Sandie Okoro, Senior Vice President and Group General Counsel of The World Bank Group.

The World Bank's legal department, led by general counsel, Sandie Okoro, supports the financial institution's mission of tackling world poverty through development. The department's clients include the institution's shareholders and its 189 member countries. Over this past year, the team's risk mitigation and other legal work contributed to the development of the Nachtigal Hydropower Project, a $1.4 billion, 420 million-watt hydropower plant in Cameroon, the first of its kind in the country. The legal team also shaped "the largest and most far-reaching internal policy reform exercise ever undertaken by a multilateral development bank." NLJ Editor-in-Chief Lisa Helem caught up with Okoro for a Q&A.

How does the World Bank's legal department approach the delivery of legal services? The World Bank Legal Vice Presidency—our legal department—is a team of proactive, independent legal advisers supporting the implementation of the World Bank's development mission of ending poverty globally. We provide legal advice internationally to enable smart and scalable shared prosperity solutions. Unlike legal practices in the private sector, our team of 165 legal staff helps translate the development ethos of the World Bank through the daily transactions we engage in. Our team of international staff includes the highest talent in areas such as institutional administration, corporate finance, compliance, legal development finance, environmental and international law, structured finance and guarantees, and operations.

One of your major transactions this past year was the $4.4 billion Nachtigal Hydropower Project in Cameroon. How did the legal department work to make that happen? Our department's role was critical in this project. Our contribution required navigating and achieving a careful balance across multiple stakeholders, given the public-private partnership model used for the project. The transaction required our team to draft and negotiate multiple interlinking agreements to which the World Bank is a party, including guarantee agreements with the commercial banks and a counter-guarantee agreement with the government. We completed deep due diligence reviews of the multiple, interlocking finance and project documents, and the process took approximately three years to complete.

A team of 16 lawyers in our environment and international law unit provided advice and operational legal support to address environmental, social and international law issues [on] World Bank projects. For three years, the team advised on and shaped the largest and most far-reaching internal policy reform exercise ever undertaken by a multilateral development bank. The process involved delicate negotiations amongst shareholders on complex legal and policy issues concerning the environmental and social requirements applicable to 75% of the Bank's average of $60 billion worth of lending annually. [The team also] helped World Bank management review more than 2,500 pages of feedback from stakeholders from 65 countries. The new Environmental and Social Framework helps the World Bank improve the quality and speed of decision-making and risk management, and the supervision of projects it finances.

What other environmental projects did the team help implement? The legal department shaped the World Bank's support in addressing climate change, drafting and negotiating more than 300 Emission Reduction Purchase Agreements and advising on the structure and operating procedures for carbon and climate funds. The unit advised World Bank management on internal accountability issues, including more than 80 grievance redress complaints arising in the implementation of projects financed by the World Bank.

Detail the legal department's pro bono and other global service efforts. The World Bank was not established to make a profit and is mandated with a development agenda as prescribed by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Whether it is about access to justice or transforming the laws in the books to promote gender equality, we prioritize action for sound solutions.

This year, we launched the Empowering Women by Balancing the Law initiative, designed by a team of development lawyers to assist countries in revising laws that impede women and girls' voice and agency. Our development lawyers worked with development specialists with expertise in governance, gender and access to justice, to name a few. EWBL's model helps pilot countries identify outdated laws and provides technical assistance in the implementation phase as needed.

What is the legal department's philosophy on diversity? And what successful diversity practices have you implemented as general counsel? [Our department's] management team values the diversity of its talent pool to better achieve the institution's development goals. Our team is highly diverse, with 117 women and 48 men from over 60 nationalities. [We] value each staff member's individuality, acknowledging and respecting differences including nationality, gender and gender identity, age, race, sexual orientation and disability inclusion.

Diversity also makes good business sense. A diverse staff mirrors the diversity of the clients we serve and the partners we work alongside. This is how we effectively seek equity and opportunity for all. Also, a diverse staff stimulates the creativity and innovation our clients expect, drawn from the collective energy of individual experience and knowledge. As the world's leading development organization, a diverse staff also allows us to attract, retain and grow the finest talent from the broadest span of different backgrounds possible. Successful leveraging of the diversity of our talent means we can answer our clients' needs.

Institution: The World Bank

General Counsel: Sandie Okoro

Institution Headquarters: Washington, D.C.

Number of Attorneys in the Washington, D.C. area: 120

Number of Attorneys in the U.S.: 120

Number of Attorneys Worldwide (including the D.C. area): 165

Correction: In its submission to the National Law Journal's Washington Legal Departments of the Year contest, the World Bank team reported that the Nachtigal Hydropower Project cost was $4.4 billion, a number reflected in the original version of this story (Sept. 26 post). The World Bank on Oct. 9 advised the NLJ that the project cost was actually $1.4 billion. This story has been updated to reflect that figure.