Laura Wandera

Currently responsible for provision of legal services to more than 50 countries.

• Drafting , negotiating contracts, agreements, institutional and
operational modalities, and other legal documents.
• Ensure company’s compliance with statutory and regulatory requirement and provide
advice when required.
• Brief and monitor external counsel to ensure legal representation is effective.
• Ensure disputes are resolved in a manner that safeguards the company’s position.
• Manage strategy, tactics and budget for litigation and pre-litigation disputes, including liaising with outside counsel.
• Handle legal matters involving issues relating to corporate, public, company and
employment law, to include interpretation and application of instruments.
• Provide legal advice on diverse range of projects and procedural questions of law relating
to the business, which may include those related to administration, staff relations and
management, institutions support, procurement and contracts engagement with supplier
and aircraft lessors and other operational matters.
• Negotiate settlement of major claims and prepare legal documentation relating to such
settlements.
• Supervise representation of the organization on all cases, proceedings, including
review of disciplinary cases and staff appeals.
• Provide legal advice to senior leadership team of the company on the interpretation of laws, policies, regulations and rules, including the review of new litigation matters or
claims and provide opinions on the likelihood of success in those claims.

Achievements

• Developed a competition compliance policy and training for the business and wallet cards with easy access on the Dos and Don’ts in relation to competition law.

• Legal Advisory to the company on all aspects of the business.
• Lead the general management and administration of the unit, organize and prioritize the
  workload and provide general coordination and supervision of assignments as regards the
  legal work and managing associated budgets for unit travel.
• Provide active leadership, responsible and accountable for all legal matters impacting the
  company.
• Central point in company for all litigation matters and manage all legal issues at Group and country level in liaison with external legal counsel or third parties.
• In liaison with business teams, use technical knowledge of the business offerings to provide sound legal and transactional advice to the company and to anticipate and communicate proactively on the impact of legal developments on the business.
• Manage the process of engaging external counsel, including effective instructions to
  external counsel and negotiating appropriate fee structures for all legal engagements.
• Lead in the proactive and strategic identification of legal risks as a Group and country level for the company.
• Communicate identified risks to country and business stakeholders and influence
  stakeholders to improve legal risk controls and governance at a country level.
• Ensure robust legal support is provided across the company including subsidiaries and related entities.

• Drafting legal documents, opinions, leases and contracts/agreements and negotiating the
terms with related parties.
• Monitoring ongoing programs and operations for legal compliance identify legal risks and
recommend mitigation strategies.
• Proactively identifying, assessing and managing legal risks
• Coordinating and managing all litigation matters involving the company with outside
counsel
• Preparing reports and analysis of the all the legal matters involving the company
• Maintaining awareness of new legislation and developments in the laws
• Legal and regulatory research for special projects
• Providing advice and counsel on variety of legal matters including legal implications to
other departments within the organization
• Managing the company’s intellectual property portfolio; working with outside counsel to
conduct trademark searches and registrations for new and existing Intellectual property.
• Monitoring compliance of the company policies and rules including Code of Business
Conduct; preparing training materials and following up on compliance.

Achievements

• Developed a Declaration of Conflicts of Interests Form for employees to declare any conflicts or potential conflicts of interest that may arise between their private interests and their position in the company

• Provided legal advice to line managers regarding significant legal obligations, risks and opportunities in relation to operational matters including, in relation to Agreements, Intellectual Property, Procurement activities, General commercial matters, Human Resource & employment law matters and Media & advertising issues

• Conducted research on topical issues on women and property law especially information touching on widows and orphans
• Developed proposals and concept notes on how to assist widows and orphans who are stripped of their inheritance and their rights to inheriting property in their communities
• Carried out strategic partnership building and collaboration with government, civil society and development partners
• Spearheaded lobbying and advocacy on key issues in the field of property law
• Assisted senior management in resource mobilization
• Carried out field work including community education and awareness programs
• Managed logistics including planning and organizations of meetings

• Developed curriculum for commercial law, company law, law of contracts and family law courses
• Conducted lectures, supervised groups and carried out evaluations
• Carried out extensive research in the area of commercial law, company law, law of contracts and family law
• Prepared examinations and marked examination papers

• Received training in the following areas:-
   Drafting pleadings for the conduct of court proceedings
   Taking evidence from witnesses and preparing for trial, Court attendance and updating clients on progress of their matters.
   Drafting Conveyancing instruments and commercial agreements
   Legal Research and drafting legal opinions in all areas of law
   Drafting pleadings, applications and legal opinion