Volunteer Legal Advisor at Africa and Middle East Refugee Assistance

Position Description

The Legal Advisor Volunteership is a position of 7.5 months’ duration. Legal Advisors are assigned to work on the Refugee Status Determination (RSD) team and are responsible for representing individual refugee status determination cases before the UNHCR in Cairo. Legal advisors manage their own caseload of clients, interviewing them, taking their testimonials, writing legal arguments for appeal/reopening, and accompanying clients to their interviews at UNHCR. Legal advisors are expected to work full-time (35 hours per week).

Please visit www.amera-egypt.org to apply.

Selected volunteers will be expected to begin on July 10th in order to participate in a two-week intensive training program.

This is a non-paid position.

Requirements
• English being the official language of the UNHCR Cairo as well as AMERA’s office, the Legal Advisor must be fluent in both oral and written English. Arabic is an advantage.
• A Bachelors degree in law or an LLM is preferred, but other Masters degrees’ or equivalent experience in a related field are also acceptable.
• A background in law and/or experience working in human rights and/or with refugees and asylum seekers.
• Ability to prepare high-quality testimonies and legal submissions to be submitted to UNHCR.
• Conscientious record-keeping of all actions taken regarding clients’ cases.
• Ability to make necessary referrals to other teams or organizations.
• A positive attitude and sensitive manner when dealing with clients including a range of interviewing skills for dealing with challenging interview scenarios.
• Mature work ethic
• Ability to organize, multi-task, and prioritize workload in order to adequately meet deadlines.
• Ability to handle conflicting priorities in a fast-paced environment while working with limited resources.

Responsibilities
• Undertake comprehensive screening of clients at all levels – first instance, appeal and closed file – to assess refugee claim and determine if full legal representation is appropriate.
o If the provision of full legal representation is not appropriate, the provision of legal advice.
 

• Upon commencement of full legal representation, assessment of the additional needs of the client and the making of appropriate referrals to other teams such as the Psychosocial team, the Protection team or the Sexual and Gender Based Violence team.
 

• Full representation of RSD cases including first instance, appeals, closed files, cancellation and cessation. At any given time the caseload should be not less than 5 active (full representation) clients, or more as delegated by the team leader. Functions related to representation of RSD cases include (but are not limited to) the following:
o The preparation of written testimonies
o The drafting of legal arguments/submissions
o Obtaining documents to support clients’ cases such as expert reports, witness statements, etc.
o The preparation of clients for RSD interviews at UNHCR
o Accompaniment of clients to their RSD interviews at UNHCR
o Oral advocacy for clients during RSD interviews at the UNHCR
o Taking detailed transcript of RSD interview proceedings.
o Following up on the status of clients’ cases with the UNHCR through inquires on the clients’ behalf
 

• Undertake country of origin research to support individual claims as well as for general organizational research purposes as per direction from the team leader. Maintain and update own knowledge of the current political and social situations in the countries of origin of AMERA’s clients in order to best provide legal assistance. 

• Maintain good working knowledge of UNHCR guidelines, process and procedures.
• Participate in ongoing training activities and supervision.
• Undertake comprehensive case management practices including maintaining and updating electronic databases and records for each client, and keeping detailed notes of all case work activities.
• Attend and contribute to weekly staff meetings. Take meeting minutes as required.
• Adhere to the Nairobi Code of Ethics and to the AMERA Office Procedural Manual.
• Attend and participate in RSD team meetings, as well as contributing to the formulation of policies and procedures for the team and participating in strategic planning as required.In coordination with the team leader, advocate for clients’ best interests on a case-by-case basis at UNHCR or other organizations.
• Assist the team leader as required with broader advocacy efforts which may include collecting case data, writing reports and case profiles, or preparing other necessary documents.
• As required, provide training to new legal advisors and other staff on legal issues faced by refugees.
• Direct clients to appropriate external organizations to address their specific needs.

Please visit www.amera-egypt.org to apply