UN Vacancy at the United States

Position: Legal Officer at the United Nations Office of Legal Affairs

Responsibilities

The Legal Officer will do the following duties

• Services or assists senior colleagues in servicing diplomatic conferences, commissions, committees, expert groups and other bodies, including preparation of background materials, summaries of issues and views of delegations, meeting reports, etc.
• Prepares or assists with the preparation of international law training programs and facilitate them.
• Handles a range of issues related to constitutional, international, public, administrative, and criminal (substantive, procedural and comparative) law, including the interpretation and application of constitutive, legislative and other instruments governing United Nations activities and operations, in consultation with senior Legal Officers.
• Conducts extensive legal research and analysis and prepares studies, comparative studies, briefs, reports, and correspondence, as requested by the General Assembly and its subsidiary organs.
• Undertakes a basic or extensive review of legal documents, instruments, or other material; identifies important issues, similarities, and inconsistencies, etc.
• Prepares or assists in the preparation of drafts of background papers, studies, reports, legislative texts and commentaries on those texts, legal publications and teaching materials in the field of international law.
• Similarly, repares or assists in the preparation of legal opinions/advice on a wide range of international public law issues, including the United Nations Charter, General Assembly resolutions and decisions involving, inter alia, institutional questions, treaty law and practice, and procedural issues arising during meetings of United Nations organs.
• Prepares or assists in the preparation of agreements with governments and other entities.
• Administers programs of legal technical assistance as well as provides guidance to more junior staff.
• Furthermore, s/he will also perform other duties as assigned.

Requirements

The ideal candidate will have the following qualifications

• Advanced university degree (Master’s degree or equivalent) in international law. However, holders of bachelor degree in combination with qualifying experience can also apply for the post.
• In addition to that, five years of progressively responsible experience in law, including legal analysis, research and writing are necessary. Also, experience in public international law at the national or international level.
• Previous experience in drafting international law background papers with an emphasis on the progressive development of international law and its codification is desirable.
• Similarly, experience with an international organization is desirable. Experience in organizing international law training courses or seminars is desirable.
•  For the post advertised, fluency in English is required. Knowledge of French is desirable. Knowledge of another official United Nations language is desirable.