Sovereign Debt Forum Research Assistant

Georgetown University•Washington, DC

11d•$18 - $27•Remote

About The Position

The Sovereign Debt Forum seeks a research assistant to support its #PublicDebtIsPublic initiative (#PDIP), which advances public accountability through accessible, intelligible, and comparable disclosure of information about government borrowing and lending. The initiative includes a public repository of searchable, tagged sovereign debt contracts; domestic laws and regulations governing borrowing, authorization, and disclosure; and capacity-building courses, tutorials, legal analysis, and guidance materials. The research assistant will help gather full-text sovereign debt contracts, tag key contractual clauses, and collect information about domestic borrowing frameworks in different jurisdictions. The role supports subsequent phases of the PDIP project, a remote collaboration of the Sovereign Debt Forum and Georgetown University’s Massive Data Institute. The position reports directly to the SDF Co-Director, Head of Research and SDF Fellow at the Law Center, and works with a team of 2–5 other research assistants. The role is designated as telework.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree required.
Experience with contract analysis.
Familiarity with the legal system of a non-US jurisdiction.
Analytical, written and verbal communication, and organizational skills.
Collaborative attitude and ability to adapt to the challenges of an ambitious start-up.
Understanding of the research process and knowledge of appropriate research protocols.
Experience planning and delivering work allocation to agreed timescales and quality standards.
Experience in a research environment.
Experience working with a collaborative team to achieve a common goal or objective.
Experience maintaining accurate and up-to-date records.
Experience collating, maintaining, and deploying datasets to produce, interpret, and present data reports and analysis.
Effective verbal communication skills.
Experience using Microsoft Office packages, including Word and Excel.
Advanced IT, numeracy, and analytical skills, with a high level of accuracy and attention to detail.
Willingness to work flexibly to meet the demands of the research program.
Self-motivated and able to work without close supervision.

Nice To Haves

JD, LLM, and/or other graduate training.
Law practice experience.
Management experience.

Responsibilities

Gather full-text sovereign debt contracts.
Tag key clauses in sovereign debt contracts.
Gather information about the domestic borrowing framework of different jurisdictions.
Support implementation of subsequent phases of the #PublicDebtIsPublic initiative.
Work collaboratively with a remote team of research assistants.