Senior Legal Counsel (Healthcare)

Central Asian University is seeking an experienced Legal Counsel to provide comprehensive legal support across university operations, including governance, contracts, compliance, and risk management, while ensuring alignment with applicable laws and institutional standards.

Central Asian University is not merely a university, but an organisation forming part of a dynamically developing ecosystem in the fields of education and healthcare. This ecosystem includes Central Asian University itself, Social Healthcare Clinic, the Cleveland Clinic Project, a pharmaceutical laboratory project, asset management activities, as well as other IT and startup projects. Accordingly, the engaged lawyer will be involved not only in the legal support of Central Asian University’s operations, but also in the legal support of the companies and projects forming part of this ecosystem.

• Responsibilities:

• Provide clear and practical legal advice to the Head of Legal, management, and different units including clinics, hospitals, laboratories, and support teams on operational, regulatory, commercial, and strategic matters.

• Support governance processes by reviewing materials, preparing minutes and resolutions, and making sure decisions of boards, committees, and management are properly documented and legally sound.

• Draft, review, negotiate, and manage a wide range of agreements, including service contracts, consultant and physician agreements, procurement and supply contracts, IT/software agreements, leasing, NDAs, and other commercial documents.

• Monitor and support compliance with applicable laws, regulations, licence requirements, and industry standards relevant to healthcare operations.

• Support licensing, accreditation, certifications, permits, and regulatory filings, and coordinate with authorities and internal teams when needed.

• Advise on employment and medical staff matters, including contracts, disciplinary issues, conflicts of interest, secondments, and terminations, ensuring HR processes remain compliant.

• Handle patient-related legal matters such as complaints, consent issues, service terms, billing disputes, access to records, and sensitive escalations.

• Manage disputes, claims, and investigations, work with external lawyers, and support pre-litigation strategies, settlements, and enforcement when required.

• Identify legal and regulatory risks across operations and projects, suggest ways to reduce them, maintain risk registers, and advise on escalation when needed.

• Draft, update, and implement internal policies, procedures, and templates, including codes of conduct, conflict of interest policies, consent forms, and document management rules.

• Advise on data protection, handling of medical and personal data, confidentiality, cross-border data sharing, and incident response together with IT and security teams.

• Support intellectual property and innovation matters, including licensing, research and development, ownership of software and databases, branding, and commercialization.

• Review procurement and vendor documents, ensuring proper contractual protection, service levels, and compliance with requirements.

• Provide legal support for day-to-day operations of clinics, hospitals, and laboratories, including vendor arrangements, outsourced services, and internal issues.

• Support partnerships and international projects, including collaborations with foreign institutions, healthcare providers, and service partners.

• Provide legal support on leases, construction and renovation projects, facilities management, and compliance related to healthcare premises.

• Support legal structuring and compliance for affiliated entities, subsidiaries, and related projects.

• Work with external legal advisers, manage their performance and costs, and ensure consistency in legal support.

• Deliver training and guidance to staff on legal basics, contracts, compliance, and internal policies.

• Prepare regular reports for senior management on legal matters, risks, disputes, and regulatory updates.

• Requirements:

Education:

• Bachelor of Laws from one of Uzbek law schools

• Master of Laws from internationally recognised university, obtained through on-campus study abroad

Work experience:

• 7–10 years of relevant legal experience, preferably in corporate law, commercial law, contract law, labour law, regulatory compliance, licensing, healthcare regulation, and dispute support.

• Prior experience in the healthcare, life sciences, medical, pharmaceutical, laboratory, or other regulated sector is preferred.

• Proven experience in drafting, reviewing, and negotiating contracts and providing legal support to operational and business functions.

• Experience in advising on employment matters, compliance, internal policies, governance documentation, and operational legal matters will be an advantage.

• Experience in handling or supporting claims, disputes, investigations, regulatory matters, and external counsel coordination is preferred.

• Experience working with clinics, hospitals, laboratories, medical centres, diagnostic businesses, or healthcare holding structures will be an advantage.

Hard Skills

• Strong contract drafting, review, and negotiation skills.

• Good understanding of corporate, commercial, labour, regulatory, and healthcare-related legal matters.

•Ability to identify legal and compliance risks and propose practical and commercially sound solutions.

• Experience in preparing legal memoranda, policies, internal guidelines, resolutions, minutes, formal correspondence, and legal reports.

• Good knowledge of licensing, accreditation, regulatory compliance, patient-related documentation, and governance matters relevant to healthcare and laboratory operations (highly preferable).

• Ability to manage multiple legal matters simultaneously and maintain accurate legal documentation.

• Strong legal research, analytical, and problem-solving skills.

• Good understanding of confidentiality, data protection, and records management in regulated environments.

Soft Skills

• Strong communication and interpersonal skills.

• Ability to explain legal issues in a clear, practical, and business-friendly manner.

• Strong attention to detail and accuracy in drafting and reviewing documents.

• Good organisational and time-management skills.

• Ability to work independently on assigned matters while escalating complex or sensitive issues appropriately.

• Sound professional judgment and problem-solving ability.

• Ability to build effective working relationships with management, operational teams, medical staff, laboratory staff, and administrative units.

• High level of integrity, discretion, and confidentiality.

• Proactive, responsible, and able to work in a fast-paced and highly regulated environment.

Language Skills

• Fluent in Uzbek, English, and Russian, both written and spoken.

• Knowledge of Turkish and German would be an advantage.

Work conditions:

• Work schedule: 5/7, from 9:00 to 18:00.
• Atmosphere: Friendly and energetic team of young professionals.
• Support: Professional support of the existing team.
• Employment: Official with a probationary period.
• Salary: To be discussed based on the successful outcome of the interview.
• Vacation: Annual paid leave of 28 working days;
• Benefits: Discussed individually.
• Workplace: Modern campus.