JOB DESCRIPTION

Title: Legal Officer, Europe

Reports to: Head of Legal

Salary: Grade C

Time: Maternity Cover 9 Months. 2.5 days per week

Location: London or Budapest (other suitable locations will be considered)

A: Purpose of the job

MRG is working with civil society partners to foster greater and effective participation of Roma communities
in Macedonia in decisions affecting their lives in order to reduce the discrimination they experience. Working
under the supervision of the Head of Legal based in our London office, this post will work to strengthen the
capacity of Roma mediators, civil society organisations, the legal community and local and national
authorities to address the discrimination faced by Roma communities in Macedonia, through a combination
of capacity building, legal aid clinics, community networks, litigation and advocacy.

B: Main duties and responsibilities

1. Litigation, legal advice and legal empowerment work:

The tasks include, but are not limited to:
 Delivery of legal cases work within MRG’s programme of international strategic litigation,
including identifying potential new cases, working with in-country legal clinics and
fieldworkers to assess their merits, developing case strategies, researching and drafting legal
arguments, advising partners and lawyers on collection of evidence and on case strategies,
attending and representing minority communities in legal hearings, organising and
participating in community consultation meetings, working to bring about the implementation
of successful legal decisions and judgments, and other related legal work;
 Working with partners, lawyers, experts and other collaborating organisations to develop
appropriate holistic advocacy strategies to complement the litigation and/or implementation of
a successful decision (including media, national and international advocacy, campaigns and
similar methods);
 Developing, organising and running paralegal and other legal empowerment and capacity
building training for minority and indigenous communities who are involved in, or wish to
become involved in, litigation. Establish, develop and support legal clinic(s) and local anti-
discrimination network(s) to assist in provision of legal advice, the pursuit of litigation and
coordination of local work;
 Manage budgets as delegated by the Legal Director, and work with in-country partners to
ensure projects are delivered on schedule, within budget and to appropriate quality standards;
 Assist with the identification of new opportunities for MRG’s legal work;
 Assist with maintaining and developing relationships with third party organisations interested
in legal work, including NGOs, foundations, bar associations, law firms, barristers’ chambers
and similar organisations;
 Advising staff in the organisation on legal or litigation components in other programmes of
work;
 As delegated by the Legal Director, strengthening campaign messages with reference to
international human rights law and ensuring factual accuracy of legal references in
publications and media output;
2. Financial, programme and staff management:
 Implementing, monitoring and delivering project activities, in a timely manner;
 Managing project budgets;
 Drafting reports on activities and preparing financial and narrative reports to donors and other
fundraising documents;
 Researching and drafting logframes, programme proposals and budgets for new legal
department work;
 Contributing to the evaluation of MRG activities;
 Informal supervision of and/or advice to selected legal department staff and interns.

3. General:
 Undertake such other tasks as may reasonably be requested by the Legal Director;
 Ensure all Europe based staff are aware of relevant legal work and liaise with staff working on
capacity building, media, advocacy and other work to maximise synergies and mutual internal
sharing and learning;
 Regular liaison with the London office, including but not limited to the Legal Director; attend
Legal Department and other relevant meetings;
 Respect and work towards full implementation of MRG’s gender and equal opportunities
policies in all the work involved in this post;
 Represent MRG at conferences and speaking events and deliver training as requested;
 Some foreign travel will be required.

4. Confidential information:
Responsible for maintaining confidentiality as the job holder will be entitled to a very high level of
access to confidential information pertaining to MRG's partners, minority communities and
individuals, detailed financial information, and also access to sensitive external information which
may impact on MRG's activities.

5. Degree of supervision:
The post-holder will be expected to report to the Head of Legal any variation from agreed plans and
schedules, and to report regularly on the programme and project's progress.

6. Working conditions
The job holder is required to maintain the pace of work which may at times be high, and will need to
manage several tasks simultaneously. The work will involve sensitive and careful work with
communities and a variety of NGOs in complex and insecure environments.

Although the primary purpose of this post is as described above, the post holder may be required to work
partly or wholly on other areas of MRG’s work. This is to allow MRG to move staff away from work which
is un-funded or under-funded or is no longer a priority for the organisation, to work on areas which have
more funding, are growing or which are understaffed. This will normally involve the post holder in carrying
out tasks similar or identical to those listed in this job description but applied to different programmes or
projects.

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 PERSON SPECIFICATION

Title: Legal Officer, Europe

A. Education and Knowledge

Essential
 An undergraduate or postgraduate qualification in law at degree level
 Detailed knowledge of international human rights law, including economic and social rights, collective and
individual rights, standards relating to minority communities and indigenous peoples
 Good working knowledge of minority community situation, issues and concerns in Europe
 Knowledge of international and some national legal systems and legal fora, in theory and in practice

Desirable
 Relevant postgraduate qualification
 Knowledge of anti-discrimination law in theory and practice.
 Knowledge of intergovernmental organisations e.g. the UN, EU, and similar organizations
 A practice qualification as an attorney/solicitor/barrister or equivalent

B. Experience

Essential
 At least 2 years’ experience of human rights litigation in international or regional courts or monitoring bodies, (at
least some of which should have been in Europee.g. European Court of Human Rights), including responsibility for
drafting legal submissions and/or at least 2 years’ experience of human rights litigation in domestic courts
 At least 2 years’ experience of implementing international human rights or legal projects (including experience of
at least two of project design, managing budgets, managing staff or interns, monitoring and evaluation)

Desirable
 Experience of working on minority or related issues
 Experience of working with members of minority communities

C. Abilities and Skills

Essential
 First-class legal abilities, including the ability to draft legal documents (including third party interventions and
procedural documents) for a variety of legal fora (including regional human rights fora) sometimes at short notice
 Understanding of the strategic use of international litigation as a tool to promote human rights, combined with
advocacy and legal empowerment work
 Ability to work pro-actively with fundraising staff to develop and find support for new areas of work
 Excellent inter-personal skills, in particular the ability to forge strong working relationships externally and
internally, at all levels of the organisation
 Excellent communication skills, written and spoken; strong numeracy skills
 Ability to deliver complex tasks or projects to deadline, sometimes under pressure
 Computer literate and knowledge of word processing, spreadsheets, the Internet and email packages
 Willingness and ability to travel
 Must be fluent in written and spoken English

Desirable
 Good working knowledge of Macedonian or other relevant languages

D. Other

Essential
 A strong commitment to using international law to advance the rights of minorities and indigenous peoples
 Commitment to the aims and objectives of MRG
 Commitment to gender equity
 Enthusiastic about working in a multicultural environment and committed to equal opportunities
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