Senior Legal Affairs & Contracts Specialist

Role Overview

Senior Legal Affairs & Contracts Specialist at Zayed University. The Office of Legal Affairs seeks an experienced legal professional to implement Legal Affairs and Contracts related activities at the institution's Abu Dhabi campus.

Role Purpose

Implement Legal Affairs and Contracts related activities, including institutional agreements drafting, facilitation of dispute resolution activities, and execution of legal risk assessments, to ensure regulatory compliance, protect institutional interest, and support informed decision-making in line with legal and regulatory frameworks.

Key Responsibilities

Contracts & Agreements

• Draft, review, negotiate, and finalize a wide range of university contracts, agreements, and Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) ensuring compliance with applicable laws, regulations, policies, procedures, and institutional requirements.
• Review agreements submitted by academic, administrative, research, procurement, IT, HR, and other university departments.
• Review and negotiate academic and institutional partnership agreements, including MoUs and collaboration agreements.
• Interpret contractual provisions and advise stakeholders on their legal implications.
• Identify unfavorable, ambiguous, or high-risk contractual provisions and recommend favorable provisions.
• Ensure contracts adequately protect the university's legal and commercial interests.
• Ensure contractual processes follow applicable university policies and approval procedures.
• Prepare amendments, addendums, renewals, warning letters, termination notices, and other legal documents.

Stakeholder Engagement & Negotiation

• Advise internal stakeholders on contractual rights, obligations, risks, and potential liabilities.
• Negotiate contractual provisions with external parties, including vendors, consultants, service providers, institutions, and other organizations.
• Coordinate with external counterparties and their legal representatives during negotiations.
• Facilitate constructive negotiations with external parties while safeguarding the university's legal, commercial, and reputational interests.
• Communicate legal and contractual matters clearly to non-legal stakeholders and provide practical recommendations to support informed decision-making.
• Represent the Legal function professionally in interactions with internal and external stakeholders and contribute to positive and effective working relationships.

Legal Analysis & Risk Management

• Conduct legal research and provide written or verbal legal opinions where required with thorough legal analysis and well-founded recommendations in accordance with applicable laws, regulations, and university policies and procedures.
• Develop risk-based recommendations for contract approval and negotiation.
• Conduct legal risk assessments related to proposed institutional initiatives, partnerships, and operational decisions in an accurate and timely manner.
• Interpret and implement general legislation to ensure compliance with legal and regulatory frameworks.
• Provide legal advice as required and implement risk mitigation strategies to support crisis and incident response activities.

Governance & Compliance

• Contribute to the development and review of university-wide policies from a legal perspective, ensuring alignment with applicable laws, regulations, and university requirements.
• Stay up-to-date and compile legislative and regulatory updates to highlight changes that may impact the university's activities or compliance obligations.
• Protect intellectual property rights through the implementation of registration, enforcement, and awareness initiatives.

Operations & Administration

• Manage the contract review process from initial request through execution.
• Monitor turnaround times and prioritize contracts according to urgency and risk.
• Maintain and manage accurate legal records and supporting legal documentation to ensure accessibility, proper record retention, data integrity, confidentiality, and audit-readiness.
• Perform ad-hoc activities related to the job duties, as requested by the Direct Supervisor.

Qualifications & Experience

• Bachelor's Degree with a minimum of 8 years of experience and at least 4 years in a supervisory position.
• Master's degree with a minimum of 6 years of experience and at least 2 years in a supervisory position.
• Certification in a relevant field is preferred.

Additional Information

Benefits

• Competitive salaries free of tax in the U.A.E.
• Cash housing allowance.
• Annual vacation airline tickets for the employee and immediate family.
• Educational subsidies for children.
• Healthcare provided to the employee and sponsored family members.