1. Nature & scope
As a Head of the department, the role of the position holder will be to lead the provision of required legal advice to the President, Executive Vice Presidents, Management and other staff, as may be required during the course of business.
2. Duties and responsibilities
a) Providing strategic direction and leading the development of the Bank’s strategy in the area of legal services management to ensure that it is managed with a long term perspective and that its linked to the enterprise strategy of the Bank;
b) Organising and establishing day-to-day management of the Bank’s legal staff and processes in line with agreed objectives, policies and procedures and the Bank’s strategic plans;
c) Review and sign off of legal documentation as prepared by the Bank’s lawyers;
d) Provide guidance on the proper application and interpretation of laws and regulations as applicable to the Bank’s business and ensure adequacy of controls to mitigate legal and other risks or concerns that may arise thereto;
e) Establish and maintain effective legal processes to ensure the timely delivery of all required business documentation and foster the development of appropriate forms of standardised documentation;
f) Coordinate the engagement of external legal counsel in order to ensure value for money in this area;
g) Lead the provision of legal advice to management and staff in all areas of the Bank’s activities and in proffering solutions to legal problems, constraints, risks, options, consequences and approaches;
h) Representing the Bank internally and externally in negotiation, disputes, consultations and other proceedings that require legal representation;
i) Carry out such other tasks as may be assigned by Senior Management
3. Skills, Knowledge and Attitude
• Post graduate degree in Law from a recognized University and a Diploma in Legal Practice of a recognized Bar Course;
• Professional legal practice and experience of not less than 12 years, with particular emphasis on the financial services industry is essential. Experience in handling documentation of cross-border trade and project finance business will be an advantage;
• Ability to communicate and function in a culturally diverse and change oriented setting with good knowledge of banking practices in Africa;
• Ability to interact with senior officials of banks, corporates and governments and to present legal advice on various management issues to the Bank’s senior management and the Board;
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills in English and working knowledge of French. Knowledge of the Bank’s other working languages is an added advantage (Arabic and Portuguese);
• Strong skills in drafting a variety of legal documents and communicating complex issues clearly and concisely;
• Familiarity with trade and project finance issues, treasury issues and transnational transactions is desirable;
• Ability to speedily grasp the essence, content and implications of the Bank’s constitutive documents in order to be able to provide advice on them;
• Ability to review under strict deadlines long and complex transactions and other legal documents;
• Negotiating skills and capacity to work with other professionals including non-legal professionals to develop innovative solutions to conflicting interests and positions;
• Demonstrated leadership capabilities, including ability to organize and manage human resources to attain goals.