Two Legal Analyst Positions - CILC Haga Sucursala din Republica Moldova

Call for expression of interest

Two legal analysts to support the Superior Council of Magistracy (SCM) in the examination of the vetting evaluation results

Terms of reference

Background

In 2021, the government of the Republic of Moldova started the justice sector reform, aiming to ensure integrity and accountability of justice sector stakeholders and to increase society’s trust in the justice sector. As part of the justice sector reform, the government decided to conduct an extraordinary vetting exercise of judges and prosecutors, to improve the integrity in the justice sector.

This vetting process is a unique endeavour for the Moldovan society. It is a thorough and tough process that can happen only once in a good way. It asks a lot of society: there might be temporarily limited capacity in the justice sector, and it can have substantial consequences for personal careers. Yet it is also a historic process, that works towards the betterment of the Moldovan justice sector and will therefore have positive impact on Moldovan society in the end.

The Center for International Legal Cooperation (CILC) is assigned by the European Commission and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to facilitate the Commission on the vetting of judges through the “Vetting and Justice Reform in the Republic of Moldova” Project. The Project aims to support the preparation and implementation of an accountable and sustainable judicial vetting process in Moldova. One of the direct expected outcomes of the Project is strengthening the capacities of the Superior Council of Magistracy (SCM) in its role in the vetting process. According to the Law 65/2023 and the Law 252/2023, the Evaluation (vetting) Commission (EC) provides advice to the SCM on (candidate) judges after evaluation. The SCM is the assigned institute to examine the EC’s evaluation results and decide on measures to be taken based on this evaluation. To support SCM in this task, the Project seeks to contract two legal analysts who will work as embedded full-time consultants at the SCM, under the direct supervision of the SCM President or designated SCM member.

Scope of work and responsibilities

The responsibilities of the legal analysts include but are not limited to:

• Advise SCM members and SCM Secretariat staff on creating and implementing procedures to ensure consistency and accuracy of the examination of the EC’s evaluation results;
• Provide professional support to SCM members to better understand all the financial documents provided by the EC to the SCM or questions raised during the proceedings and hearings before the SCM;
• Evaluating and checking to quality and accuracy of the EC’s evaluation results in accordance with the relevant national legislation before final decisions are put through to the SCM members, with focus on candidates’ ethical integrity; including but not limited to the analysis of adopted judicial acts, SCM decisions and decisions of the SCM Colleges and/or judicial inspection related to the candidates; asset and personal interests declarations, including the five-year declaration submitted in the vetting context;
• Addressing questions of the SCM members regarding the EC’s evaluation results by offering informed answers/information notes/summarized data and conclusions based on relevant open-source data, sources of information submitted by public and private parties regarding the vetting candidates and relevant legal and normative regulations;
• Provide advice to ensuring consistency and clear reasoning in the final decisions of the SCM, following the public hearings before the SCM and provided documents by the candidates;
• Drafting and reasoning the SCM decisions on the EC’s evaluation results based on the examination of the EC’s evaluation results, including legal research (e.g. ECtHR caselaw, financial legislation, etc.);
• Provide support to SCM Secretariat to collect needed information and reason the SCM references before Supreme Court of Justice, if the SCM decision is appealed;
• Support SCM in other related tasks as required during the period of assignment, such as support in developing tools and drafting decisions based on the selection and evaluation criteria and procedures for judges and candidates, when 2/3 of the Selection and Evaluation Board’ members will be selected or appointed.

Eligibility criteria

As a legal analyst, the following criteria make you eligible:

• At least 5 years of professional experience in a legal profession.
• Court experience in Moldova is considered a strong asset;
• Thorough knowledge of Moldovan legislation, relevant legal and institutional framework;
• Proven experience in drafting and editing judicial and administrative decisions;
• Highly organised and detail-oriented, able to work in a high-performance environment;
• Strong communication skills, both orally and in writing;
• Able to work within strict working procedures, handling data in a secure and meticulous way;
• Fluent in written and spoken Romanian, knowledge of Russian and English is an asset;
• Degree in law from an accredited university;
• Person of the highest personal and professional integrity.

General conditions for the position

Applicants should be aware of the following:

• The position is full-time.
• Project duration April 2023 – March 2025 with the possibility of extension.
• Probation period – one month.
• Selected applicants offered a fulltime position may take a leave of absence and/or suspend their contractual obligations from their current Moldova based employer for the duration of this contract, but may not be actively engaged with, nor paid by any other organisation during the contract period.
• Competitive remuneration is offered. Remuneration is based on a CILC salary and service delivery grid specifying the scales per function. Actual remuneration will be based on the qualifications and experience of an applicant in line with the salary grid and employment/assignment policy of CILC.
• When contracted, signing of a Non-Disclosure Agreement and abiding by the Code of Conduct for staff is mandatory. This means amongst others no engagement with political parties/events and modest behavior.
• CILC welcomes applications from candidates who fulfil the specific profiles, irrespective of gender, disability, marital or parental status, racial, ethnic or social origin, color, religion, belief or sexual orientation.

Procedure for application and selection

Expressions of interest can be submitted via email only, via secretariat@cilc.nl.  The deadline for submitting the applications is 14 August 2024. Applications submitted to other mail addresses will be excluded from consideration. Required documents include:

• Current CV – in English and Romanian.
• Contact data of professional references including name, title, email address and phone number.
• A short explanatory note with your motivation for this position.
• A signed declaration on honor (see link https://www.cilc.nl/cms/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Declaration-on-honour_RO_final.docx).

Please include in the subject of the email for which position you express your interest.

For each position, CILC will choose from the pool of expressions of interests the people who fit the positions best, against the criteria of:

• Level of professional knowledge and experience
• Level of professional skills/capacities
• Only short-listed candidates will be contacted. Short-listed candidates will be invited for an (online) interview. A background check will be part of the recruitment procedure.

Exclusion criteria

By signing the Declaration on Honour, you declare not being in any of the below situations:

• Have been sentenced by final judgment on one or more of the following charges: participation in a criminal organization, corruption, fraud, money laundering, terrorist financing, terrorist offences or offences linked to terrorist activities, child labour or trafficking in human beings;
• Have received a judgment with res judicata force, finding an offence that affects their professional integrity or serious professional misconduct;
• Do not comply with their obligations as regards payment of social security contributions, taxes and dues, according to the statutory provisions of their country of incorporation, establishment or residence;
• Have been involved in mismanagement of public funds;
• Are or appear to be in a situation of conflict of interest;
• Are or if their owner(s) or executive officer(s), in the case of legal persons, are included in the lists of persons or entities subject to restrictive measures applied by the European Union (available at sanctionsmap.eu).