Legal Officer

The Legal Officer will handle a range of environmental law issues including environmental rule of law, international environmental law development, and biodiversity law. The role involves legal research, drafting legal documents, providing legal advice, servicing diplomatic conferences, and administering legal technical assistance programmes.

Responsibilities

• Handles a range of issues related to environmental law, such as environmental rule of law, the progressive development of international environmental law, human right and the environment, or environmental crime, with a particular focus on biodiversity and nature-related law.
• Conducts extensive legal research and analysis in the field of environmental law, and prepares studies, comparative studies, briefs, reports and correspondence.
• Undertakes basic or extensive review of legal documents, instruments, or other material; identifies important issues, similarities, and inconsistencies.
• Prepares or assists in the preparation of drafts of background papers, studies, reports, legislative texts and commentaries on those texts, teaching materials in the field of international environmental law.
• Prepares or assists in the preparation of legal opinions/advice on a wide range of international and national environmental law issues, including the United Nations Charter, the interpretation and application of MEAs, and the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA) resolutions and decisions.
• Provides legal advice on the interpretation and application of national and international environmental law matters.
• Services or assists senior colleagues in servicing diplomatic conferences, commissions, committees, task forces, expert groups and other bodies, including preparation of background materials, summaries of issues and views of delegations, meeting reports.
• Prepares or assists in the preparation of agreements and contracts with governments, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and other public and private entities.
• Administers programmes of legal technical assistance, notably under the Law and Environment Assistance Platform (LEAP), and capacity building for different enforcement networks, including judiciary and customs.
• Prepares or assists with the preparation of environmental law seminars and symposia, lectures on various legal issues at such events.
• Collects and analyzes data to identify trends or patterns and provide insights through graphs, charts, tables and reports using data visualization methods to enable data-driven planning, decision-making, presentation and reporting.
• Provides guidance to more junior staff.
• Performs other duties as assigned.

Requirements

• An advanced university degree (Master’s or Doctorate degree, or equivalent) in international law preferably in environmental law or international environmental law or related fields is required.
• A first-level degree (Bachelor’s degree or equivalent) in law in combination with two additional years of relevant work experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.
• Successful completion of both degree and non-degree programs in data analytics, business analytics or data science programs is an advantage.
• A minimum of five (5) years of progressively responsible experience in law, including legal analysis, research, and writing, is required.
• A minimum of two (2) years of experience working at the international level in environmental law is desirable.
• Experience in professional legal work relating to international environmental law, particularly biodiversity law is desirable.
• Experience within the United Nations system or other similar international organization is desirable.
• Two (2) years or more of experience in data analytics or related area, is desirable.
• English is required at UN Level III proficiency in reading, writing, listening and speaking.
• Either French or Spanish is desirable at UN Level I proficiency in reading, writing, listening and speaking.

Skills

• International Environmental Law
• Environmental Law
• Biodiversity Law
• Legal Research
• Legal Analysis
• Legal Writing
• Legal Advice
• Diplomatic Conference Support
• Legal Technical Assistance
• Data Analytics
• Business Analytics
• Data Science
• UN System Experience

Languages

English, French, Spanish