Legal Officer - Akkar

Major Responsibilities:

• Conduct Mobile Field Visits 3-4 times per week to education programming sites in villages, urban areas, and informal settlements/tent clusters to meet with PoCs within the community according to the weekly work plan;
• Identify legal needs in the field and provide on-site counseling to Persons of Concern;
• Under the guidance of their direct supervisor, assist persons of concern by representing them in relevant administrative bodies;
• Conduct case intake on site utilizing digital data collection system;
• Deliver information sessions on protection, rights and entitlements, legal status, statelessness and other issues as dictated by the needs at field-level;
• Engage in mediation and negotiation as needed (e.g. on housing, land and property issues);
• Analyze data and highlight trends and legal protection needs;
• Under the guidance of direct supervisor, facilitate one-on-one interviews and focus group discussions with refugees, host community members, state actors and service providers in the field on selected protection and legal concerns;
• Keep records of the urgent legal needs identified and the actions taken to assist affected PoCs;
• Produce weekly reports on activities based on IRC and UNHCR tools;
• Work to strengthen IRC’s relationship with refugees, refugee/host community leaders and municipal actors in order to maintain good access to POCs;
• Support the Protection Team Leader to conduct advocacy on behalf of the community; and,
• Conduct other duties as assigned by supervisor.

Key Working Relationships:

Position Reports to:  Legal Team Leader
Position directly supervises:  NA

• Law degree

Work Experience:

• At least two years of prior professional experience in a similar post, preferably with an international organization 

Demonstrated Skills and Competencies:

• Belief in human rights including gender equality.
• Strong communication skills including ability to gain trust and build relationships with new communities.
• Strong understanding of International Human Rights, Refugee Law and Lebanese law with special focus on Family Law;
• Familiarity with the Lebanese legal community;
• Basic computer skills including Microsoft Word.
• Experience in regular report writing.
• Strong interpersonal skills and ability to work as part of a team, as well as independently.
• Flexible and able to work in a dynamic and diverse environment.

Language Skills:

• High standard of spoken and written Arabic, with English language skills desirable

Working Environment: Standard office environment with daily travel to the field, around North Lebanon (security conditions permitting).