UNDP Jobs - 13568- Consultant: Supervisor for The Completion of Phase

Consultant: Supervisor for The Completion of Phase Three of the Iraqi Legal Database

Location :

Home base

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

01-Jan-2010

Application Deadline :

02-Dec-09 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

International Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

One Year

Languages Required :

Arabic English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

43 wokring days

UNDP is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence. UNDP does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment, and discrimination. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks.

Background

In the context of its efforts to develop the rule of law and to improve the legislative process in Iraq, UNDP’s Programme on Governance in the Arab Region (“UNDP-POGAR”) is currently implementing a project to create an Iraqi Legal Database (the “ILD Project”). The Project as originally conceived was designed to be implemented in three phases, the first two of which are virtually completed. The ILD Project’s First and second Phases consisted in archiving the Iraq’s Official Gazette, which includes every legal text that has been passed since the establishment of the Iraqi State, followed by updating the existent corpus, and documenting three Iraqi Codes (criminal code, criminal procedural code, and commercial code), each of which incorporate the relevant laws, regulations and case law.

UNDP is currently preparing to launch Phase III of the ILD Project. A number of activities will be implemented in that context, firstly with a view to completing the database and incorporating all relevant sources that have not already been added, secondly with a view to ensuring that the benefits of the ILD are shared by as many practitioners and court users as possible, and thirdly with a view to ensuring the Project’s long term sustainability.

Once completed, the ILD will be the most sophisticated and comprehensive legal database in the entire Arab region and will make an immeasurable contribution to strengthening the rule of law in Iraq. The ILD will impact the Iraqi legal profession by:

reducing opportunities for judicial error and corruption;
increasing efficiency both within and without the courtroom, leading to saved time and costs;
increasing transparency and legal clarity.

Duties and Responsibilities

The advisor responsible for supervising the development of the Iraqi Legal Database-Phase III, will undertake the following tasks:

Participating in the start up phase of the ILD project with the representative of the Iraqi company, the chief indexer (head of the legal team work) and the project manager, to plan and prepare the execution phase (10 months). The planning sessions consist in drafting the strategy of execution, the methodology of following-up the work, and defining the methods of coordination between the Iraqi company, UNDP-IRAQ, the regional supervisor and project manager, especially for the delivery of works, and submission of monthly progress reports in order to follow up the execution progress.
Designing the training of the Iraqi experts (national project manager and the chief indexer) on the methodology of indexing (building indexes, titles and keywords; documenting articles of law and court decisions), and drafting the thesaurus. Training the Iraqi experts will be executed on several sessions (4 expected sessions), which are synchronized with the documentation phases: drafting the indexes, building the thesaurus, documenting the legal texts and documenting the court decisions.
Coordinating with UNDP-IRAQ regarding the management process of the project including administrative and financial issues, the nomination of regional experts, the quality and the timely delivery of documentation and informatics works;
Coordinating with UNDP-IRAQ regarding the provision of Iraqi and Kurdish court decisions relating to the selected topics of documentation to the selected Iraqi company; and ensuring the good coordination between the two parties concerning the subject matter;
Monitoring the implementation process of the documentation work of the Iraqi experts through analytical monthly reports submitted by the National supervisor; and following the examination of the delivered documentation work;
Monitoring and controlling the correction process of the documentation work handled by the regional legal experts; and ensuring that the delivered documentation work meet the defined criteria and principles of indexing;
Monitoring the good implementation of the ILD software management, as well as the management of the data entry works; and ensuring the good performance of informatics work and the timely delivery;
Settling points of difference between regional and national experts relating to the documentation of legal concept, and methodology of indexing, when exists;
Monitoring and controlling the validation process of both documentation and informatics works, ensuring the validity of the existed information as well as the documentation work;
Submitting approval and acceptance of documentation work relating to Regional and national experts to UNDP-IRAQ;
Submitting progress reports to UNDP-IRAQ Regional Coordinator regarding the implementation mechanism of the project, covering both documentation and informatics works.
Coordinating with the Iraqi High Judicial council and the ministry of Justice to create a mechanism of cooperation between these two authorities, in order to ensure the sustainability of the Iraqi Legal Database ILD and the continuous updating of the database.

Competencies

Demonstrates integrity by modeling the UN’s values and ethical standards.
Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UNDP.
Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability.
Treats all people fairly without favoritism.

Required Skills and Experience

PHD in Law
Broad knowledge and practice of computers and information technology.
Expertise in designing the development of legal databases.

Professional Experience:

20 years experience in developing legal databases and modelizing legal information.
Strong experience in information technology.
Full awareness of Iraqi legal database.