Jack Nichols

Experience

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  Students Partnership Worldwide

  Nov 2000 - Aug 2001

  Volunteer

  Development work in remote village community in Nepal. Taught English and social issues to primary and secondary school levels and a women's group I helped establish. Project management of local area hygiene and development including consultation with local area government departments.

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  Netherlands Institute of Human Rights

  Jan 2004 - Jul 2004

  Student assistant

  Research and editorial assistance for human rights research and articles.

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  Global Witness

  Aug 2004 - Sept 2004

  Intern

  Drafted a UN General Assembly Resolution and Security Council Resolution to mandate global action on the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, which was used by Global Witness as part of their advocacy work.

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  Al Haq

  Jul 2006 - Sept 2006

  Intern

  Legal researcher and report writer with this NGO based in Ramallah, in the West Bank. Writing reports for the media, local and international governments on human rights issues in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem.

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  Linklaters LLP

  Sept 2006 - Jan 2018

  Managing Associate

  Member of Linklaters’ Capital Markets practice in London and Dubai, advising extensively on debt capital markets and Islamic finance transactions with value over USD 10 billion, including sukuk (wakala, mudaraba and ijara structures), securitisations and vendor finance.Member of Linklaters' International Governance and Development practices, advising the profit and not-for-profit sectors on issues of governance, including the systems and processes that ensure the overall direction, effectiveness, supervision and accountability of an organisation.Representative matters include:• Undertaking a global investigation and designing a unified governance model and compliance system for a multinational mining company, to address management and operational concerns on fraud, corruption, environmental and social risks in a geographic and community sensitive context. Work included interviews with senior management and operational staff, drafting advisory memoranda on sources of best practice and applicable legal regimes.• Undertaking an investigation into individual staff misconduct, including documentation review, interview and advice to senior management.• Advising a Ghanaian family conglomerate on the governance of its varied companies.• Working with African Union's New Partnership for Africa’s Development and others to develop governance frameworks to tackle illicit financial flows from African countries.• Publishing a report for the UN University on the governance of the UN Development System. Undertook a literature review and interviewed senior UN representatives.• Team Member for the UK Parliament’s Independent Commission for Aid Impact report on “DFID’s Approach to Anti-Corruption and its Impact on the Poor”. Undertook a literature review and interviewed government and civil society representatives in the UK, Nigeria and Nepal.Secondments as a lawyer to Citibank's fixed income team in London and as Senior Legal Counsel in HSBC's Global Markets team in Dubai. Show less

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  Harvard Kennedy School

  Jul 2010 - Dec 2010

  Research Assistant

  Pro-bono researcher with the Corporate Social Responsibility Initiative into costs of company-community conflict in the extractive industries, contributing to the research of the United Nations Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Business and Human Rights.

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  HSBC

  Feb 2012 - Jul 2012

  Senior Legal Counsel

  Legal and transaction management for the Global Markets team, on secondment from Linklaters LLP

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  Green Climate Fund

  Feb 2018 - Mar 2022

  Senior Counsel

  Senior Counsel in the Office of the General Counsel. • Led the legal structuring, reviewing, negotiating and drafting of funding structures and legal agreements with value of over USD 1 billion with multilateral agencies, non-governmental organisations and private companies for the financing of climate mitigation and adaptation projects, in compliance with best practice and GCF requirements. • Advised on the governance and operations of the Green Climate Fund. Experience includes: • Led legal review and comment on new institutional documents, their implementation and the impact those will have on the operations of the GCF, including: the Administrative Remedies and Exclusions Policy, the Policy on Prohibited Practices; the Policy on Sexual Exploitation, Sexual Abuse and Sexual Harassment; and the Environmental and Social Policy. • Guided the Board of the GCF in its deliberations, including consultation with Board members and their advisors, drafting of balanced background documents for Board consideration, and drafting decision and condition text regarding approval of policies and projects. Show less

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  Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance

  Apr 2022 - now

  Head of Legal

  Head of Legal on an interim basis, leading Gavi's legal function, while Gavi seeks a General Counsel.Lead the team of 11 lawyers and support staff at Gavi, establishing strategic priorities, budget and personnel, and overseeing technical areas of legal advice across all institutional and operational matters, including innovative finance transactions, country programming, procurement, employment and litigation. Driving the development of compliance frameworks for contractual arrangements. Coordinating across stakeholders including Gavi colleagues and external parties. The lead finance lawyer at Gavi, providing risk-based advice on structuring, negotiating and executing innovative financial instruments for advancing the efficiency of Gavi’s funding of vaccine programmes, including through loans, letters of credit and promissory note structures with bilateral and multilateral finance providers, and IFFIm (a UK charity that issues bonds and sukuk for the benefit of Gavi). Further advising on policy and practical legal matters for Gavi’s programming with Alliance members (WHO and UNICEF) and expanded partners, and supporting a portfolio of 14 countries and their financing from Gavi. Show less