Legal Officer

The Position

The Legal Officer is a member of the Legal Services team and is individually and jointly responsible for providing and coordinating a broad range of in-house legal services to the Reef Authority. The Reef Authority has two vacant Legal Officer positions. One of these positions has a focus on providing legal services to the Field Management Operations and Strategy Sections.

The matters to which those legal services relate (Matter Types) can include:

• property and commercial transactions;
• native title advice / implementation;
• procurement advice and contract drafting;
• freedom of information and privacy law advice / processing;
• administrative law advice;
• statutory interpretation;
• dispute resolution advice / representation;
• delegations advice / management;
• legislative amendments advice / implementation; and
• legal awareness training (Matter Types).

The Legal Services Section (Section) also manages the engagement, briefing and supervision of all external legal services providers, including counsel.

The current position is ongoing however through this process may create a merit pool to fill similar ongoing and non-ongoing positions that become available within the next 18 months.

Duties

1. Provide and coordinate the provision of in-house legal services, with assistance from more senior Legal Officers where required, in the Matter Types identified above, to the Reef Authority, in general, and to the Field Management Operations Section, in particular.
2. Manage an allocated caseload, and individual matters, so that legal services are provided in a timely, responsive and accountable manner, employing the Reef Authority’s applicable systems and procedures diligently and conscientiously.
3. Communicate and negotiate with internal and external stakeholders (including external legal services providers, other government agencies and Reef Authority consultants) productively and effectively.
4. Assist with the coordination and execution of legislative amendments to primary and subordinate legislation administered by the Reef Authority.
5. Provide legal awareness training to Reef Authority staff as required on various topics of interest to, and areas of law affecting, the Reef Authority.

As an APS employee you may be reassigned to a different set of duties at the same classification level at the discretion of the agency head (CEO), taking account of operational requirements in the agency.

Eligibility requirements & qualifications

Applicants must:

1. be an Australian citizen at time of applying for position,

2. be able to obtain and maintain a Baseline security clearance, failure to do so will result in termination of employment.

Essential requirements 

• hold a degree in Law or equivalent from an Australian tertiary institution;
• be admitted as a practitioner of the Supreme Court of a State or Territory of Australia; and
• hold or be eligible to hold an employee practising certificate (restricted or unrestricted) as a Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Queensland.

Desirable qualifications 

• one to three years post-admission experience as a legal practitioner or in an equivalent role;
• a basic knowledge (or the ability to obtain, quickly, a basic knowledge) of Commonwealth and State legislation that applies to the management of the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area;
• a basic knowledge (or the ability to obtain, quickly, a basic knowledge) of the Australian Government’s legal framework.

How to apply for the position

Please ensure you read the instructions below and the Position Description carefully, noting failure to address identified requirements may lead to your application being deemed ineligible.

You will be required to prepare a response document (“pitch”) in MSWord or PDF format using standard margins and size 11 Arial font.

Please prepare a ‘pitch’, as outlined in the Position Description, in relation to the advertised role, outlining:

1. how your experience, abilities, knowledge and personal qualities would enable you to perform the duties and meet the technical and behavioural capabilities of the role.
2. any specific examples or achievements that demonstrate your ability to perform the role.
3. how you meet the eligibility requirements and qualifications for the position.

When you include an example, you should explain;

• your personal role in the task.
• the methods you used.
• any barriers you were able to overcome, and
• the outcome.

When crafting your response, we encourage you to review ‘Cracking the Code’ and the relevant Australian Public Service Work Level Standards which can be found on the Australian Public Service Commission website: www.apsc.gov.au

Your application must include:

1. your ‘pitch’ (as described above and in the position description).
2. proof of Australian citizenship (an Australian Passport or Australian Birth Certificate)
3. a current curriculum vitae (resume) that includes: 

• an outline of your career history.
• qualifications and/or formal/informal training relevant to the position.
• contact details for at least two recent referees, one of whom should be your current supervisor.

Applicants are advised to read further information provided on the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority Careers website. 

To apply for this position, please see the vacancy listing on The Reef Authority’s Career Portal.

PLEASE NOTE: - The panel may not consider additional information such as a cover letter or content exceeding the page limit.