Internship: Legal Office

Position description

Organisational Unit: Legal Office (LO), Registry
Duty Station: The Hague – NL
Contract Duration: 6 months
Deadline for Applications: 31/12/2026 (midnight The Hague time)

Due to the volume of applications received, only successful applicants will be contacted by the Court.

Required Documents for This Application

Please note that you will need to have the following information ready in order to complete your application:

• A completed “Duties and Responsibilities Form” (refer to step 1 on your eRecruitment Profile page).
• Motivation letter (maximum of 400 words).
• Two reference letters (one academic).
• Scanned copies of university degrees and/or diplomas.
• Scanned copies of official academic transcripts that state your courses, results and completion dates.
• One short essay on a subject relevant to the work of the Court (maximum of 750 words, single spaced, type written).

Contract Duration

Interns are required to work full time for a period of six months (to be agreed upon prior to comencement).

The Opportunity

The International Criminal Court (ICC) investigates and, where warranted, tries individuals charged with the gravest crimes of concern to the international community: genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and crime of aggression. The Court is participating in the global fight to end impunity, and through international criminal justice, the Court aims to hold those responsible accountable for their crimes and to help prevent the crimes from happening again. You can contribute to this cause by joining the ICC.

Organisational Context

The Registry Legal Office (RLO) combines a commitment to legal excellence with a result-oriented and policy-friendly approach in delivering legal services. The RLO operates as a dynamic and multifaceted international law practice in anticipation of and in response to client requirements, in both operational and policy matters.

The RLO supports the performance of the legal functions of the Registrar under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, Rules of Procedure and Evidence, Regulations of the Court, Regulations of the Registry, Financial Regulations and Rules, Staff Regulations and Rules and other legal instruments governing the ICC. This concerns both the judicial functioning of the ICC, where the Registry is involved, and legal matters affecting the ICC as an international organisation and its legal position as a whole. In performing this dual role, the RLO is responsible for ensuring the quality, uniformity and consistency of legal positions across the Registry and its Divisions of Judicial Services, External Operations, and Management Services – incl. the coordination of an internal legal network.

The RLO provides a broad range of legal services, which fall within the following areas: (i) regulatory and compliance; (ii) litigation; (iii) external affairs; and (iv) judicial affairs. Accordingly, the RLO is involved in, inter alia, the drafting and negotiating of contracts, the drafting of legal instruments for the Court, advising on issues affecting the functioning of the Court, drafting and reviewing judicial filings from the Registry, and litigating on employment-related matters.

The RLO is headed by the Senior Legal Adviser.

Duties and Responsibilities

Within this framework, and under the direct supervision of the Senior Legal Adviser, the Legal Adviser or other designated staff members of the RLO, the intern will perform the following duties:

• Conduct extensive legal research and analysis;
• Contribute to the preparation and drafting of (complex) legal documents, including legal submissions, correspondence, memoranda, opinions and briefs;
• Contribute to providing advice to the Registrar, client sections and (senior) officials of the Court;
• Assist in negotiating contracts, agreements and memoranda with a variety of parties within the Court;
• Prepare summaries and updates on legal and factual issues;
• Monitor judicial proceedings, provide advice on decisions and prepare summaries and digests for various purposes of the Registry;
• Provide support in developing the operational framework for delivery of legal services including establishing and managing work flows, work processes, SOPs, systems and databases and central repositories of legal opinions and research, agreements, contracts and memoranda;
• Perform other or additional duties as assigned.

Qualifications

Education:

All candidates must have a university degree in law. Candidates must have sound knowledge of public international law, international criminal law, contract law, or (international) administrative law, as relevant to the work of the RLO; an advanced university degree is a strong asset. Candidates are expected to have a very good record of academic performance.

Experience:

Internship placements focus on candidates in the early stages of their professional careers; therefore, practical experience is not an essential prerequisite for selection. However, practical experience that is relevant to the work of the RLO may be considered an asset. Applicants must have less than three (3) years of relevant full-time professional experience to be considered for an internship.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

Candidates must:

• Demonstrate excellent research, analytical and drafting skills;
• Be able to adapt to multicultural and multilingual working environments;
• Possess strong teamwork skills (listen, consult and communicate proactively);
• Have acquired a good standard of computer skills (including Microsoft Office applications).

Knowledge of Languages:

Proficiency in one of the working languages of the Court, French or English, is required. Working knowledge of the other is desirable. Knowledge of another official language of the Court (Arabic, Chinese, Russian or Spanish) is an asset.

Other criteria:

It is the Court’s objective to have diversity and gender balance. And in line with the ICC’s efforts to improve geographical representation among staff, nationals of non-represented and under-represented countries at the ICC are encouraged to apply. The list can be found here.

Remuneration

Please note that internship and visiting professional placements at the ICC are unfunded. The ICC is not able to provide participants in the Internship and Visiting Professional Programme with any remuneration, nor is it possible to provide reimbursement for expenses incurred prior, during or after the internship or visiting professional placement.

Applicants must therefore be able to support themselves for the entire duration of their internship or visiting professional placement.

Application instructions

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