These positions are located primarily in the Office of Legal Affairs, the Department of Management Strategy, Policy and Compliance, the Office of Administration of Justice, and the Office on Drugs and Crime, but may also be found in other offices throughout the United Nations Secretariat. Incumbents typically report to a senior Legal Officer.

Responsibilities

Within delegated authority and depending on location, the Associate Legal Officer may be responsible for the following duties:

• Conducts legal research on a diverse range of assigned issues in international law and other area(s) of specialization in public and private law, using multiple research sources; selects relevant material, analyzes information and presents findings for internal review.
• Assists Legal Officers in the review of legal documents, instruments, or other material; identifies important issues, similarities and inconsistencies, etc.
• Assists in the preparation of drafts of background papers, studies, reports, etc.
• Assists in the preparation of legislative and other legal standards, legal opinions/advice on a wide range of international public and private law issues, including the United Nations Charter, General Assembly resolutions and decisions involving, inter alia, issues relating to privileges and immunities, peace and security, institutional questions, treaty law and practice, comparative and international commercial law, procedural issues arising during meetings of United Nations organs, constitutional and administrative law of the Organization.
• Assists in the preparation of agreements and contracts with governments, NGOs and other public and private entities, as well as claims and disputes.
• Assists in representing the Organization before arbitral and other tribunals or administrative proceedings, including disciplinary cases.
• Assists in providing legal advice on human resources matters and assists in reviewing administrative decisions.
• Assists in administering programmes of legal technical assistance.
• Assists Legal Officers in servicing diplomatic conferences, commissions, committees, task forces and other bodies, including preparation of background materials, summaries of issues and views of delegations, etc.
• Performs other duties as assigned.
• The duties above are generic and may not be performed by all Associate Legal Officers.

Competencies

Professionalism:

• Shows pride in work and in achievements
• Demonstrates professional competence and mastery of subject matter
• Is conscientious and efficient in meeting commitments, observing deadlines and achieving results
• Is motivated by professional rather than personal concerns
• Shows persistence when faced with difficult problems or challenges
• Remains calm in stressful situations
• Takes responsibility for incorporating gender perspectives and ensuring the equal participation of women and men in all areas of work

Teamwork:

• Works collaboratively with colleagues to achieve organizational goals
• Solicits input by genuinely valuing others’ ideas and expertise; is willing to learn from others
• Places team agenda before personal agenda
• Supports and acts in accordance with final group decision, even when such decisions may not entirely reflect own position
• Shares credit for team accomplishments and accepts joint responsibility for team shortcomings

Planning & Organizing:

• Develops clear goals that are consistent with agreed strategies
• Identifies priority activities and assignments
• Adjusts priorities as required
• Allocates appropriate amount of time and resources for completing work
• Foresees risks and allows for contingencies when planning
• Monitors and adjusts plans and actions as necessary
• Uses time efficiently

Education

• At least a first-level university degree (i.e., Bachelor’s degree or an equivalent degree of at least three years) in the main course of study “Law”.

Responsibilities

The Young Professionals Programme (YPP) examination for Library & Information Management will cover a wide range of topics related to requirements of typical roles in these job families. Within delegated authority, the Associate Officer may be responsible for the following duties (and other related duties, as required):

Library

• Provides UN staff, delegates and requestors worldwide with actionable information and Institutional data in diverse online platforms and communication channels; efficiently and professionally responds to requests for research and reference support, online or in-person.
• Develops process improvement mechanisms for data analytics tasks; acquire sand cleans data from primary or secondary sources and maintains databases/data systems
• Organizes, classifies, catalogues and curates print and electronic information resources; applies controlled vocabularies and metadata standards in creation of complete bibliographic and linked data descriptions of resources.
• Conducts user needs analysis and contributes to monitoring and evaluation of Library services; develops reports, dashboards or other tools to effectively summarize findings and impact analytics and conveys information to management
• Integrates and balances user and institutional needs, applying knowledge of scholarly communications, library liaison services, outreach and/or events management to support development of partnerships and communication with networks in the relevant fields and target user-groups, with associations of library and information specialists, and with peers in international fora.
• Contributes to the digital collections workflow, including digitization and digital preservation activities, making recommendations for best practices and system implementation for the curation of digitized and born-digital material
• Contributes to the creation, administration and maintenance of the Library’s online presence including content authoring and/or technical administration, in order to provide a secure, stable, accessible, and seamless experience for online audiences.
• Contributes substantially to the Library's hybrid training programme
• Uses knowledge of institutional information needs to evaluate, recommend and acquire print and electronic materials to be added to the Library’s portfolio of resources.
• Participates in the creation of electronic and other reference tools, and the compilation of bibliographies.
• Guides, trains and supervises general services staff in related functions.

Information Management / Archives

• Provides electronic record keeping support and advice to records-creating offices by advising on electronic record keeping system standards and compliance; oversees the digital records accessioning process; provides training in the use of metadata standards for the capture, maintenance and accessioning of digital archives; and manages system upgrades and migration for digital archives databases.
• Undertakes records accession and disposition functions, including records appraisal, by liaising with records-creating offices on the transfer and/or disposal of records and analysing and evaluating records for evidential and informational value in support of records appraisal.
• Undertakes archival processing activities by accessioning, arranging, and producing descriptive inventories; prepares mark-up of inventories for electronic dissemination; and monitors adherence to archival description, database, and physical and digital preservation standards.
• Performs reference functions for archival materials by advising internal and external users on holdings and accessibility and assisting in the administration of access and declassification activities. Develops secondary information resources, outreach products, and exhibition materials.

Competencies

• PROFESSIONALISM: Shows pride in work and in achievements; demonstrates professional competence and mastery of subject matter; is conscientious and efficient in meeting commitments, observing deadlines and achieving results; is motivated by professional rather than personal concerns; shows persistence when faced with difficult problems or challenges; remains calm in stressful situations. Takes responsibility for incorporating gender perspectives and ensuring the equal participation of women and men in all areas of work.
• CLIENT ORIENTATION: Considers all those to whom services are provided to be "clients" and seeks to see things from clients' point of view; establishes and maintains productive partnerships with clients by gaining their trust and respect; identifies clients' needs and matches them to appropriate solutions; monitors ongoing developments inside and outside the clients' environment to keep informed and anticipate problems; keeps clients informed of progress or setbacks in projects; meets timeline for delivery of products or services to client.
• TEAMWORK: Works collaboratively with colleagues to achieve organizational goals; solicits input by genuinely valuing others' ideas and expertise; is willing to learn from others; places team agenda before personal agenda; supports and acts in accordance with final group decision, even when such decisions may not entirely reflect own position; shares credit for team accomplishments and accepts joint responsibility for team shortcomings.

Education

At least a first-level university degree (i.e., Bachelor’s degree or an equivalent degree of at least three years) in one of the following Fields of Study related to Library and Information Science (found within the Journalism & Information Main Course of Study pull-down menu):

• Archival Sciences
• Documentation Techniques
• Information Management
• Library
• Museums and Similar Repositories