Legal Services

Terms of Reference 

Legal Services for “The Carter Center” 

The Carter Center (TCC) Palestine is seeking the services of an attorney/Law Firm in Palestine to provide legal services based on a retainer agreement. 

Organization and Context background information 

The Carter Center (TCC) is an international non-governmental organization established in 1982 by former President Jimmy Carter and former First Lady Rosalynn Carter in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. TCC works in over 70 countries around the world. TCC’s work is divided into two categories, Health Programs and Peace Programs.  

TCC officially opened its office in Palestine on 28/6/2011 but it has been engaged in Palestine since 1996 when the first Palestinian Legislative Council and Presidential elections were held. Together with the National Democratic Institute (NDI), TCC sent full observation missions in each major Palestinian electoral process in 1996, 2005, and 2006.  

TCC Palestine manages a total annual budget of 400,000 USD with projects funded by several donors, contributions, and partnerships. 

The main office is located in Jerusalem with one field office in the City of Ramallah. The team currently comprises a total of 3-5 employees.    

Objective and deliverables of the services 

The objective of the services requested is to ensure understanding and compliance with the Palestine and Israel legal framework related to regional and national INGO operations, and to build mutual trust between the organization and various stakeholders, including the relevant governmental ministries, based on a robust and credible legal approach by providing the following services:  

1. Act as an official legal representative for the TCC Country Office based in Palestine and Israel in liaison with relevant governmental entities. 
2. Provide TCC Palestine with general legal advice, counsel, consultation, opinions, and recommendations on a wide variety of legal matters, including but not limited to different contractual agreements (e.g. employment, procurement of goods/services, rental, etc.), the organization written operational policies and procedures and updates on changes to the respective labor laws, NGO, Income Tax and National Insurance laws in Israel and the Palestinian Authority in regard to the Jerusalem, West Bank, and Gaza operations. 
3. Provide legal advice on any issues related to financial regulations relevant to the work of INGOs. 
4. Notify TCC Palestine of significant changes in labor, NGO, Income Tax, and National Insurance laws in Palestine and Israel that may affect TCC or its operations and provide TCC proactive advice to reduce any significant anticipated or ongoing legal exposure. 
5. Furthermore, the legal advisor is expected to give timely updates with the necessary explanations to the organization’s management team on any new legislation or regulation that may affect the organization’s legal status. 
6. Provide advice to ensure compliance with the country's regulations to avoid any penalties. 
7. Provide guidance in preparing and updating drafts of the organization's written operational and guidance staff manuals and check if they are in conformity with the Palestine and Israel labor law(s); 
8. Review the organization's general agreements to obtain an understanding of the context of the legal aspects and provide the necessary guidance. 
9. Review contract templates as well as samples of existing or past contracts of staff and external service providers and make recommendations for enhancing these to better reflect the requirements of the HQ and of the country legislation. The sample contracts and the recommendations should include those for which there were or are ongoing disputes. 
10. Support with visas related issues, entry permissions, work permits, and residency, for all employees regardless of expatriates or national staff as needed. 
11. Draft and/or review lease or sale agreements for properties, cars, etc., to be leased and/or purchased by TCC Palestine related to its work. 
12. Provide TCC with legal advice on all matters involving disputes which may arise from time to time. 
13. Attend all meetings, negotiations, and discussions where legal opinion is required, when requested by TCC. 
14. Coordinate with other special counsels, as needed, to ensure proper management of legal issues and proper coordination and transition of legal issues.  
15. Perform other legal services and tasks, as assigned by the TCC Country Representative or Finance, Admin, and HR personnel.  
16. Perform legal duties such as court cases, when needed, and upon an agreed fee. 

 Key deliverables 

The following deliverables are expected throughout the duration of the retainer contract:  

1. On demand, advice on legal matters as they will arise at the quest of the management team and the Country Representative.  
2. Review the HR Regulation document within the month (1) from the start of the agreement and follow up the process of obtaining the necessary approvals, provide a written report.  
3. Assess and advise on legality compliance in all matters specifically regarding TCC registration status, provide a written report. 
4. Revises all staff contracts (4) and provides advice in writing.  

 Modalities and Timeline  

The legal services are expected to be carried out within a period of 2 years, starting from 1st of January 2024 until 31 of December 2025.    

 Requirements for the attorney/Law Firm 

The eligible expert/s/ Law firm should have the following qualifications and experience: 

• The law firm must be licensed in Israel and Palestine and readily able to represent TCC in Jerusalem, West Bank and Gaza 
• The attorney(ies) should have a university degree in Law studies and be certified member(s) of Palestine and Israel Bar Associations; 
• At least five years of relevant experience in providing legal services to INGOs specifically. 

• Excellent command of English and Hebrew Language spoken and written; Arabic as mother tongue.  
• The attorney(ies) will be required to provide written opinions in both Arabic and English languages on certain issues within a limited timeframe. 
• The attorney(ies) may include subcontracted services with a third party whenever necessary following prior notification and approval of the Carter Center. 
• Timeliness of response and accessibility to the Attorney is an important aspect of the service.  Accessibility includes the ability to be generally available to attend meetings in person on short notice and the ability to be reached promptly by telephone. Responses need to be in writing. 

Ethical considerations 

The consultant/consulting agency must sign the all relevant Policies and Code of Conduct and be willing to adhere to its principles and expected practices. If a breach of the policy or code of conduct takes place the consultancy will be terminated immediately without any financial burden on TCC.  

Disclaimer on copyright, data protection 

All documents, data and information shall be treated as confidential and shall not without the written approval of TCC be made available to any third party. In addition, the consultant(s) formally undertakes not to disclose any parts of the confidential information and shall not, without the written approval of TCC be made available to any third party. The utilization of the report is solely at the decision and discretion of TCC. All the documents containing both raw data/materials provided by TCC and final documents, both soft and hard copies, are to be returned to TCC upon completion of the assignment.  

The attorney(ies) will work directly with the Country Representative, the Senior Management Team and the Finance, Admin/HR personnel of TCC Palestine.  

Application procedure 

The application should contain the following information:  

• Letter of Interest to include a statement of relevant experience and similar assignments executed in the last five years with other clients (INGOs). 

• CV of the applicant and its partners/lawyers (in case of a Law Firm). 
• Financial offer (lump sum for the deliverables 2-3-4, and rate/hour or day for deliverable 1) 
• Confirmation of availability to carry out the work within the specified term. 
• List of references from previous or current clients, preferably from INGOs 
• Registration documents “Commercial Register” and “Profession license”. 

All documents shall be submitted electronically by October 10th, 2023, to the following email address: [email protected]