Description, Functions and Objective

The Department of Legal Services ("DLS") is a direct dependency of the Office of the Secretary General. Its mandate is set out in Part IV of Executive Order 96-4.

 

DLS's purpose is to attend to the operational legal issues that arise out of the Organization's activities, its internal law, and its relationship with other entities. The Department achieves that purpose by providing litigation, advisory, negotiation, general representation, and legal drafting services to the General Secretariat, the political bodies, and other institutional clients within the Organization. It is an integral element within the administrative apparatus established by the Secretary General to comply with the mandates set out in Articles 109, 112(b)(d) and (h), 113, and 135 of the Charter.

 

The functions of DLS include the following:

 

a.   Provides legal counseling and advisory services (through written and oral opinions) to the organs of the Organization (most frequently, but not exclusively, to, the General Assembly, the Permanent Council, CIDI, the General Secretariat, the Retirement and Pension Committee, CITEL, CICAD, IICA, IADB) regarding the internal law of the organization (including the Charter, the basic inter-American agreements and other documents establishing organs of the Organization and governing the relationship between them, the law governing the relationship between the General Secretariat and its Staff, the agreements between the Organization and its Member States and Permanent Observers), administrative law, labor law, pension fund regulation, contract law, select issues of private and public international law, U.S. tax law, laws and procedures governing nonprofit and for profit corporations in the host country, intellectual property law, real property law, regulated industries, rules practices and procedures of other international organizations, bankruptcy, worker compensation, general personal injury law, construction law, Constitutional law, and other areas of law as required.

b.    Provides legal assistance to the Secretary General and his other advisors in drafting the legal instruments of the Organization, including draft General Standards, Executive Orders, Directives, Staff Rules, and other administrative dispositions of the General Secretariat. Provides similar assistance to the political bodies and other organs in drafting Resolutions containing regulations and other instruments constituting the internal law of the Organization.

 

c.    Negotiates and drafts real estate contracts, procurement contracts, construction contracts, and bilateral and multilateral agreements on privileges and immunities and technical assistance programs as required to carry out the mandates of the political bodies and other organs of the Organization.

 

d.    Represents and defends the General Secretariat and other organs of the Organization (including the Retirement and Pension Committee and IICA) in litigation before the Administrative Tribunal, the courts of the Member States, and in arbitration. Represents the Organization in negotiations with governmental agencies in the host country.

 

e.    Compiles and keeps up to date the instruments of the internal law of the General Secretariat and other organs as requested.

 

f.    Conducts a liaison program by maintaining institutionalized contacts with legal offices within the host country, bar associations in the Member States, and lawyers in other international organizations, and universities.

 

g.    Provides legal training to lawyers from the Member States through its internship program and provides knowledge about the legal programs and activities of the Organization within its area of competence through the participation of its lawyers as speakers in seminars hosted by governments, bar associations, NGOs, and other public international organizations.

 

h.    Develops and coordinates legal programming for CICAD.

 

i.    Undertakes special projects for the Office of the Secretary General, as requested.

The objective of the Department is to perform the above-mentioned functions in a timely and fully professional manner to the satisfaction of its institutional clients. Success in meeting that objective can be measured by the number of complaints, if any, by the institutional clients regarding the quality and timeliness of services provided in relation to those functions.