Senior Solicitor - Civil - Grade V - Statewide Talent Pool for Ongoing and Temporary Roles

• 1 x Ongoing vacancy in Greater Sydney, a talent pool will be created to fill ongoing or temporary vacancies across Regional and Metropolitan NSW.
• Legal Officer Grade V
• Flexible work options available, office attendance required.

About us

Legal Aid NSW helps people with their legal problems. Our legal services include legal advice, help at court and family dispute resolution. We can help people across NSW with most areas of criminal law, family law and every day civil law legal issues over the telephone, or at one of our 25 offices or two satellite offices.

About the role

The Civil Law Division is the largest publicly funded civil law practice in Australia. Our civil practice covers housing and tenancy, human rights, social security, consumer protection, disaster response and insurance, employment, discrimination, immigration, visa cancellation, the NDIS, mental health law, coronial inquests, and the Sexual Assault Communications Privilege Service. We have dedicated services for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, children and young people, refugees, prisoners, veterans, and older people experiencing elder abuse. Our purpose is to improve the lives of people experiencing deep and persistent disadvantage or dislocation by using civil law to meet their fundamental needs.

We are looking for a Senior Solicitor to provide civil law supervision and guidance to the Practice Managers of the Civil Law teams to ensure the provision of effective, efficient and high-quality legal services. This would include significant experience in the practice in areas of law that the Civil Law Division cover.

The successful candidate must have experience in supervising and leading civil law teams, be highly organised with proven experience in communicating effectively with clients, stakeholders and staff. The successful candidate will also have exceptional networking capabilities particularly with local communities and a diverse range of stakeholders.

About you

You are an experienced civil lawyer with a strong track record in managing a busy legal practice. You are committed to ensuring high quality practice standards. You have strong communication skills, and capacity to make complex technical information accessible to solicitors with different levels of experience. You are collaborative and strategic with demonstrated experience consulting with diverse stakeholders across disciplines.

You must have experience managing and supervising other solicitors including providing guidance on their legal practice and ensuring practice management standards are being met.

We may use this recruitment to create a talent pool for similar ongoing or temporary vacancies we have over the next 18 months.

WHY YOU SHOULD JOIN LEGAL AID NSW!

We are committed to diversity and inclusion

We are committed to creating a culturally safe and genuinely inclusive organisation and workplace for everyone who works and interacts with us. We strive to be a place where people from diverse backgrounds want to work, where voices and cultures are valued and where people feel valued, welcomed, respected and heard.

We want a workforce that reflects our clients, so we can deliver a service that meets the needs of the community. We welcome applications from people with diverse backgrounds — including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, people with disability, the LGBTQI+ community, culturally diverse people and other diverse communities. 

We acknowledge, support and accommodate the diverse access needs of people with visible and invisible disabilities. If you need an adjustment to participate in the recruitment process, or you’d like information about what we can do to help you, please contact our team at erecruitment@legalaid.nsw.gov.au.

Other benefits of working with us

• You will have access to training, development and mentoring opportunities.
• We are an accredited Flex Ready certified employer and are recognised as leaders in the area of flexible work. Most of our staff work flexibly — for example, from home some of the time or in a way that helps them balance family and work life.

The essential requirements for this role

You must:

• be admitted or be eligible for admission as a legal practitioner in NSW
• be able to provide a current NSW Practising Certificate (unrestricted) or eligible to hold an unrestricted practicing certificate
• be willing to do a Criminal Record Check
• hold Australian or NZ citizenship or Australian Permanent Residency 
• hold a current Working With Children Check

How to apply

You MUST submit your application online through www.iworkfor.nsw.gov.au. If you submit your application late or by email it will NOT be accepted.

Your application must include:

• your resume (no more than 5 pages)
• cover letter (no more than 2 pages). In your cover letter, please respond to these two questions:

1. Outline your skills and experience managing a practice to provide Civil Law services to people who experience persistent disadvantage, as well as your experience working with stakeholders to service a local community.
2. Outline your experience and approach to supervising staff whilst developing and strengthening their skills.

Make sure your application is complete, and you have answered all questions before you submit it.

Do you need help to apply?

It’s important to properly prepare before you apply for a role. Here is some other information to help you:

• If you have questions about the role, you can contact the Hiring Manager – David Maloney on (02) 9219 5149 or at David.Maloney@legalaid.nsw.gov.au  
• If you are an Australian Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander and are thinking about applying, you can contact the Aboriginal Services Branch to arrange a confidential conversation about any questions you may have.
• The Role Description sets out the responsibilities of the role.
• The focus capabilities and key accountabilities in the role description indicate what is expected at that level. Being familiar with these will help you understand what the panel will be looking for in the successful candidate.
• Applying for a Role
• Working at Legal Aid NSW