Legal Specialist: Commercial Legal Services at Auditor-General of South Africa

Roles & Responsibilities

Strategic Function

• Contributes to the achievement of the BU balanced score card initiatives.
• Contributes to the preparation of AGSA accountability reports.
• Contributes to the compilation of management information on commercial legal activities and assists with analysis on trends in performance.

Product Management

• Assists in the provision of authoritative commercial legal advice and management of litigation to contribute to the financial viability of the AGSA through:

Contract management

• Analyses internal instructions and consult stakeholders.
• Drafts and reviews MoAs and addenda thereto.
• Advises stakeholder on any potential risk to be considered;
• Advises stakeholder on negotiations with service providers.
• Advises stakeholders on delegations with regards to signing authority.
• Conducts research on developments in contractual law and inform the organisation of the impact thereof.

Environmental scanning

• Actively scans the legal environment for matters of interest to the AGSA.
• Conducts local and international research to identify best practice.

Review of internal policies and procedures

• Reviews and comments on internal policies and procedures

Legal advice and opinions

• Critically analyses instructions for legal opinion.
• Consults with stakeholders on instruction.
• Conducts research and draft memoranda setting out opinion.

Litigation on commercial matters

• Assists with the analysing court papers received.
• Conducts research on regulatory, policy and precedents related to the court case.
• Drafts advisory memorandum to leadership on cases.
• Instructs attorney to defend the interest of the AGSA.
• Attends court, when necessary.

Debt Collection

• Analyses and reviews monthly reports received from law firms.
• Develops monthly debt collection reports.
• Drafts Particulars of Claims and instructs panel firms to issue summons.
• Assists with managing debtor litigation.
• Assists, monitors and coordinates communication with all stakeholders.

Stakeholder Management

• Assists with establishing, building and maintaining collaborative working relationships with relevant internal stakeholders.
• Assists in building and maintaining positive and value-adding relationships with relevant external stakeholders.
• Co-ordinates stakeholder engagements/meetings for the management team and ensure proper record keeping.
• Scans the environment to ensure a clear understanding of stakeholder needs.
• Proactively interacts with internal stakeholders to determine their needs and delivers on them accordingly.
• Works in collaboration with colleagues in the centre to ensure timeous delivery of the work.

People Management

• Manages own performance to drive productivity.
• Participates in the business unit transformation/culture plans.
• Provides support to the management team with regard to centre management and other business unit tasks.

Financial management and operational management

• Contributes to the compilation of centre budget and manage project expenditure related to functional area.
• Ensures compliance to AGSA policies and procedures.
• Manages supply chain processes within scope of work.

Other responsibilities (Applicable to All JD’s)

• Performs and/or manages other projects, tasks and assignments not stipulated on the Job description as and when required

Skills, Experience & Education

• LLB
• Admitted as attorney or advocate of the High Court of South Africa
• Added Advantage
• Post graduate qualification in commercial law

Experience

• 3 years post admission work experience in commercial legal environment
• Experience in commercial constitutional and administrative law litigation
• The knowledge of relevant legislation and statutory requirements i.e. to monitor, evaluate, analyse and interpret statutory requirements and compliance
• ICT law and added advantage