Legal Programme Manager, TrustLaw

Join a team that has unique expertise combining the power of journalism and the law to advance media freedom, foster more inclusive economies, and promote human rights. The Thomson Reuters Foundation is recruiting a Legal Programme Manager to join our TrustLaw team, working from the UK. Do you want to work with NGOs and legal teams to drive systemic change?

About Thomson Reuters Foundation

The Thomson Reuters Foundation is the corporate foundation of Thomson Reuters, the global news and information services company. As an independent charity, registered in the UK and the USA, we work to advance media freedom, foster more inclusive economies, and promote human rights. Through news, media development, free legal assistance and convening initiatives, we combine our unique media and legal services to drive systemic change.

TrustLaw

TrustLaw is the global pro bono service of the Thomson Reuters Foundation. As the world’s leading pro bono legal service, TrustLaw helps high-impact NGOs and social enterprises to grow, streamline their operations and navigate complex laws and regulations by connecting them with free legal assistance from the best law firms and corporate legal teams around the world. We also deliver ground-breaking legal research on key social and policy issues and innovative capacity-building workshops on legal issues across the globe.

About the role

The Thomson Reuters Foundation is recruiting a dynamic Legal Programme Manager to expand the TrustLaw service and drive and implement a new project focussed on data and digital rights and the human rights implications of artificial intelligence (DDR/AI) in Mexico and Uganda. The project will facilitate access to free legal advisory and impactful legal research support for NGOs working on DDR/AI, to strengthen their organisational health, make them more resilient and sustainable, and scale their impact. The Manager will serve as the point person and lead for TrustLaw on this project.

You will report to the Head of Special Projects, and work closely with other regional TrustLaw team members, including our LATAM and Africa teams. This position is based in our London office.

As a Legal Programme Manager, you will:

• Manage and drive the delivery of the legal activities of the data and digital rights project including:
  • Setting out project plans for delivery of legal activities
  • Escalating delivery issues or changes in scope
  • Reporting internally and externally on progress
  • Serving as the TrustLaw point person on the project

• Deliver key activities and work products, including:
  • Scoping and drafting pro bono legal requests from project beneficiaries
  • Managing pro bono requests, including connecting the pro bono client with lawyers
  • Designing and managing cross-border legal research projects
  • Managing the development, design and dissemination of legal resources (e.g., trainings, guides, etc.)
  • Facilitating the provision of advisory legal support to project beneficiaries
  • Leading workshops, legal health checks, presentations and events
  • Reviewing the project’s legal outputs for clarity, accuracy and alignment with TrustLaw standards
  • Oversee the work of two Officers (in LATAM and Africa)
  • Work hours that overlap with global team availability, including some evening meetings each week

About you

The successful candidate is likely to:

• Be an experienced lawyer (5+ years) with time in a law firm, NGO, media house or in-house legal team (required)
• Have prior experience working in or demonstrated legal understanding of data and digital rights and the human rights implications of AI (required)
• Be fluent in English and Spanish (required)
• Have an understanding of the challenges and opportunities that pro bono opportunities bring to law firms and legal teams. (required)
• have a good understanding of the legal and non-profit sectors in Africa or LATAM would be an advantage
• Bring experience in project management particularly in the delivery of legal programming, resources and activities, ideally in a programme or project that is donor funded
• Be a strong team player with experience managing and supporting a team to achieve results
• Bring experience delivering trainings, workshops and events on legal topics
• Have the willingness to travel internationally

This is a fixed-term contract for 12 months based in London, starting as soon as possible.

How to apply:

• The deadline for applications is 17 April 2023.
• To apply for this position, submit your CV and a cover letter in English, describing how you meet the specifications for this role and provide your availability to start. Applications without a cover letter that contains this information will not be considered.
• The salary is relative to the charitable sector in the UK and will be commensurate with experience.
• This position is based in London. Applicants must have the right to work in the UK.

What’s in it For You

At the Thomson Reuters Foundation, our people are our greatest assets. Here are some of the benefits we offer for your personal and professional growth:

• Global Perspective and Impact: Interested in working for a dynamic global organization with a focus on social impact? With hubs all over the world from Mumbai to Nairobi, from London to Buenos Aires, join a truly international team with a shared goal of helping to build societies around the world that are free, fair and informed.
• A Unique Approach: Our expertise in media and the law is world class; we combine the power of both to address the critical issues faced by humanity.
• Our Relevance: With a focus on advancing media freedom, fostering more inclusive economies and promoting human rights, our work has never been more needed than right now.
• Benefits: We offer competitive salary packages and market-leading benefits.
• Learning & Development: We are dedicated to the continual professional development of our employees and offer access to both in-house and external training opportunities.

#LI-EH2

Do you want to be part of a team helping re-invent the way knowledge professionals work? How about a team that works every day to create a more transparent, just and inclusive future? At Thomson Reuters, we’ve been doing just that for almost 160 years. Our industry-leading products and services include highly specialized information-enabled software and tools for legal, tax, accounting and compliance professionals combined with the world’s most global news services – Reuters. We help these professionals do their jobs better, creating more time for them to focus on the things that matter most: advising, advocating, negotiating, governing and informing.

We are powered by the talents of 25,000 employees across more than 75 countries, where everyone has a chance to contribute and grow professionally in flexible work environments that celebrate diversity and inclusion. At a time when objectivity, accuracy, fairness and transparency are under attack, we consider it our duty to pursue them. Sound exciting? Join us and help shape the industries that move society forward.

Accessibility

As a global business, we rely on diversity of culture and thought to deliver on our goals. To ensure we can do that, we seek talented, qualified employees in all our operations around the world regardless of race, color, sex/gender, including pregnancy, gender identity and expression, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, disability, age, marital status, citizen status, veteran status, or any other protected classification under applicable law. Thomson Reuters is proud to be an Equal Employment Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer providing a drug-free workplace.

We also make reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities and for sincerely held religious beliefs in accordance with applicable law.

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