Legal Assistant

Position:          Legal Assistant Job site:           South Lebanon Report to:         Legal Consultant and Protection Manager Status:              Full time employment contract _______________________________________________________________________   The Legal Assistant is responsible for supporting the Legal Consultants (Lawyers) in providing legal information, and counseling to vulnerable persons, in accordance with INTERSOS’ mandate, priorities and donor agreements. The Legal Assistant will focus on provision of support to survivors of SGBV, Women at Risk, and children affected by Child Protection concerns. The Legal consultant directly reports to the INTERSOS Protection Manager with the technical supervision of the Legal Consultant.   Project component: Through the implementation of case management services, it has been noted that specialized services - such as psychological support and legal assistance - are not always available for high risk cases. Due to the complex and high caseload - coupled with limited resources of specialized service providers – high risk and complex cases face slow, limited or no follow-up for specialized services, even after being referred from case management agencies, such as INTERSOS: this prevents suitable support and risks deterring them from accessing crucial services. INTERSOS aims at addressing gaps by hiring specialized staff including a lawyer and a legal assistant to provide general counseling services and essential court representation for both GBV and child protection (CP) cases. The legal assistant will provide legal counseling and assistance (legal representation in cases not related to Child Protection and gender based violence to be conducted through other UNHCR legal partners) on legal stay, birth registration, civil status issues.     Main legal issues to be covered: -          Family Law -          Legal identity including obtaining civil documentation necessary to access rights and services (birth registration, marriage registration) -          Citizenship and statelessness issues related to displacement Exceptionally, the team may engage in other thematic areas related to family law including dispute of custody, divorce procedures, which are issues strictly related to the case management as well.   Responsibilities/duties for the legal assistant: Conduct basic interviews with refugees in order to assess legal and urgent protection needs of the clients, especially GBV survivors and children with legal concerns. Provide individual and/or family legal information to beneficiaries, in order to orient them and make them aware about the legal procedures available and most suitable for each case. Undertake follow-up visits to clients in very specific cases (if there are no safety concerns). Attend meetings and workshop/training as requested by the Legal Consultant and the Project/Protection Manager. Plan, develop and conduct legal awareness sessions for the Refugees community and host community. Write report of the awareness sessions. Be involved in the office organization of awareness sessions or any other topic to be decided according to the need, in close coordination with the Legal Consultant. Respect deadline for the delivering of weekly and monthly reports and any kind of urgent reporting to the Project Manager. Any other task not listed here but necessary to the project and activities. Available to work extra hours and available at the weekend for emergency cases. Actively participate to the legal working group and share information and protection trends on legal challenges faced by refugees Stay abreast on any legal policy issued by the Government, and disseminate the information accordingly   Qualifications: Education and experience: -          University degree in law. Advanced university degree, preferably with the specialization in Family Law or Humanitarian Law; -          Relevant experience working on refugee related legal problems; -          Prior experience in working with governmental authorities is added value; -          Familiarity with international protection and human rights legal standards; -          Knowledge on how to communicate with vulnerable population groups, such as women, children, youth, elderly, disable and refugees   Skills and traits: -          Young and dynamic -          Excellent command of (written and spoken) Arabic and English; -          Computer/IT literacy (OS Windows/Linux, MS Office, Internet etc.); -          Excellent analysis and reporting; -          Previous experience in GBV and Child Protection Sector is an asset: -          Excellent communication and organization; -          Excellent knowledge and understanding of local communities and customary rules; -          Punctuality and respect for applicable rules and procedures; -          Strongly objective and impartial reasoning; -          Ethical and transparent decision-making; -          Independence, i.e. conducting tasks with minimal supervision, and stress resilience; -          Self-motivation, goal/result-orientation and team work; -          Flexibility, tolerance and maturity.