Legal Head - NGO - CA/CS/LLB

Required Qualifications:

- Bachelors' degree in Law (LLB), with additional qualifications of Company Secretary or Chartered Accountant

- Minimum 10-12 years of experience as a corporate lawyer or an in-house legal counsel.

- Experience working with non-profit organizations is strongly preferred. Sound knowledge and understanding of all laws applicable to a non-profit organization. FCRA, company law, Trust Laws are mandatory.

- Excellent legal drafting and interpretation skills with high detail orientation

- Highly competent in statutory, regulatory compliance issues.

Specific areas include nonprofit status and obligations, governance, and internal investigations

- Manage fraud reporting and whistleblower policies and procedures. Establish and continuously improve a consistent compliance framework for the identification, management, monitoring and reporting of Compliance risks and issues.

- Understanding of Regulatory laws, regulatory strategies, Trust (NGO) laws (FCRA), Company law (FIMA, FDI etc), shops & establishment (Compliance - bonus, wage, attendance, fire drill, IT, display requirements etc). Knowledge and experience of best practice compliance and governance frameworks, methodologies and emerging practice, compliance monitoring.

- Drafting and vetting of MOA, MOU, Bank guarantee, Indemnity Bonds if any, Undertakings and authority letters, vendor contracts, donor contracts, framing disclaimers in our contracts, etc. Vetting, consultation and co-ordination with the panel of lawyers to ensure documents are legally sound.

- Liaison with relevant legal department of Partners/Government offices and other authorities.

- Maintain regulatory or compliance documentation, determine operational compliance with regulations or standards. Communicate with government agencies. Compliance Management

- Manage the compliance for the institute and support in risk management

- Identify and facilitate the process to reduce areas of risk exposure

- Survey regulatory and legal operating environments to determine risks and recommend actions or options available to mitigate such risks

- Report violations of compliance or regulatory standards to duly authorized enforcement agencies as appropriate or required.

- Liaison with consultants, lawyers for legal opinions

- Monitor the compliance at 3 levels, Program, Offices and Organization level

- Conduct or direct the internal investigation of compliance issues. Identify compliance issues that require follow-up or investigation. Risk Management

- Meet with senior managers and other staff to obtain information about current and future projects and activities contemplated

- Review key project summaries, publications and other materials produced by India office to identify potential legal exposure

- Work with counsel for other non-profit agencies on legal issues of common interest to the non-profit and NGO communities

- Oversee relationships with outside legal counsel providing legal services in India; participate on committees, task forces, and in seminars to educate internal stakeholders on managing legal risk and exposure

- Be available to all staff to listen and advise on work related to legal and ethical issues. Advising on all correspondence requiring legal inputs and educating front-facing teams on relevant regulatory aspects for better expectation-setting with stakeholders upfront - Legal due diligences of the partner organizations and highlighting the risk if any from the funding perspective. Management Strategy and Operations

- Meeting India Executive Team as needed to participate with senior managers in the development and implementation of WRI strategy and operations

- Assume responsibility for management of operational and strategic implementation as determined by the India Executive Team

- Identifying potential legal and related risks and developing mitigating strategies. Board of Directors Support

- Provide guidance and counsel and serve as to the Board of Directors ensuring that appropriate governance processes are executed

- Review and approve minutes of the proceedings of the Board and ensure that meetings of the By-Law Committees are appropriately documented

- Provide advice and guidance to the Board in its execution of its duties