FLYING Legal Advisor – medical registration

Field-based position with visits to the headquarters in Geneva

Context & Mission

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), an international, independent, medical humanitarian organisation created in 1971, that delivers emergency aid to people affected by armed conflict, epidemics, healthcare exclusion and natural disasters. MSF offers assistance to people based only on need and irrespective of race, religion, gender or political affiliation.

MSF’s operations are managed by 6 Operational Centers based in Paris, Barcelona, Brussels, Amsterdam, Abidjan and Geneva, linked within an international movement (MSF Movement) comprising a total of 26 associations.

The Intersectional Legal Department (ILD) is an intersectional department that provides legal analysis, advice, support as well as risk and case management to ODs field operations in accordance with ILD international management and governance structure agreed in the ‘ILD Guiding Principles’.

ILD reports to the Secretary General in his capacity of chair of the Excom for all intersectional files and to General directors of OD for cases related to one OD only.

The ILD ensures that legal advice and legal support take into account and reconcile the specific legal context of MSF operations applicable in MSF countries of Operations and Headquarters with the necessary humanitarian and medical space linked to the specific legal nature of MSF as an international humanitarian and medical organization, as well as the specific governance of the MSF movement.

Under the hierarchical supervision of OCG Director of Operations and within the MSF Intersection Legal Department (ILD), under the responsibility and supervision of the Manager of Legal Unit 4 (“Legal and Administrative Framework of Missions”), the main mission of the Flying Legal Advisor is to provide legal advice and support to the operational teams concerning the registration of medical personnel of MSF Switzerland’s field missions and projects. In that sense such registration may be linked to the medical registration of structures and organisation.

He/she will analyse the regulations, procedures and requirements to obtain the necessary State authorizations for the medical personnel deployed by MSF in the territorry of the mission country to practice all acts related to their professions. He/she assesses also the risk related to the registration of MSF international medical personnel, organisation and structure ensures the coordination and coherence of the strategy defined to mitigate the risks, and participates in the deployment of this strategy with field teams in defined priority countries.

The position involves close collaboration with other lawyers in the Intersection Legal Department (within OCG for each country under their responsibility, within the Unit on the topic Medical registration and within other Units on Medico-legal framework and HR management (Unit 2 and 3)), but also with the various departments of MSF-Switzerland (HR, Medical, Operations), as well as with the teams in the field.

Tasks and Responsibilities

• Completion of the ILD assessment table on OCG countries (applicable legal framework, MOU signed, MSF practices and mitigation measures)
• Discussion with medical department and HR department to assess current practices and anticipate blockages
• Definition of priority countries based on level of compliance and risk
• Legal and administrative research on the national regulations for medical personnel, and if it is necessary regarding structures and organisation.
• Organisation of relevant field visits to implement the assessement, strategy and accompany the field teams in the negotiations with local authorities (MOH, Medical Councils..)
• Implementation of the recommendations provided by the former flying legal advisor (medical registration)
• Definition of a global strategy taking into account risks for staff, for patients and for MSF
• Provision of a clear plan of action, a mapping of risk (with mitigation measures per country) and final report on lessons learned

Your Profile

Education

• Educational background in law (Master degree), preferably with a focus on medical and health degree/law or general administrative law or pharmaceutical law.

Experience

• Minimum 3 year’s professional experience, generalist background in law; potential areas of expertise in legal provisions for the pursuit of medical professions is a plus, as well as experience in both Civil and Common Law.
• MSF operational experience in the field is strong plus (at least in a medical organisation)

Languages

• Fluency in English and French compulsory (oral and written)
• Spanish is an asset

Personal Abilities & Skills

• Ability to translate an operational negotiation into legal language
• IT user skills
• Rigor
• Clarity and ability to adapt to different legal systems
• Ability to set priorities and organisational skills
• Autonomy
• Strength of proposal
• Ability to develop user-friendly tools

Terms of Employment

• Fixed-term contract, 12 months
• Full-time, 100% (40h/week)
• Working place : Field-based position (80% of the time) with visits to the headquarters in Geneva
• Practical working conditions in the field are in accordance with the MSF OCG volunteer manual.
• Ideal start date: March 15th, 2024
• Gross monthly salary: CHF 5’500.- based on 100%
• Benefits: Health insurance and living expenses in the countries of intervention and at headquarters, paid according to internal regulations.