Legal Officer MDAC - Mental Disability Advocacy Center Budapest

Budapest, Hungary

The Mental Disability Advocacy Center is an international human rights non-governmental organisation headquartered in Budapest, Hungary. MDAC’s mission is to advance the rights of children and adults with intellectual disabilities and psycho-social disabilities. MDAC uses law to promote equality and social inclusion through strategic litigation, advocacy, research and monitoring, and capacity building. MDAC works with intergovernmental human rights mechanisms, and carries out litigation, advocacy, research and capacity-building at domestic, European and international levels . See www.mdac.info for more information.

This application pack contains the job description, required qualifications and experience, and person specification for this post. Please note that the deadline for applications is 23 March 2012. Only applications using the application form downloadable from www.mdac.info will be considered: please do not simply send your CV! We thank you very much for your interest in joining MDAC.

Job Description

Title: Legal Officer
Location: MDAC headquarters, Budapest, Hungary
Reports to: Litigation Director

Summary:

Based in MDAC’s headquarters in Budapest and working in close collaboration with the legal as well as policy and advocacy staff, the Legal Officer liaises with lawyers and NGOs, carries out legal research and drafts submissions under the guidance of the Litigation Director. The Legal Officer develops cases for submission to domestic courts, the European Court of Human Rights and other human rights mechanisms.

Litigation

• Analyses new challenges and opportunities for the legal protection of human rights in line with MDAC’s Strategic Plan;
• Communicates regularly with MDAC’s consultants, collaborators and partners in specified countries to review current and potential cases;
• Carries out legal research and drafts legal memos;
• Writes draft legal submissions for consideration by the Litigation Director in domestic courts and international legal fora (including writing accurate factual summaries, and statements of domestic and international law);
• Takes part in planning and implementing advocacy strategies to achieve reforms stemming from and related to litigation;
• Keeps abreast of developments in disability law in target countries and at the international level;
• Oversees development of case summaries for case database;
• Travels to countries on fact-finding missions as needed.

Project Management

• Tracks project milestones;
• Keeps accurate case files, including monitoring legal monitor files for regular updates;
• Ensures regular internal communications;
• Reports on work achieved and planned.

Communications

• Contributes to MDAC publications, including its website and newsletter. Ensures that information is up-to-date and relevant;
• Communicates effectively on behalf of MDAC to a range of stakeholders in target countries, ensuring consistency, relevance and quality of communications.

Other

• Contributes to operational planning;
• Supervises interns, volunteers and staff members as needed;
• Assists MDAC management with fundraising;
• Represents MDAC, as appropriate, to external organisations;
• Carries out other tasks as requested by Litigation Director.

Qualifications and experience

Essential qualifications and experience

• University degree in law;
• Minimum two years work experience conducting human rights litigation or advising and advocating on behalf of clients regarding issues related to disability or human rights.

Desirable qualifications and experience

• Member of the Bar of a Member State of the Council of Europe;
• Masters degree (or equivalent experience) in human rights, public policy, law, or a related field;
• Experience with the European Court of Human Rights;
• Experience of working in more than one European country;
• Experience of working with (or advocating for the rights of) people with mental health disabilities or intellectual disabilities;
• Experience of working with people from different cultures;
• Excellent English legal writing skills;
• Fluency in at least one language other than English.

Personal attributes and skills

The ideal candidate will have:

• The highest commitment to MDAC’s mission, vision and organisational values;
• The ability to make sense of imperfect and ambiguous information;
• The flair to deal with messy external environments;
• The ability to work on multiple cases to strict deadlines;
• The writing skills to produce high quality technical legal papers;
• The vigour of working independently and who is comfortable being part of a team;
• The willingness to be based in Budapest, Hungary.

To apply

Please fill out the application form downloadable from www.mdac.info and email it by 23 March 2012 to JoinTheTeam@mdac.info with “legal officer” in the subject line. Interviews will take place April 2012. MDAC aims to have the successful candidate in post by 15 June 2012.

If you would like to discuss this post, please send an email addressed to MDAC’s Litigation Director at mdac@mdac.info.

MDAC is an equal opportunities employer and people with disabilities are encouraged to apply. The position is based in Budapest, Hungary, and is subject to a three month probationary period. The post-holder will be under a contract governed by Hungarian law and paid in Hungarian forints monthly, and will be subject to paying Hungarian taxes, social security and other statutory contributions.