Assistant Legal Officer, The Hague

ICC - International Criminal Court; Den Haag; On-site; EUR 42,000 - 56,000; Full time

Job summary

ICC - International Criminal Court in The Hague invites applications for an Assistant Legal Officer (P-1) to support the Chambers Working Group on the Case Law Database project. The role focuses on head-noting judgments, extracting key findings and organizing metadata.

Under supervision, you will conduct legal analysis, identify relevant keywords, cite-check documents and participate in team meetings. The assignment is short-term, with a formal review process and potential extension subject to

Qualifications

• Advanced law degree or equivalent; specialization in international criminal law or human rights is an asset.
• A first-level law degree with two years of qualifying experience is acceptable in lieu of an advanced degree.
• Two years of relevant work experience in judicial systems, international courts, or academia is required.

Responsibilities

• Conduct legal analysis of judgments, decisions and orders and extract key findings and jurisprudential significance.
• Identify relevant keywords for legal findings and metadata fields.
• Identify relationships between judgments, decisions and orders.
• Collect, organize and collate metadata for legal findings.
• Participate in meetings and discussions on the Case Law Database project.
• Cite-check and edit documents; perform other tasks as required.

Skills

Legal analysis

Jurisprudence

Metadata management

Teamwork

English/French

Education

Advanced university degree in law

First-level university degree in law + 2 years experience

Tools

TRIM

RM8

Transcend

Case Map

Microsoft Office

Job description

Career Opportunities: Assistant Legal Officer (P-1) (24537)

Requisition ID24537-Posted07/09/2026-Professional-Legal Affairs-The Hague - NL

Contract Duration: Until 31 December 2026, with possibility of extension, subject to operational needs and funds availability

Special Notice:

A Short-Term Appointment is used to recruit staff to meet short-term needs. The duration of this assignment is provided above. The maximum duration of a short-term appointment including extensions shall not exceed 12 months.

A Short-Term Appointment does not carry any expectancy, legal or otherwise, of renewal and shall not be converted to any other type of appointment.

Due to the short‑term nature of the assignment, the ICC reserves the right to make an appointment at one grade lower than that stated in the vacancy with a modified job description.

A current ICC staff member who is holding a fixed‑term appointment may apply for any short‑term position. Where a current ICC staff member is selected to a short‑term position, he or she will be temporarily assigned to the position in line with section 4.10 of ICC/AI/2016/001. GS‑level posts are subject to local recruitment only.

The terms and conditions of service for staff members appointed under a short‑term appointment are governed by ICC/AI/2016/001.

Organisational Context

Chambers, comprising three judicial divisions (Appeals Division, Trial Division and Pre‑Trial Division), is responsible for judicial proceedings for crimes within the jurisdiction of the Court.

Chambers is recruiting Assistant Legal Officers to support the Chambers Working Group (in relation to the Case Law Database (CLD) Project. The CLD Project is aimed at creating a database of the Court’s jurisprudence. To that end, the Chambers Working Group extracts legal findings from the Court’s decisions and identifies relevant keywords and other metadata (‘head‑noting’).

The selected candidates will work for the Chambers Working Group (CWG) under the supervision of the CWG’s Legal Officer (Database Coordinator).

Duties and Responsibilities

As members of the CWG, the selected candidates will carry out the ‘head‑noting’ process in relation to judgments, decisions and orders to be included in the CLD.

As part of the ‘head‑noting’ process and under the direct supervision of the Legal Officer (Database Coordinator), the selected candidates will be responsible for the following duties:

• Conduct legal analysis of the Court’s judgments, decisions and orders and identify and extract key legal findings and identify relative levels of jurisprudential importance;
• Identify relevant legal keywords for legal findings;
• Identify relationships between related judgments, decisions and orders;
• Collect, organise, and collate other assorted metadata fields for legal findings;
• Participate in meetings and substantive discussions on issues arising in the CLD Project;
• Cite‑check and edit documents; and
• Perform other tasks, as requested by the Project’s Coordinator.

Specific training on the ‘head‑noting’ process and the systems used for the CLD project will be provided to the selected candidates upon their arrival.

Required qualifications

Education:

An advanced university degree in law is required. Specialisation in international criminal law, international humanitarian law or human rights law will be considered an asset. A first‑level university degree in law in combination with two years of qualifying experience is accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.

Experience:

A minimum of two years of relevant work experience with a first level university degree (zero years of experience with an advanced university degree) in a national judicial system, an international court or tribunal, or in academia in the fields of law mentioned above is required.

Knowledge, skills and abilities:

• Comprehensive knowledge of the Court’s structure, functions, powers, applicable law and previous jurisprudence;
• Proven analytical skills;
• Ability to conduct in depth analysis of large volumes of documents;
• Ability to rapidly prioritise tasks;
• Ability to work as part of a team and/or independently;
• Advanced proficiency in computer skills (previous experience with software such as TRIM, RM8, Transcend, Case Map, and/or other commercially available cataloguing software will be considered an asset);
• Advanced proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite, particularly Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.
• Ability to problem solve and adapt to changing work environments;
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills;
• Ability to work in a multicultural, multiethnic environment with sensitivity and respect for diversity;
• Sound judgement, attention to detail, utmost discretion, reliability, motivation, and willingness to learn new skills.
• Aptitude and experience handling sensitive and classified materials;
• Previous experience in international tribunals will be considered an asset.

Languages:

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

ICC Core Competencies

• Dedication to the mission and values
• Professionalism
• Teamwork
• Learning and developing
• Handling uncertain situations
• Interaction
• Realising objectives

Learn more about ICCleadership andcore competencies .

Candidates appointed to posts at a P‑5 grade or in the Director category are subject to a maximum aggregate length of service of seven years. This is pursuant to a decision of the Assembly of States Parties (ASP Resolution ICC‑ASP/23/Res.2 -ICC‑ASP‑23‑Res.2‑ENG ) to implement a tenure policy at the Court as of 1 January 2025.

- The selected candidate will be subject to a Personnel Security Clearance (PSC) process in accordance with ICC policy. The PSC process will include but will not be limited to, verification of the information provided in the personal history form and a criminal record check.

- Applicants may check the status of vacancies on ICC E‑Recruitment web‑site.

- Post to be filled by a national of a State Party to the ICC Statute, or of a State which has signed and is engaged in the ratification process or which is engaged in the accession process. This is pursuant to a decision of the Assembly of States Parties (ASP Resolution ICC‑ASP/23/Res.3 -ICC‑ASP‑23‑Res.3‑ENG ) to introduce a moratorium on the recruitment by the ICC of staff of non‑States Parties’ nationality.

- In accordance with the Rome Statute, the ICC aims to achieve fair representation of women and men for all positions, representation of the principal legal systems of the world for legal positions, and equitable geographical representation for positions in the professional category.

- Applications from female candidates are particularly encouraged.

- The International Criminal Court applies the Inter‑Organization Mobility Accord and can support secondment of staff from organizations of the United Nations Common System.