Legal Research Intern (100%)

Basel Institute on Governance

The Basel Institute on Governance is an independent non-profit organisation working across sectors to counter corruption and related financial crimes and to improve the quality of governance. Registered as a Swiss foundation with headquarters in Basel, the Institute works globally and maintains field operations around the world. The Basel Institute is an Associated Institute of the University of Basel.

FALCON (Fight Against Large-scale Corruption and Organised Crime Networks):

Current evidence suggests that the global fight against corruption faces serious challenges. Policy decisions are not well informed and the corruption landscape is complex. Measuring corruption is so far mostly based on subjective approaches, and there is lack of appropriate technological tools to support anti-corruption.

To address these challenges, the Horizon Europe/SERI-funded FALCON Consortium will use a multi-actor, evidence-based, data-driven approach to develop and validate objective and actionable indicators of corruption that can inform policy decisions. FALCON will be piloted in four corruption domains – border crossings, sanction circumvention, public procurement fraud and conflicts of interest of politically exposed persons.

The Basel Institute on Governance will contribute to the Falcon Consortium by:

• Mapping the landscape of corruption for modus operandi, impact, data, and policies.
• Developing risk assessment, investigations, and decision support tools.
• Promoting initiatives for capacity building, societal engagement, pilots, and evaluation.
• Delivering impactful initiatives and activities.

ICAR (International Centre for Asset Recovery):

The Basel Institute’s International Centre for Asset Recovery (ICAR) works with countries around the world through case based technical assistance, training and legal and institutional reform advice to improve partner countries’ capacity to investigate and prosecute large scale corruption cases with a view to recover stolen money. Building on its unique in-country experience with asset recovery, ICAR further contributes to global policy development by contributing academic and policy papers and actively participating in and shaping global policy forums and events.

Job description

The Legal Research Intern will work approximately 60% of their time in support of the FALCON project with substantive analytical and methodological skills for data collection and analysis. Approximately 40% of their time will be spent on asset recovery legal and policy research, in support of ICAR’s operational objective to strengthen the capacity of partner countries in recovering stolen assets.

Key responsibilities

FALCON:

As part of the FALCON programme, the Public Governance team leads the study of the anti- corruption measures and policy landscape in the European Union and worldwide. Within this broad objective, key responsibilities include, but are not necessarily restricted to:

• Undertake research activities to achieve FALCON programme goals.
• Participate in the design of qualitative and mixed methods to address research questions.
• Lead a robust literature review to identify key academic and grey literature.
• Collect and analyse empirical documents, such as judicial documents; law enforcement, judicial and NGO reports, anti-corruption law and acts and minutes of parliamentary works.
• Contribute to the design of semi-structured research interviews.
• Prepare lesson learned reports, corruption intelligence pictures, training materials and pilot reports.
• Write scientific reports and articles based on research findings in collaboration with the Principal Investigator and the other members of the Public Governance research team.
• Design, together with the Basel Institute Communications team, dissemination activities that can increase the impact of the FALCON project.

ICAR:

The Legal Research Intern will predominantly assist ICAR staff through desk-based research into asset recovery related issues, including the identification and summation of legislation, case law, and academic papers relevant to ongoing ICAR projects.

They may be required to

• draft briefing notes, global policy documents, research reports or policy papers based on research findings;
• prepare background documents for events or in the context of country programmes and field visits;
• and analyse global policy developments.

Qualifications and skills

• Master’s degree in law.
• Verifiable experience in research and the use of qualitative and mixed methods.
• Knowledge of the EU space, legislative framework and policy-making processes – experience in studying the legislative process of selected member states is a plus.
• Prior exposure to topics related to corruption, rule of law and/or confiscation is a requirement; previous experience in studying topics related to public procurement, border corruption, sanctions, or conflict of interest is an advantage.
• Ability to work independently on concrete tasks while also interacting with an interdisciplinary team.
• Fluency in written and spoken English; knowledge of other EU languages is an advantage.

Offer

We offer an interesting and rewarding working environment with a proactive, dynamic and international team spirit. The work is both routine and varied, and offers scope for initiative and innovation. The salary is competitive.

Equal opportunity employer

The Basel Institute is an equal opportunity employer. It does not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, colour, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, non-disqualifying physical or mental disability, national origin, veteran status or any other basis covered by appropriate law. All employment is decided on the basis of qualifications, merit, and business need. We have been positively evaluated by the Swiss Federal Administration to gender pay equality.