Family And Domestic Violence Lawyer

Ruah aims to promote measures to achieve equality. Section 51 of the Equal opportunity Act applies to this role.

Our mission is open hearts and bold strides.

Overview

We know that in order to deliver the best services for our clients, we need to provide an engaging, supportive work environment for our staff. We offer flexible workhours and leverage technology, including an intuitive, cloud-based Client Management System, to allow staff to seamlessly work from home when needed. We are aware of the emotional impact of advocating for our clients and are attentive to staff mental health and wellbeing. We believe in empowering our staff so they can better assist our clients.

Role specifics

Ruah Legal Services will offer a part time family and domestic violence (FDV) lawyer to assist clients with FDV matters, including family law and restraining orders. We are looking for a dedicated legal advocate who is keen to join a great team, and who is excited about contributing to the development and evolution of our legal services.

This role will be out and about often – not sitting in an office. You will be visiting Ruah’s women’s refuges to provide timely, practical legal services to our clients. It will involve legal casework across a range of areas of law, including restraining orders, family law, care and protection, and criminal law. We anticipate the majority of your court work will be in Magistrates Court restraining order proceedings, but the role may also include court work in other jurisdictions, including the Family Court.

You must be an efficient worker, able to work flexibly, quickly and autonomously, manage your own file load and your own time. We have invested heavily in the latest case management software to help our lawyers focus on legal work and not administration so you must be great with technology and be prepared to work in new and innovative ways. At Ruah we work flexibly at many places which might include the office, home, or while out and about. We are embracing the new world of flexibility.

This is a part time position of 30 hours per week and is fixed term until 30/6/2023. We are flexible on what days you work those hours. In addition to your client and advocacy work, you will work in the team to mentor and train junior lawyers, supervise paralegals and volunteers, and participate in the community legal education services and policy work of the Centre.

You must love being in court and advocating for your clients. This role will be focused on providing legal advice, advocacy and representation (including at trial) to women experiencing FDV. You must understand and be committed to principles of holistic, trauma-informed and culturally-safe legal practice. This role will require emotional resilience and excellent interpersonal skills. You will have the ability to communicate sensitively and effectively with clients who are traumatised and who have complex personal circumstances, including mental illness. You will also be responsible for building collaborative, constructive relationships with key sector peers, stakeholders and service providers.

We strongly encourage applications from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people for all positions.

What we offer

• A supportive team
• A salary of $78,500 - $95,000
• Salary packaging, 5 weeks annual leave, leave loading
• Our technology is pretty awesome too

What we are looking for

Essential:

• Unrestricted practising certificate
• At least 2 years post admission experience in restraining order matters and family law, and knowledge of and willingness to practice in care and protection and criminal law.
• Demonstrated competence in advocacy.
• An understanding of the dynamics of FDV and its impact upon women and children
• An understanding of particular issues facing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and culturally and linguistically diverse communities and clients, especially in relation to dynamics of FDV and a commitment to providing, culturally safe services.
• Excellent interpersonal skills, including demonstrated ability to engage respectfully and effectively with clients experiencing complex trauma and other circumstances of vulnerability
• High level written and oral communication and presentation skills
• Excellent organisational, time management and file management skills
• Demonstrated capacity to work flexibly and efficiently, including independently and collaboratively as part of a team
• Willingness and ability to work within and contribute to the vision, mission, core values and the guiding principles of the organisation.

Desirable:

• Experience working in a community legal centre.
• A high level of knowledge of services (both legal and non-legal) available to support women who are experiencing FDV.
• Experience with integrated approaches to legal practice which involve collaboration with non-legal support services.

A position description is attached.