Legal Officer at NCBA Bank Tanzania

The Legal Officer is responsible for providing legal support to the allocated unit – Legal Corporate Banking – across lending business, security perfection, contracting and contract projects, litigation, and credit recoveries.

Assignment to involve: 

• General Legal advisory support 
• Contract/Agreements review and drafting 
• Litigation and debt recovery 

Key Accountabilities (Duties and Responsibilities)

General Operations (20%)

• Ensure compliance with policies relating to litigation management; any exceptions approved by Senior Legal Counsel.
• Provide concise, responsive and practical legal solutions for all allocated litigation files using external counsel and proper research.
• Negotiate matters out of court to minimize Bank costs in liaison with business teams.
• Receive summons properly and ensure defenses filed on time; forward summons to external advocates within 24 hours; receive in protest if served without sufficient time.
• Ensure payment of undisputed advocates’ fees within two weeks.
• Develop and submit reports at least one week before BCC & MCC meetings.
• Attend recoveries meetings upon request.
• Monitor and act on market developments that may affect loan recoveries.
• Identify trends affecting collectible portfolios and highlight potential problem areas.

General Legal Queries Management (10%)

• Provide legal advice and prepare Executive Summaries within 5 days for review by Senior Legal Counsel.
• Draft Executive Summaries for review by Senior Legal Counsel/Head of Legal.
• Respond to legal queries within 24 hours and not beyond 5 days; issue holding responses where more than 48 hours is required.
• Respond to demand letters within 3 days; send legal opinion emails within 24 hours.
• Provide well-researched legal opinions that guide decision-making and protect Group interests.
• Research laws/regulations affecting the Bank and advise on impact.
• Deliver at least one training session annually to business/operations teams.

Contract and Customer Documentation & Corporate Advisory (15%)

• Ensure compliance with policies and procedures relating to contracting and customer documentation.
• Provide concise, practical opinions within 48 hours or issue holding response and finalize within two days.
• Implement legislative changes to contracts/documentation within two weeks.
• Review/draft contracts to ensure legal enforceability, business needs and Group protection; acknowledge receipt within 2 hours and review within 48 hours.
• Maintain weekly tracker updates; finalize any review exceeding 48 hours within two days.
• Negotiate contract terms to secure best outcome for the Group; respond to negotiated drafts within 48 hours.
• Complete Contract Approval Request forms ensuring internal approvals, KYC documents and legal risk categorization.
• Ensure proper execution of contracts; follow up delays beyond two days.
• Ensure proper storage and respond to queries within 48 hours.
• Conduct stakeholder training where required.
• Prepare weekly contract management report for Senior Legal Counsel.

Documentation Approvals Support (15%)

• Review documentation and advise within one day.
• Discuss and finalize approval support advice with Senior Legal Counsel.
• Follow up closure of identified gaps and maintain status reports.

Customer Experience (25%)

• Comply with SLAs and provide timely, professional service to internal and external customers.
• Minimize legal costs and suggest cost-reduction improvements.

Cross Selling (5%)

Support Group cross-selling strategy to drive growth.

People & Culture (10%)

Leadership (5%)

Achieve at least 40 learning hours annually and meet TSL CPD requirements.

Employee Engagement (5%)

Maintain strong internal customer satisfaction and positive engagement culture.

Job Specifications

Academic: 

Bachelor’s Degree Law (LLB)  

Professional: 

Admission as an advocate of the High Court of Tanzania (minimum 1-3 years post admission)  

Desired work experience:  

• A minimum of 1-3 years’ experience legal department of a busy organization, financial institution or law firm, with sound exposure to: 
• Contract and customer documentation drafting 
• Development of sound legal advisory and sound general advise 
• Credit or lending  
• Corporate recoveries 
• Perfection of securities

Job Dimensions

Reporting Relationships: jobs that report to this position directly and indirectly 

Direct Reports - N/A 

Indirect Reports - N/A 

Stakeholder Management: key stakeholders that the position holder will need to liaise/work with to be successful in this role. 

Internal 

• The legal services department 
• Various Business and Support functions/Departments within the Group  

External 

• Customers 
• Lawyers 
• Third parties 
• Any other service Providers/stakeholders that this role may require interaction with. 

Decision Making Authority /Mandates/Constraints: the decisions the position holder is empowered to make (Indicate if it is Operational, Managerial or Strategic). Please also highlight any budgetary control responsibility if applicable for the role.   

Work cycle and impact:  time horizon and nature of impact (Planning)(e.g. Less than 1 week, 2 weeks, 2 weeks – 1 month, 1month – 3 months, 3-6 months, 6-12 months, above 1 year) 

• Instructions to external counsel – Less than 1 week 
• Review of contracts/agreements and provision of opinions – Less than 48 hours 
• Ensuring compliance to the departments procedures and SLA’s 

NCBA Bank Core Value Behaviours

Driving for Results Intermediate

Business Savy Intermediate

Selling the Vision Intermediate

Fostering Collaboration Intermediate

Responsiveness Intermediate

Coaching & Developing Others Intermediate

Building Trust Intermediate

Openness Intermediate

Building Organizational Talent Intermediate

Empowerment & Delegation Intermediate