Legal and Policy Associate (NYSC)

Responsibilities:

Legal Research, Policy Analysis & Legislative Review:

• Conduct comprehensive legal and policy research on national, regional, and international legislation, conventions, treaties, protocols, and regulatory frameworks relevant to mental health, disability inclusion, human rights, safeguarding, governance, and public policy.
• Analyse existing laws and identify policy gaps, implementation challenges, and opportunities for legislative reform.
• Review and provide legal analysis of legislation, including the National Mental Health Act, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), the African Disability Protocol, the Discrimination Against Persons with Disabilities (Prohibition) Act, and other relevant legal instruments.
• Prepare legal briefs, policy papers, position papers, policy recommendations, technical memoranda, advocacy briefs, and legal opinions to support organisational advocacy and decision-making.
• Monitor legislative, judicial, and regulatory developments affecting the organisation and advise Management on emerging legal obligations and opportunities for policy influence.

Legal Drafting & Contract Management:

• Draft, review, negotiate, and standardise a broad range of legal documents, including and not limited to employment contracts, consultancy agreements, internship agreements, volunteer agreements, service agreements, partnership agreements, Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs), consent forms, liability waivers, Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs), offer letters, and letters of authorisation.
• Ensure all contracts adequately protect the organisation's legal, operational, financial, safeguarding, intellectual property, and reputational interests.
• Review partnership proposals, grant agreements, donor agreements, collaboration frameworks, and strategic partnership documentation.
• Maintain an organised contract management system, ensuring timely renewals, amendments, approvals, execution, and compliance with contractual obligations.
• Develop and continuously improve legal templates to standardise organisational contracting processes.

Regulatory Compliance & Corporate Governance:

• Monitor organisational compliance with applicable laws, regulatory requirements, donor obligations, data protection legislation, employment laws, safeguarding standards, procurement regulations, and corporate governance principles.
• Coordinate statutory filings, regulatory submissions, licence renewals, and compliance reporting with relevant government agencies.
• Lead corporate governance activities, including trustee appointments, governance restructuring, statutory filings, constitutional amendments, and regulatory registrations.
• Prepare Board notices, resolutions, trustee meeting documentation, Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) notices, meeting minutes, governance registers, declarations, statutory forms, and regulatory correspondence.
• Coordinate Board meetings annually.
• Coordinate filings with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC)  and other regulatory authorities.
• Support organisational restructuring initiatives, including conversion to alternative legal entities where required.

Institutional Development & Strategic Initiatives:

• Contribute legal expertise to organisational growth, institutional strengthening, governance reforms, and strategic transformation initiatives.
• Collaborate with Programme Officer, Advocacy and Disability Rights to support the establishment of new organisational programmes, academies, strategic initiatives, and institutional frameworks through legal research and documentation.
• Conduct legal feasibility assessments for organisational expansion, restructuring, and new programme development.
• Develop governance manuals, institutional frameworks, operational guidelines, and legal implementation roadmaps.

Risk Management & Legal Advisory:

• Identify, assess, and mitigate legal, governance, regulatory, operational, contractual, and reputational risks.
• Provide proactive legal advice to Management on emerging legal issues affecting organisational operations.
• Conduct legal due diligence for projects, procurements, partnerships, and strategic initiatives.
• Recommend practical legal solutions that minimise organisational exposure while supporting programme delivery.

Corporate Secretariat & Board Support:

• Serve as Secretariat support to the Board of Trustees by coordinating governance documentation, Board correspondence, meeting logistics, resolutions, minutes, governance calendars, and statutory records.
• Maintain accurate corporate records, governance registers, trustee records, Board resolutions, and statutory documentation.
• Develop and operationalise Board governance manuals and governance procedures.

Legal Training & Capacity Building:

• Develop and facilitate internal legal awareness sessions and compliance training programmes.
• Deliver training on Privacy and Data Protection, Safeguarding, Whistleblowing, Ethics, Governance, Compliance, and other organisational policies.
• Strengthen staff understanding of legal obligations, regulatory requirements, and organisational compliance standards.

Investigations, Ethics & Safeguarding:

• Support internal investigations involving safeguarding concerns, whistleblowing reports, compliance breaches, ethics matters, and organisational incidents.
• Prepare investigation reports, legal analyses, and recommendations while ensuring confidentiality and procedural fairness.
• Support engagement with regulators, donors, and external investigators where required.

Property, Regulatory & Administrative Legal Support:

• Provide legal support for office leases, tenancy agreements, property acquisitions, regulatory payments, statutory notices, and government correspondence.
• Draft, review, and negotiate tenancy agreements, property documentation, notices, and related legal instruments.
• Liaise with government agencies on statutory obligations, permits, taxes, rates, and regulatory compliance.

Documentation & Knowledge Management:

• Maintain secure and comprehensive legal repositories for contracts, MoUs, governance records, policies, regulatory filings, litigation records, statutory documents, and compliance documentation.
• Develop legal templates, precedents, standard operating procedures, and document management systems.
• Prepare periodic legal, governance, compliance, and policy reports for Management and the Board.

Requirements:

• Must be a corp member
• A Bachelor's Degree (LL.B.) in Law from a recognised institution.
• Admission to the Nigerian Bar (B.L.) and a valid practising licence.