Legal Officer, P3

United Nations

The United Nations (UN) is an international organization founded in 1945. Currently made up of 193 Member States, the UN and its work are guided by the purposes and principles contained in its founding Charter. Comprises many funds, programmes and specialized agencies; each of which have their own area of work, leadership and budget. The UN coordinates its work with these separate UN system entities, which cooperate with the Organization to help it achieve its goals. The UN has evolved over the years to develop, assist and keep pace with a rapidly changing world. But one thing has stayed the same: it remains the one place on Earth where all the world’s nations can gather together, discuss common problems, and find shared solutions that benefit all of humanity. Since the UN's founding in 1945, the mission and work of the Organization have been guided by the purposes and principles contained in its founding Charter, which has been amended three times. The United Nations Secretariat carries out the day-to-day work of the UN as mandated by the General Assembly and the Organization's other main organs. The Secretary-General is the head of the Secretariat, which has tens of thousands of UN staff members working at duty stations all over the world. UN staff members are regularly recruited internationally and locally, and work in duty stations and on peacekeeping missions as UN diplomats. Since the founding of the United Nations, hundreds of brave men and women have given their lives to its service excellence. Join us today and change your global status to a UN diplomat.

Sector
International relations
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Legal Officer, P3

Responsibilities

Under the overall supervision of the Chief of Section, the Legal Officer represents the Secretary-General in written and oral proceedings before the United Nations Dispute Tribunal (UNDT) and may be responsible for the following duties:

  • Handles a range of issues related to international, public, private and administrative law, including the interpretation and application of constitutive, legislative and other instruments governing United Nations activities and operations.
  • Conducts extensive legal research and analysis and prepare 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, etc. Prepares or assists in the preparation of drafts of background papers, studies, reports, legislative texts and commentaries on those texts.
  • Prepares or assists in the preparation of legal opinions/advice on a wide range of international public or private law issues, including the United Nations Charter, General Assembly resolutions and decisions involving constitutional and administrative law of the Organization.
  • Prepares or assists in the preparation of agreements and the negotiation and settlement of claims and disputes in the context of the administration of justice matters
  • Assesses evidence for relevance and admissibility.
  • Prepares and assesses briefs of evidence.
  • Provides legal advice on human resources matters; reviews administrative matters.
  • Performs other duties as assigned.

Education

  • Advanced university degree (Master's degree or equivalent) in law is required. A first-level university degree (Bachelor's degree or equivalent) in combination with two additional years of relevant work experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.

Work Experience

  • A minimum of five years of progressively responsible legal experience is required. Of these five years, two years in litigation at the national or international level and must include first-hand experience in appearing and leading the evidence of witnesses before a court or tribunal or equivalent administrative board and bodies is required.
  • Experience at the national or international level in administrative and employment or labour law is required.
  • Experience with staff regulations and rules, policies, procedures and operations of the United Nations or a similar international organization is desirable.

Method of application

If you are interested and qualified, kindly submit your application via the link provided below,

https://careers.un.org/jobSearchDescription/271533?language=en&utm_source=Jobinkenya

Deadline June 24, 2026

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