Counsel

Counsel Job #: req35251 Organization: World Bank Sector: Legal Grade: GF Term Duration: 3 years 0 months Recruitment Type: International Recruitment Location: Washington, DC,United States Required Language(s): English Preferred Language(s): French, Spanish, Arabic or Portuguese desirable Closing Date: 1/16/2026 (MM/DD/YYYY) at 11:59pm UTC

Description

*This position has two vacancies* Do you want to build a career that is truly worthwhile? The World Bank Group is one of the largest sources of funding and knowledge for developing countries; a unique global partnership of five institutions dedicated to ending extreme poverty and promoting shared prosperity. With 189 member countries and more than 120 offices worldwide, we work with public and private sector partners, investing in groundbreaking projects and using data, research, and technology to develop solutions to the most urgent global challenges.  For more information, visit www.worldbank.org.
The World Bank Group is one of the world's largest sources of funding and knowledge for developing countries. It uses financial resources and extensive experience to help our client countries to reduce poverty, increase economic growth, and improve quality of life. To ensure that countries can access the best global expertise and help generate cutting-edge knowledge, the World Bank Group is constantly seeking to improve the way it works. Key priorities include delivering measurable results, promoting openness and transparency in development, and improving access to development information and data.Legal Vice Presidency. In the context of the World Bank's broad development agenda, the Legal Vice Presidency (LEG), under the Senior Vice President and Group General Counsel (SVP-GC), is responsible for providing legal advice and support to internal and external Bank clients on operational, advisory, financial, administration, and institutional matters.
The Legal Vice Presidency provides legal services required by the World Bank Group and plays an active role in all the World Bank Group's activities. In addition, LEGVP helps to ensure that all World Bank Group activities comply with the Articles of Agreement of the various group institutions, as well as their operational policies and procedures. The positions advertised in this Requisition correspond to vacancies in the LEGVPU’s IBRD/IDA Operational Practice Groups.  These groups, that are geographically-based and structured along the World Bank Group operational regions, are devoted to the legal and policy aspects of the World Bank's lending operations. They regularly interact with other Policy and Advisory Practice Groups within the LEGVPU, which provide advice on operations policy, environmental and international law, development finance and structured finance and guarantees and Corporate Practice Groups, which provide advice on corporate finance, administrative and institutional matters for the World Bank.
In this respect, LEGES  is the unit within IBRD/IDA Operational Practice Groups  that works on IBRD/IDA lending operations in the (i) South Asia (SAR)  and (ii) East Asia and Pacific (EAP) regions, whereas LEGAM does the same in the (iii) East and Southern Africa (AFE); (ii) West and Central Africa (AFW); and (iii) Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan and Pakistan (MENAAP) regions.
LEGES and LEGAM invite qualified candidates to apply for the Counsel positions.  The selected candidates will work under the general supervision of an assigned manager/Chief Counsel, with day-to-day guidance provided by one or more Lead or Senior Counsels. The selected Counsels shall be lawyers who can operate independently to handle legal and policy issues related to the World Bank’s work while working collaboratively with other lawyers within the assigned Operational Practice Group and LEGVPU as a whole.
The Counsels will be expected, at some point during their tenure, to move abroad to serve as a decentralized Counsel in one of the World Bank’s Country Offices.
Note: If the selected candidate is a current World Bank Group staff member with a Regular or Open-Ended appointment, s/he will retain his/her Regular or Open-Ended appointment. All others will be offered a three-year term appointment.
Responsibilities and Accountabilities:
The Counsel positions require demonstrated ability of rigorous analytical skills, to work harmoniously in a team, and to exercise good judgment. The level and quality of these skills will be a determining factor in the selection for the position, and references will be given consideration in this determination.
The Counsels will be expected to handle at least the following areas of responsibility:
•   Draft, review, negotiate and finalize legal agreements under the Counsels’ portfolio.•   Cover a broad portfolio of countries, providing risk-based advice to clients on legal and policy issues in operations.•   Identify, assess and provide advice to management and staff under the legal risk management framework being developed, including rating and reporting of legal risks, and serve as a champion as that framework is developed and fully implemented.•   Participate in or lead on initiatives or teams, through coordination of portfolios or programs, management of client relationships, participating in dialogue on corporate priorities and other areas relevant to the assigned functional scope.•   Provide legal advice to ongoing projects and programs, including reviewing project and program documents, for adherence to World Bank policies, procedures and business objectives.•   Conduct comparative legal analyses on a range of issues in operations, identify legal and policy issues, research relevant precedents, and propose appropriate solutions to colleagues and clients.•   Engage in policy discussions and negotiations with officials internally and externally, developing relationships with members of the legal profession and lawyers working in development partner agencies.•   Protect the World Bank's interests and promote its goals and values.•   Write and review policy papers, undertake legal research on topics in an area of concentration and contribute to dissemination of policy and best practices in a given field.•   Prepare legal briefs on diverse topics, as required.•   Work to advance the LEGVPU’s knowledge management agenda and use of technology; and•   Perform ad hoc assignments as requested by the Chief Counsel or designated Lead/Senior Counsel.

Selection Criteria

•   An LLM degree, J.D. or equivalent, with a minimum of five (5) years of relevant experience and be admitted in at least one jurisdiction is required.•   Excellent oral and written English skills required. Additional languages (French, Spanish, Arabic or Portuguese) are a strong plus. Competencies
General Competencies Required:
•   Excellent legal research, writing, drafting, analytical and communications skills.•   Excellent interpersonal skills.•   Experience in international, commercial or contract law, in transactional legal work and the preparation and negotiation of legal agreements.•   Excellent legal drafting skills, including agreements, legal memos and/or well-reasoned litigation pleadings and ability to deliver cogent oral arguments, where applicable.•   Familiarity in the use of varied legal research sources (including electronic sources on the internet) and other databases.•   Proven ability to operate effectively as a member of one or more teams; must be a self-starter and collaborate well with others; ability to exercise sound judgment in recognizing what issues to bring to the attention of the Chief Counsel and/or another supervising Lead/Senior Counsel, and which to handle autonomously.•   Proven ability to identify and help manage legal risk, through sound judgment, determining and escalating risk appropriately, providing risk-based advice, and guiding more junior staff on the same.•   Proven ability to deal sensitively in multicultural and multi-ethnic environments and build effective working relationships with clients and colleagues.•   Ability to supervise and work with local counsel in a collaborative and collegial way.•   Ability to work under time pressure and to manage multiple tasks within tight deadlines.
Other Competencies Required:
•   Legal Drafting, Research and Communication: Have proven ability to draft transactional documentation (e.g., loan agreements), briefs and variety of legal instruments and related documents independently.  Conduct research as necessary to acquire insight and information.  Are aware of the need for precision and focus on quality.  Use a writing style that is clear and precise. 
•   World Bank Legal and Policy Framework: Have an extensive knowledge of the World Bank's legal framework, policies and procedures and can apply them correctly and consistently.  Identify where these policies are not being applied or not being applied as intended and informs the appropriate parties.
•   Independence: Carry out work with due care, prepare accurate documents and reports, ensure that pertinent facts are fairly presented without seeking to obfuscate (either through too much information or withholding relevant information).  Interpret information in an objective manner, exercising professional skepticism when required. Do not divulge or exploit confidential information. 
•   Professional Maturity: Understand others and the reasons for their behavior. Take the time to clarify others' points of view so that progress can be made particularly in situations of stress or conflict. Proven ability to deal sensitively and effectively across organizational boundaries, as team members, in multi-cultural environments and build effective working relations with clients and colleagues.
•   Legal Reasoning: Break down problem into their component parts.  Articulate the implications of situations in a step-by-step way.  Remain objective when reviewing problems or situations to understand the issues.  Make sure they possess all the facts. 
•   Recommend and take decisive action: Apply critical thinking and seek input and experience from others to recommend a course of action consistent with the WBG’s strategy.  Evaluate risk and anticipate the short and long-term implications of decisions.  Commit to a decision and take action once a decision has been reached.
• Client Orientation: Take personal responsibility and accountability for timely response to client queries, requests or needs, working to remove obstacles that may impede execution or overall success. 
•   Flexibility: Able to adapt strategy and objectives, making corresponding structural or organizational changes as needed, to move the work forward and meet the needs of the situation. 
•   Business Judgment and Analytical Decision Making: Analyze facts and data to support sound, logical decisions regarding own and others' work.