Principal Trial Lawyer (D-1)

23338 | OTP 

Organisational Context

The Office of the Prosecutor is comprised of two Prosecution Pillars, with an equitable division of situations and cases based on a Unified Team concept.  These Pillars are each managed by a Deputy Prosecutor.  In exceptional circumstances, some Unified Teams may report directly to the Prosecutor, and may be managed by a Principal Trial Lawyer.

Heads of Unified Teams (Principal Trial Lawyers or Senior Trial Lawyers), are entrusted with the task of managing prosecution teams and providing overall guidance on the investigation of cases, as well as leading trial teams before Chambers of the Court.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the guidance and direction of the Prosecutor, or when delegated, the Deputy Prosecutors, the Principal Trial Lawyer will have the following responsibilities:

• Lead, supervise and manage a unified team of Trial Lawyers, investigators, analysts, international cooperation advisors and other staff constituting the unified team on specific, critical and complex situations and cases before the Court that requires a proportionate, high- level of investigative and prosecutorial leadership experience.
• Provide strategic guidance on the investigation and prosecution of situations or cases assigned to the unified team, including defining short- and long-term goals, establishing priorities, identifying milestones to monitor progress, and ensuring goals are ultimately met as well as provide expert guidance and, when required, detailed instructions on legal, evidentiary and factual issues
• Create conditions within the team that favour high performance by empowering team members to achieve exceptional performance while setting timely and realistic performance objectives, including organizing and prioritizing tasks
• Direct the preparation of arrest warrants, documents containing the charges and the prosecution filings and act as lead counsel before Pre-Trial Chamber and Trial Chambers and prepare cases for and oversee the conduct of confirmation hearings, trials, and appeals (when necessary, in co-operation with the Appeals and Prosecution Legal Coordination Section) as well as prepare written submissions and appear at court hearings;
• Manage, supervise and provide guidance on legal filings and drafting. Supervise the efficient presentation of the Prosecution’s case in court. Set the direction of the case and take responsibility for formulating positions to be taken before the Chambers, in consultation with the Deputy Prosecutor and the Appeals and Prosecution Legal Coordination Section, where required;
• Provide training, contribute substantively to the implementation of the unified team training plan and participate in the legal training of members of the Office of the Prosecutor on oral and written advocacy and courtroom skills;
• Lead by example through providing mentorship, guidance, advice and support to all members of the Unified Team. 
• Perform any other tasks as instructed by the Prosecutor or Deputy Prosecutors.

Essential Qualifications

Education:

An advanced university degree in law, is required.  A first level university degree in combination with two additional years of qualifying experience is accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.

Experience:

• A minimum of fifteen (seventeen years with a first level university degree) years of relevant progressively responsible professional experience as a prosecutor, investigating magistrate or criminal defence lawyer is required, including demonstrated experience in:
  • complex and large-scale criminal cases or cases involving serious and high-profile  international crimes, and
  • directing case preparation in serious and high-profile criminal cases;
• Demonstrated experience with senior management functions (designing organisational culture, functions and systems, planning and quality control) is required;
• Experience working in a multi-cultural, multi-ethnic environment is a strong asset;
• Experience in working in international organisations is an asset.

Knowledge, skills and abilities:

• Outstanding and proven advocacy skills;
• Excellent drafting and analytical skills;
• Strong planning and organizational skills, with flexibility and ability to adjust in a highly dynamic environment;
• Excellent communication and negotiation skills as well as ability to interact with tact and diplomacy;
• Ability to apply different leadership models, with a serving leadership as the default setting and the leading from the front in all situations;
• Ability to inspire people through vision, through leading by example, by creating an open, respectful culture where initiatives are supported, and where results are achieved;
• Sensitivity and active management of the staff welfare issues (culture, wellbeing, gender);
• Ability to think strategically and to translate this into concrete action;
• Excellent interaction skills and ability to build relationships while achieving the interests of the Office;
• Ability to lead and manage/keep on track a high volume of diverse activities and projects;
• Ability to create the conditions for delegation while keeping oversight on critical matters and on overall performance;
• Ability to deal with uncertain situations;
• Excellent communication skills both written and oral.

Knowledge of languages:

Proficiency in one of the working languages of the Court, English or French, is required. Working knowledge of the other is considered as an asset. Knowledge of another official language of the Court (Arabic, Chinese, Russian, Spanish) would also be considered an asset.

ICC Leadership Competencies
Purpose
Collaboration
People
Results

ICC Core Competencies
Dedication to the mission and values
Professionalism
Teamwork
Learning and developing
Handling uncertain situations
Interaction
Realising objectives
Learn more about ICC leadership and core competencies.
General Information
- The selected candidate will be subject to a Personnel Security Clearance (PSC) process in accordance with ICC policy. The PSC process will include but will not be limited to, verification of the information provided in the personal history form and a criminal record check.
- Applicants may check the status of vacancies on ICC E-Recruitment web-site.
- Post to be filled preferably by a national of a State Party to the ICC Statute, or of a State which has signed and is engaged in the ratification process or which is engaged in the accession process, but nationals from non-state parties may also be considered.
- In accordance with the Rome Statute, the ICC aims to achieve fair representation of women and men for all positions, representation of the principal legal systems of the world for legal positions, and equitable geographical representation for positions in the professional category.
- Applications from female candidates are particularly encouraged.
- The Court reserves the right not to make any appointment to the vacancy, to make an appointment at a lower grade, or to make an appointment with a modified job description.