Principal Solicitor

Hybrid working arrangement from the office and home
Providing legal advice to internal staff across various disciplines
Full time permanent opportunity

Central Coast Council is the 6th largest Council in Australia and provides a variety of services to over 350,000 residents. Conveniently located just 1hr north of Sydney and 1hr south of Newcastle and the Hunter region, stretched along the stunning NSW coastline and surrounded by national parks, there is plenty of lifestyle options for the whole family to enjoy.

The Opportunity
This is a full-time permanent opportunity for an experienced legal professional to join a large and growing Council as the Principal Solicitor, and an opportunity for you to contribute to a high performing in-house legal practice for staff across Council to use.

The Role
The Principal Solicitor will report into the ‘Unit Manager of Governance Risk and Legal and will be responsible for supervising and mentoring 2 Solicitors, 1 Paralegal and a Legal Assistant. As a team, you will provide effective and efficient strategic legal services and advice to Council’s internal clients through the application of expert knowledge of planning, property, environmental, administrative and other laws, to ensure legal risk is mitigated, and that Council is appropriately represented and legally protected.

Key Accountabilities

Provide timely and expert strategic legal advice to a high level, on a wide range of Council operations, projects and transactions to assist in the optimum resolution of legal matters
Together with the Unit Manager, develop and maintain systems and processes to support the Legal Team and how it delivers legal services to internal clients
Keep informed of legislative updates and the potential implications of the changes, and communicate changes to relevant stakeholders.
Attend meetings as required, appropriately representing Council’s legal needs, including meetings of the Executive Leadership Team, meetings of the Council and community forums
Provide high quality legal reports and advice in a timely and authoritative manner that is cost effective, ensuring all ramifications of proposed actions are considered and comply with legal frameworks
Undertake training of staff within the Legal team, whilst also providing training and other legal resources to internal clients to ensure that they can competently undertake their responsibilities
Represent Council and where appropriate, appear as advocate in Courts and Tribunals, including the Local Court of NSW, the Land & Environment Court of NSW and the Supreme Court of NSW.
Build and maintain collaborative partnerships with internal & external stakeholders to ensure the flow of information to achieve quality outcomes
Optimise business outcomes through developing long-term goals and plans to guide the work of the team in line with organisational objectives

Benefits
This is an opportunity where you can build and run a legal practice, make your own decisions, where you can grab it and make it your own! Council has a hybrid working arrangement, each week you can work from home (WFH) and from their office based in Wyong. This position offers a competitive total remuneration package between $140,000 to $150,000.

Criteria

To be considered you will have demonstrated experience of:
Degree qualification in Law or other equivalent qualification
Admitted or immediately eligible for admission as a Solicitor of the Supreme Court of NSW
Extensive Post Admission experience as a Solicitor, with exposure in advising on environmental, planning and regulatory law, with experience in attending Court including appropriate knowledge of court protocol.
Appearing with and without Counsel, in proceedings in Classes 1, 2, 4 and 5 in the Land and Environmental Court of NSW, and in Supreme Court and inferior courts, with experience in the interpretation and execution of legislative requirements under relevant Acts and Regulations
Understanding of the political and social context in which local government operates, and the provision of expert legal advice on complex and sensitive matters
Working internally in a legal team within a large complex organisation
Experience interpreting complex information to formulate strategic recommendations
Experience in demonstrating leadership behaviours such as performance, business strategy, and coaching staff.

To access the comprehensive candidate brochure, please email: demi@capstonerecruitment.com.au

Closing Date: Sunday 11th June 2023
To be considered, please draft a covering letter which demonstrates your experience in relation to the above criteria.

Keywords: Legal Practitioner, Legal Services

Work from home