JAZZ OMARI
COUNTER-CORRUPTION AND INTERNATIONAL LAW
NAME
LLB (Hons), Maîtrise en droit, Barrister
OCCUPATION
Barrister (Call 2006)
- Direct Access Accredited
SPECIALISATION
- Multilateral Development Bank (MDB/IFI) sanctions cases
- International Counter-Corruption Investigations
- Assessment and Design of Integrity Compliance Programmes
- Employment Disputes within International Organisations
- Lecturing and Training
SUMMARY
A law graduate of both King’s College London, and l’Université de Paris I (Panthéon-Sorbonne), Jazz was called to the Bar of England and Wales in 2006. Having previously practised criminal law – as both prosecution and defence counsel – she now practises international counter-corruption and international administrative law
INTERNATIONAL COUNTER-CORRUPTION INVESTIGATION
Jazz has not only litigated and appeared in contested sanctions cases for companies and individuals, but also has extensive experience in assisting parties negotiate and fulfil their obligations under negotiated resolution, disclosure and cooperation agreements with the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank and the African Development Bank. Such obligations include undertaking multilingual internal investigations, books and records reviews, assessing the adequacy of integrity compliance programmes vis-a-vis international best practice and national law, and designing and implementing improved ones.
For several years, she was part of a team providing legal, investigative and strategic advice to the integrity unit of an international organisation, including preparation of legally and factually complex pleadings for sanctions proceedings.
She also accepts instructions to undertake ad hoc internal investigations into suspected staff misconduct within companies and international organisations where an external independent investigator is required. Previous assignments include examining allegations of bribery and cartel operation by staff members at a Geneva-based United Nations organisation and acting as an independent external investigator for an Africa-based international organisation to investigate allegations of serious staff misconduct involving grave breaches of confidentiality and identify the perpetrators. She draws on her experience in both counter-corruption proceedings and international administrative law to ensure that her investigative work – which may ultimately form the basis of staff disciplinary action – complies not only with the specific internal rules of international organisations, but also general principles of law, due process and international best practice. She is also available to investigate allegations of general staff misconduct, such as workplace harassment.
Furthermore, Jazz has experience in the making and handling of whistle-blower complaints, including allegations of retaliation and requests for protective measures.
INTERNATIONAL ADMINISTRATIVE LAW
Jazz accepts instructions from international organisations requiring advice or legal representation in matters of international administrative law.
She has had extensive prior experience advising and representing international organisations, individual staff members and staff associations. Her work includes pre-action negotiations, litigation at first instance and appellate level, mediation and advisory work concerning whether internal policies, such as harassment policies and staff disciplinary procedures, are compliant with international administrative law, human rights law and international best practice.
Cases include litigation brought to obtain locus standi for a staff association; unlawful redundancy; termination following substandard performance; failure to exceptionally extend contracts in organisations with a cap on the duration of service; appeals against performance appraisals; and numerous complaints of bullying and harassment. She has also acted as an advocate to make oral representations on behalf of a Judge at an ad hoc recusal hearing before an independently constituted appeals panel at an international organisation, successfully resisting an application for recusal from an appeal case relating to a staff employment dispute.
Clients include individual staff and staff associations at the Green Climate Fund, the Inter-American Development Bank, the Commonwealth Foundation, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the World Bank, the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, the Pan-American Health Organisation and the International Maritime Organisation.
Jazz has also advised international organisations on internal policy, contracts and employment litigation, including legal representation at appellate level. Previous clients include the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test Ban Treaty Organisation, the Commonwealth Secretariat and the African Legal Support Facility.
In addition, Jazz has represented staff members in mediation, where the parties in a dispute have elected to employ alternative means of conflict resolution to successfully conclude the matter without embarking upon litigation.
LECTURING AND TRAINING
Jazz is a Senior Lecturer at the Pavocat Academy, which specialises in counter-corruption training. She is an experienced lecturer, having conducted in-house training of junior counsel in matters of counter-corruption investigation, as well as lawyers at a City law firm. She has previously taught the English legal system on the British Studies Program, organised by the University of Southern Mississippi, and on the MA Legal Translation course at City University, London. She has delivered many seminars to Staff Councils of international organisations on international administrative law and is an organiser and returning speaker at the International Administrative Law Centre of Excellence annual conference. She has also presented lectures at various international events, including the OECD-CRP Round Table at La Sapienza University, Rome. The Round Table, which addressed the theme of the right of appeal in the context of international administrative law, received a Medal of the Presidency of the Italian Republic.
She has undertaken the International Military Course on the Law of Armed Conflict at the International Institute of Humanitarian Law in San Remo, which concentrates on the applicability of the Hague and Geneva Conventions and customary international law in times of internal and international armed conflict.
Jazz also participated in the 6th Intensive Truth Commission Course hosted by the International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ), which focused on how Truth Commissions and other complementary mechanisms may be set up and deployed in order to bring justice to the victims of atrocities and human rights violations as a result of armed conflict or the actions of a political regime.
APPOINTMENTS
Jazz is included in the list of approved arbitrators for staff employment disputes at the King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz International Centre for Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue (KAICIID).
QUALIFICATIONS AND COURSES
- LLB (Hons.) English Law with French Law, King’s College, London
- Maîtrise en droit, Université de Paris I (Panthéon-Sorbonne)
- Associate of King’s College, London
- BPP London, Bar Vocational Course (Very Competent)
- 153rd International Military Course on the Law of Armed Conflict, International Institute of Humanitarian Law, San Remo
- 6th Intensive Course on Truth Commissions, International Center for Transitional Justice, Barcelona
- Bilingual in French and with a basic knowledge of Japanese and German
