Project Lawyer

LAW is an independent, non-profit organization comprised of human rights lawyers working in fragile and conflict affected areas in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia. We have a particular focus on gender equality and sexual and gender-based violence, natural resource exploitation, rule of law and accountability, and transformative justice, working to bring justice to those who need it most.

LAW’s ground-breaking work has been included in a number of UN and Member State government reports and has received international media coverage, including in the New York Times, the Times of London, the Guardian, Voice of America, BBC News, Sky News, Al Jazeera, Huffington Post and Foreign Policy.

BRIEF ABOUT THE PROJECT

Improving Accountability and Access to Justice in Lebanon through Public Interest Lawyering and a Survivor-Centred Approach focuses on improving accountability to victims and survivors within the Lebanese judicial system and improve access to justice for survivors of gendered crimes through a survivor-centred approach. The project will provide legal aid to survivors of gendered crimes, including women and girls, LGBTQI+ individuals, and migrant domestic workers. As well as train lawyers in using survivor-centred approach to serve gender crime survivors. And will encourage best practice in legal/judicial system by a dynamic advocacy strategy targeting the public and official opinion on access to justice and accountability for gendered crimes

Functions/Key Deliverables :

The Project Lawyer will work directly with LAW to provide legal assistance and representation to the beneficiaries. The Project Lawyer has the following responsibilities:

 Management

• Supervise Legal Information Officers (LIOs) work and ensure accuracy, quality and efficiency of the legal information provided;
• Organise regular meetings with the LIOs to monitor progress and discuss observations and lessons learned;
• Supervise outreach schedules of the LIOs on a weekly basis and ensure these are carried out accordingly;
• Deliver reports and ensure they are filled with accordance to LAW’s standards;
• Ensure that the team is planning and organizing work so that targets can be reached within the project timeline.

    Legal

• Develop case selection criteria based on community needs;
• Interview GBV survivors with accordance to the best practices ;
• Provide legal assistance and representation according to LAW’s intake and eligibility criteria;
• Identify and create referral networks to medical and psychological support, health support; cash/food assistance;
• Conduct desk review and research of existing documentation and legal precedents and jurisprudence related to human rights;
• Prepare legal materials related to information sessions and co-facilitate them with Legal Information Officers (LIOs);
• Organise, implement, and assist with trainings on human rights, related domestic laws and other requested topics.
• Develop legal training materials related to survivor-centred approach, international best practices related to Lebanon and gender issues in accordance to human rights law, etc…
• Organise and participate in regular workshops and panels related to project activities;
• Facilitate legal trainings and roundtables in relation to the project;
• Analyse, cross-reference and organise the body of evidence into LAW’s secure centralized system (SharePoint) according to client intake criteria;
• Contribute to advocacy strategy and initiatives;
• Contribute to monthly reports and include success stories.
• Liaise with partners providing technical advice and services;

Support and Administration

• Organize the physical case files based on LAW’s guidelines;
• Take on any administrative, logistical or other support tasks needed to ensure the project runs smoothly, or that are assigned by LA management;
• Adhere to deadlines and take on tasks proactively.
• Attend all meetings and trainings organised by LAW upon request;

Any other task assigned by the Lebanon Program Manager.

Experience and Qualifications Required:

• Qualified lawyer (Registered at Beirut or Tripoli Bar Association) with minimum 5 years work experience;
• Excellent written and oral Arabic and English;
• Minimum 5 years of experience in interviewing vulnerable victims and survivors and working on gendered cases;
• Proven knowledge and experience in using survivor-centred approach;
• Minimum 5 years of experience in drafting legal analysis and position papers and strategies;
• Demonstrated experience in producing legal strategies;
• Have strong legal analytical skills and a good understanding of the Lebanese context and Lebanese legislation.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite and strong technical literacy;
• Strong interpersonal skills and ability to work independently and take initiative;