Luminate is a global philanthropic organisation focused on empowering people and institutions to work together to build just and fair societies. We are in the process of establishing a new program of work to combat the harms created through the spread of mis and disinformation by the Big Tech companies and social media platforms.  This program will combine strategic litigation, policy and advocacy, and campaigning to push for greater accountability and oversight of the platforms’ business models and products. This is an extension of Luminate’s long-term work to protect data rights and to tackle the rise of digital threats to our democracies, including the work of our initiative Reset.

SUMMARY OF ROLE

The Senior Legal Advisor position is a senior role for the new programme that will contribute significantly to its direction and work. The primary area of responsibility will be managing the legal workstream of the programme –– identifying opportunities, and leading work on grants and contracts–– as well as providing expert legal advice across the programme. This involves strategic thinking and legal insight to guide the litigation workstream, and to advise the policy and campaigning workstreams on legal considerations and opportunities. The second area of responsibility will be relationship management with external partners and stakeholders. Working in partnership and collaboration with other organisations will be essential to the role's success.  

The Senior Legal Advisor will be based in Berlin, Brussels or London. 

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Researching, analysing, and advising on litigation and strategy, including identifying new opportunities (both legal and policy), monitoring developments, and recommending potential collaborations and partnerships
• Liaising with grantees and lawyers to manage grants and contracts, including high level strategic oversight of litigation
• Providing legal expertise to the policy advocacy and public campaigning work of the programme, working with team members across the programme 
• Growing, developing and managing relationships with external partner and stakeholder organisations
• Leading the due diligence process for prospective grantees
• Understanding internal legal, finance and administrative processes
• Supporting budget management
• Leading on the programme’s operational needs –– including task management, event planning, onboarding of new team members, risk assessment, and other day-to-day needs of programmatic work
• The Senior Legal Advisor will report to the Director, Litigation and Strategy

SKILLS & EXPERIENCE

ESSENTIAL

• One or more law degrees
• Strong knowledge of EU law, and preferably of French, German, or Dutch law
• Demonstrated understanding of strategic litigation
• Several years of experience in litigation
• Experience of working in or with civil society organisations / non-governmental organisations
• Exceptional communications and people skills, ideally with experience of working with a diverse range of people
• Successful track record of thinking strategically and to identify connections and opportunities across projects and organisations to serve an overall strategy
• Demonstrated ability to work within a high performance team with a high intensity workflow across multiple different projects
• Demonstrated commitment to public service and a passion for the mission of working at the intersection of technology and democracy (pre-existing knowledge of the topics a plus, but not required)
• Personal interest in the stated missions of Luminate and Reset
• Positive attitude, adaptability, and the ability to think creatively
• Enthusiasm and exceptional ability to nurture strong relationships with a range of organisations and working with diverse teams and colleagues

DESIRED

• European languages other than English
• Experience managing budgets and finances, advantageous if this includes understanding of philanthropic grant making processes
• Understanding of data and digital rights issues, including the content curation and targeting practices of major tech platform companies

Luminate offers a competitive salary and benefits package.