing Agreements
• Policy Frameworks
• Internal Rules and Regulations
• UN Procurement Policies
• Governance Knowledge
• Strategic Planning
• Corporate Law Advice
• Institutional Law Advice
• Lending and Grant Law
• Investment Law Advice
• Risk Assessment
• Risk Management
• Contingency Planning
• Mitigation Strategies
• Public International Law
• Privileges and Immunities Law
• Legal Advice to Committees
• Communication with Non-technical Audiences

Languages

English, French, Spanish, Arabic