ET Consultant - Counsel

Job #: req38874

Organization: World Bank

Sector: Legal

Grade: EC2

Term Duration: 1 year 0 months

Recruitment Type: Local Recruitment

Location: Washington, DC, United States

Required Language(s): English, Spanish

Preferred Language(s):

Closing Date: 10/29/2026 (MM/DD/YYYY) at 11:59pm UTC

At the World Bank, a member of the World Bank Group (WBG), you’ll join a diverse, global community working across cultures, disciplines, and borders to address the world’s most pressing development challenges. With 1.2 billion young people reaching working age in the decade ahead, the challenge of job creation has never been greater. Through partnerships across 145 countries and more than 182 offices worldwide, we work with governments, private sector, development partners and other stakeholders to invest in people, strengthen markets, and deliver scalable, data-driven solutions that generate more and better jobs and improve lives. For more information, visit https://www.worldbank.org/en/who-we-are/ibrd

In the context of the World Bank’s broad development agenda, the Legal Vice Presidency (LEG), under the Senior Vice President and Group General Counsel (SVP-GC), provides legal advice and support to internal and external Bank clients across operational, advisory, financial, and institutional matters. The Law Advisory & Knowledge Unit (LEGLA) was established within LEG to facilitate the delivery of law and judicial support services across the strategic priorities of World Bank Group activities and to coordinate the development, management, and dissemination of legal knowledge products that advance corporate priorities. LEGLA works in close collaboration with Country Management Units, the Prosperity Vice Presidency, Infrastructure Vice Presidency (INFVPU), and other Global Practices.

LEGLA focuses on supporting other LEGVP Units, World Bank Units and Global Practices, as well as client countries, in the development of robust regulatory frameworks and institutional capabilities while reinforcing the rule of law. It empowers nations to pursue their national policies, enact legislation, and tackle global challenges effectively across a range of areas, including digital governance, regulatory reform, judicial support, and private sector development.

Duties and responsibilities:

Against this background, LEGLA is hiring Counsel (ETC) to provide specialized legal, regulatory, and analytical support across its workstreams, particularly in related to sectors supporting domestic resource mobilization, including mining and tax regulation and governance. The Consultant position requires demonstrated ability to apply rigorous analytical skills, to work harmoniously in a team, and to exercise good judgment.

As part of his/her duties, the ETC will:

• Be responsible for the successful delivery of projects and other transactions within client assignments, including drafting, reviewing, and finalizing legal and policy instruments for World Bank’s operations.
• Provide legal guidance and risk mitigation within specialized areas of concentration, enabling clients and task teams to design and implement effective, legally sound, and institutionally durable solutions.
• Deliver high-quality legal support to active projects and programs, including reviewing project and program documents for adherence to World Bank Group legal policies and procedures, and strategic business objectives.
• Lead comparative legal analyses across complex, multi-jurisdictional landscapes, identify nuanced legal and policy considerations, research precedents across international and domestic legal systems, and develop actionable solutions for colleagues and clients.
• Prepare legal briefs and analytical notes on diverse topics, as required.
• Participate in task/project teams and operational missions. Serve as a legal advisor on mining and tax legal and regulatory and emerging issues in this area.

ETC will provide specialized expertise to:

The Extended Term Consultant will support the development, implementation, and expansion of digital legal knowledge initiatives, including the African Mining Legislation Atlas (AMLA), the African Tax Legislation Atlas (ATLA), and related initiatives aimed at strengthening access to legal information, comparative legal analysis, and knowledge sharing. Working under the guidance of the Task Team Lead and with limited supervision on assigned workstreams, the ETC will undertake the following responsibilities:

• Conduct substantive comparative legal research and analysis of tax, mining, and related legal and regulatory frameworks across jurisdictions, identifying relevant legislation, amendments, implementing instruments, and institutional arrangements and assessing their treatment under established comparative frameworks.
• Lead assigned components of the collection, review, processing, and analysis of legislation for AMLA, ATLA, and related legal knowledge initiatives, applying professional legal judgment to ensure the accuracy, consistency, completeness, and comparability of legal information published through the platforms.
• Manage the population and publication of legal content on digital platforms, including uploading and structuring legislation, comparative legal analysis, and related information in accordance with established taxonomies and publication standards; verify the accuracy and completeness of published content and address content-related issues identified during the publication process.
• Develop, refine, and apply legal research methodologies, common taxonomies, processing instructions, quality-control procedures, and related analytical tools to support consistent cross-country legal analysis and facilitate the expansion of platform content.
• Review and validate legal content and comparative classifications, identify inconsistencies or gaps in source materials and analytical outputs, and recommend appropriate solutions to strengthen the reliability and usability of the platforms.
• Support the continued development and implementation of AMLA and ATLA and the expansion of the underlying model to additional jurisdictions and areas of law, including initiatives to scale existing regional platforms into broader global legal knowledge resources.
• Coordinate with technical teams, consultants, and service providers on platform development, migration, functionality, content publication, and quality assurance, translating substantive legal and user requirements into actionable inputs for digital platform implementation.
• Contribute substantive legal and technical inputs to project planning, implementation, and monitoring, including identifying emerging issues, assessing implementation challenges, proposing solutions, and supporting the timely delivery of agreed project outputs.
• Prepare analytical materials, briefing notes, presentations, guidance documents, project reports, and other knowledge products that communicate complex legal and comparative information clearly to internal and external audiences.
• Support engagement with governments, international organizations, academic institutions, development partners, and other stakeholders contributing to or using the legal knowledge platforms, including activities related to partnerships, knowledge exchange, outreach, and platform expansion.
• Contribute to presentations, workshops, conferences, training activities, and other knowledge-sharing initiatives designed to strengthen awareness and use of AMLA, ATLA, and related legal knowledge resources.
• Monitor developments in relevant legal and regulatory frameworks and emerging approaches to digital legal knowledge management and identify opportunities to improve the accessibility, functionality, and analytical value of the platforms.
• Collaborate with lawyers and managers across the LEG VPU and with counterparts in regional operational and vertical knowledge units.
• Contribute to LEGLA's knowledge management agenda, including the organization and dissemination of legal knowledge products.
• Provide operational support across task teams' portfolios, including assistance with task management, document preparation, and coordination of deliverables.
• Contribute to other legal research, knowledge management, digital legal initiatives, and related assignments of the Legal Vice Presidency, as required.

Selection Criteria

• Law degree (JD, LLB, or equivalent) and LLM with specialization in legal practice is required. Admission or qualification to practice law in at least one jurisdiction is required.
• Minimum of 7 years of relevant professional experience in legal advisory services, with exposure to areas such as regulatory reform, or transparency, anti-corruption, legal capacity building.
• Proven experience providing legal knowledge and advisory support in multilateral institutions including the World Bank Group.
• Track record of successful legal and regulatory reform advocacy to governments.
• Proven experience conducting structured comparative legal analysis across multiple jurisdictions.
• Proven expertise legal data analytics, legal knowledge research, comparative tax and mining regulatory frameworks.
• Verified high-quality experience in successfully delivering country-level diagnostics and stakeholder engagement across development stakeholders.
• Strong experience in legal drafting and preparation of technical notes, analytical reports, or policy briefs for institutional audiences.
• Experience in a multilateral development bank, national government, international organization, law firm, or similar institutional context is required.

Skills and competencies requirements

• Fluency in English and Spanish, both written and oral, is required.
• Strong legal research, drafting, and analytical skills; ability to produce high-quality written products under limited supervision.
• Ability to apply structured analytical frameworks across diverse legal contexts.
• Strong communication and problem-solving skills; ability to present legal and regulatory findings clearly to a range of audiences.
• Ability to contribute to regulatory and institutional knowledge products.
• Ability to work independently and collaboratively in multicultural and multi-institutional environments.
• Ability to manage multiple tasks simultaneously and deliver results under tight deadlines.
• Demonstrated commitment to the World Bank Group's core values, including diversity, inclusion, integrity, and accountability.

This internal requisition is open to WBG and IMF staff only (including short-term and extended term consultants/ temporaries). External candidates are requested not to apply. In case an external candidate applies, their application will not be considered.

WBG Culture Attributes:

1. Sense of urgency: Anticipate and quickly respond to the needs of internal and external stakeholders.
2. Thoughtful risk-taking: Challenge the status quo and push boundaries to achieve greater impact.
3. Empowerment and accountability: Empower yourself and others to act and hold each other accountable for results.

World Bank Group Core Competencies

As per WBG policy, an Extended Term (ET) appointment is subject to a lifetime maximum of three (3) years. Former and current ET staff who have completed or are in the process of completing their third-year ET appointment are not eligible for future ET appointments.

We are proud to be an equal opportunity and inclusive employer with a dedicated and committed workforce, and do not discriminate based on gender, gender identity, religion, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or disability.

Learn more about working at the World Bank and IFC including our values and inspiring stories.