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Pioneering lawsuits to remedy biodiversity harm: be part of our network of environmental lawyers
Job Title: Environmental Legal Researchers (1) (Cameroon)
Project Title: CLAW – Conservation Litigation & Law
Illegal Wildlife Trade causes cascading harms on biodiversity, individual animals, livelihoods, and the public. Traditional enforcement focuses on punishing violators, but overlooks downstream impacts, which are usually left unremedied. Conservation Litigation uses liability lawsuits to demand that those who cause harm be held responsible for providing remedies. They hold violators liable for “healing” the harms they cause; this would mean traders could be responsible for funding in-situ conservation, rehabilitation, education, and offering apologies. In many countries, existing laws allow for such conservation lawsuits, but we are not widely using them yet. Our team of conservationists, lawyers, and economists is working to change that. Read our paper in the journal Conservation Letters describing the potential for Conservation Litigation.
Organisation: Law and Wildlife (L.a.W) is a small organisation that provides legal assistance to conservation organisations in general. We believe law can help us reconciliate with nature and enable healing of wildlife. We take a holistic legal approach to conservation problems, drawing from different legal fields and applying those to the unique circumstances of each case. We actively collaborate with those in the field, scientists, and conservation experts.
L.a.W has been collaborating with Conservation Litigation and the University of Lancaster for a few years. Among other services, we provide legal analysis of national laws to assess whether conservation litigation is possible in a given country and how it can be done. Within the framework of the CLAW project, funded by the ARCUS Foundation, L.a.W will be analysing the legislation of 4 great apes range countries: Indonesia, Cameroon, Thailand, and Liberia.
Job description: L.a.W is looking for one environmental lawyer to temporarily join our international team to undertake the analysis of legislation in Cameroon. You will participate in the team’s ongoing effort to facilitate the understanding of national environmental and conservation laws in relation to liability. Your work will help to develop pioneering conservation litigation lawsuits in Cameroon.
Duties
- Provide country specific analysis for evaluating viability / opportunities for conservation litigation. This involves:
- collecting raw data (laws and case law);
- conducting structured analysis of the legal data;
- providing additional information or conduct additional research based on the review of the structured analysis;
- producing a report and summary document.
- Convene a workshop of legal scholar-practitioners, to evaluate the socio-legal practicalities of the proposed lawsuits. This involves:
- Assisting in selection and invitation of participants
- Assisting in selection of venue
- Guiding workshop discussions
- Participate in regular calls with management to discuss progress, issues, and to collaborate.
Duty Station: Remote, with constant online interaction. Please, note that during the course of the contract, lawyers will be required to organise and direct a ½ day workshop with stakeholders.
Type of Contract: Temporary Service Contract under Belgium law (from June to October with a maximum of 15 working days)
Required expertise and qualifications
- A Degree in Law allowing you to practice in Cameroon (LL.B., LL.M. or PhD)
- Experience undertaking legal research
- Demonstrated proficiency in spoken and written English
The project seeks to identify experts that fulfil the above criteria and have the ability of involving key stakeholders (scholars, practicing lawyers, NGOs) to provide feedback on the legal analysis.
At L.a.W, we are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment of mutual respect. L.a.W recruits, employs, trains, compensates and promotes regardless of race, religion, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, 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, competence, integrity and organizational needs. L.a.W values diversity among its staff. We welcome applications from qualified women and men, including those with disabilities.
L.a.W recognizes the importance of balancing professional and personal demands. We have a progressive policy on work-life harmonization and offer flexible working conditions.
How to apply: Send us an e-mail with your CV, to [email protected]. Please, note that shortlisted candidates will be asked to provide 2 references at a later stage.
Privacy Statement: We will not share your data with anyone. Once the recruitment procedure has ended we will keep the data until the end of the project when all information will be deleted. If you have questions about how we process your data, send us an e-mail to: [email protected]
