Senior Technical Legal Officer

 Founded in 1933, the International Rescue Committee (www.theIRC.org) is a world leader in relief, rehabilitation and post-conflict development services for those uprooted or affected by violent conflict and oppression. The IRC is currently working in over 25 countries around the world, addressing both the immediate and life saving needs of conflict affected people in emergencies and the reconstruction needs of post-conflict societies.  The IRC has been working in Jordan since 2007 to provide support to refugees and vulnerable host community members in the areas of women’s protection and empowerment, children’s protection and cash assistance.

The IRC started implementing protection programming in North of Jordan in 2012 within the Women’s Protection and Empowerment centers. This includes information dissemination, legal counselling and support for civil status documentation needs.  The protection program seeks to promote a protective environment for adults and children, women and girls in particular.  Legal service provision contributes to this objective through supporting refugees and vulnerable members of the host community to access legal information, services and referral for representation in diverse areas including HLP, family law, and civil status documentation.

Job Overview/Summary: Under the supervision of the ERD (Economic Recovery and Development)Deputy Program Manager, the Senior Technical Legal Officer will identify legal needs and provide Legal support to Syrian and Jordanian beneficiary’s inthe ERD, providing legal orientation through awareness sessions in labor law, right to work and business registration. The Senior technical Legal Officer will be responsible for conducting legal information sessions on business registration, rights and entitlements, legal status, and other issues, as dictated by the needs at field level. The Senior Technical Legal Officer will be focusing his/her activities on the location selected according to the mapping and assessment conducted by the ERD Team, to which he/she will be requested to contribute and finally the Senior Technical Legal officer will be expected to coordinate with IRC internal colleagues such as WPE lawyers and external to facilitate providing comprehensive services as well as attending any coordination meetings around protection and legal services in the field

Specific Responsibilities:

• Conducting tailored information sessions on business registration, rights and entitlements, legal status, and other issue as dictated by the needs at field level within ERD components (Employment and Enterprise) in Jordan Context.
• Provide clear guidelines to beneficiaries about the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises registration within Jordanian law
• Accompanying business training successfully graduates, and support beneficiaries who seek legal support in the required legal steps to: register business, draft partnership contracts, issue work permits, and issuing the needed license and other related needs to be ready to operate.
• Developing SOPs (Standard Operation Procedures) in terms of the legal component within ERD mandate
• Developing systems and tools to enhance the quality of the project with a collaboration with information management team in terms of the legal needs
• Close liaison with ERD Senior Technical Officers of Employment, Enterprise and Business development services and Facilitators  to provide accurate and updated advice for beneficiary legal needs
• Case management of ERD’s beneficiaries including necessary follow-ups about their legal needs and ensuring the proper support and legal mentoring
• Representing IRC-ERD and collaborate with relevant local authorities and/or stakeholders

Other Duties

• Engage with the technical unit in HQ, to exchange experiences, share materials and tools, and receive advice.
• Define cross-cutting factors with other IRC Programs/Units to develop the technical capacity for the team.
• Participate actively in regular team meetings and activities.

Key Working Relationships:

Position Reports to: ERD Deputy Program Manager

Position directly supervises:  NA

Indirect Reporting: ERD Manager and ERD Coordinator 

• Bachelor Law degree with Valid license from the Jordanian Bar Association
• Work Experience: Approximately 3- 5 years of prior professional experience in a similar post, preferably in the Humanitarian Sector

• Experience in working Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise Registration
• Experience in Labor law and Employability

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 Jordanian law;

·Familiarity with the Jordanian 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.

·Good knowledge of the local community and experience of dealing with CBOs and local authorities

Language Skills:

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

Working Environment:Standard office environment (Irbid/Mafraq/Ramtha TBD) with daily travel to the field, around North of Jordan and Amman