Senior Lawyer, Child Protection

Women’s Legal Service Victoria | Melbourne CBD | Immediate start | Hybrid working model | Full time or Part time - negotiable (minimum 0.8 EFT) | Ongoing

• Be a part of a feminist community organisation supporting Victorian women
• A fantastic opportunity to build the role and make it your own
• Your expertise will directly contribute to building a more gender-equitable society
• Hybrid working model (part in office/working from home), promoting a true work/life balance
• A welcoming, passionate, and supportive work culture, and
• Competitive remuneration, bonus leave days, flexible work arrangements, salary packaging.

Your new role

The key objective of the role is to ensure the provision of high-quality, best practice advice and casework services with a focus on family law (property and parenting) and family violence matters. The role will include some duty lawyer appearance work, particularly for Family Dispute Resolution Service, and provision of mentoring and support to other lawyers within the team and support to the Managing Lawyer.

Your key responsibilities include:

• Provide legal advice and assistance to service users, including secondary consultations to workers supporting clients
• Maintain a caseload of legal matters in Child Protection and family violence
• Contribute to the identification of systemic issues arising from our legal practice work and support Women’s Legal policy and advocacy work as required
• Support junior lawyers to deliver legal assistance and manage a caseload of legal matters and be available to other lawyers for legal questions and debriefing needs
• Work cooperatively with all staff members to advance and strengthen our integrated service delivery model, support training, address systemic issues in law and policy and strategic planning initiatives;, and
• Contribute to a healthy, productive group culture where work practices, decision making, and behaviour reflect our feminist philosophy and values.

This is a full time or part time (minimum 4 days) position.

What you’ll need to succeed

To succeed in this role, you should have experience in the provision of legal advice, duty lawyer services and casework in Child Protection and family violence. As a Senior Lawyer within the team your ability to mentor and support other lawyers will be key. You will have an ability to foster cooperation and strong working relationships with other staff and external stakeholders and excellent oral and written communication skills, with demonstrated ability to communicate in plain language and with a diverse range of clients.

The following qualifications and experience are required for the position:

• Hold or be eligible to hold an unrestricted practising certificate;
• A minimum of four years post admission experience;
• Experience in litigation and court advocacy in Children's Court and Magistrates Court; and
• Experience in Child Protection and family violence essential, and experience in family law, crime, migration and victims of crime assistance desirable.

What you’ll get in return

In return for your dedication, we offer competitive remuneration, bonus leave days, flexible work arrangements, salary packaging, and a vibrant, supportive work culture.

The detail:

• 5 weeks of annual leave!
• Above-award remuneration
• A strong commitment to your professional development, personal development, and wellbeing
• A very flexible working environment that supports work-life balance
• A hybrid working model that supports both in-office and work-from-home arrangements
• Salary packaging (which can add up to $15,900 in tax-free pay every year)
• Fresh fruit available in the office, and
• Access to our Employee Assistance Program.

Our Purpose:

To improve outcomes for all women, with a specific focus on victim-survivors of family violence by:

• Providing high quality legal services for Victorian women who are disadvantaged or marginalised by structural and systemic barriers​​​​​​​,
• Assisting women and professionals that work with women, to better understand the law and navigate the legal system safely, and
• Advancing gender equality by challenging unsafe and discriminatory policies and laws and informing and advocating for legal and policy initiatives that respect and promote the rights of women.

Our culture

We’re continually building on our culture of inclusivity, collaboration and safety so our teams and individuals thrive. Our values are more than words – they’re actions we take together.

Together, we are:

• Authentic: We are reliable, trustworthy and transparent about how we work. We reflect on our work and take responsibility for our actions.
• Collaborative: We are stronger when we work together. By sharing power and privilege with diverse voices, we achieve better outcomes. We respond to requests for help with generosity.
• Courageous: We are brave, resilient and face challenges with integrity. We unapologetically advocate for our goals and back one another to take considered risks to increase our impact.
• Inclusive: We believe respect, equality and opportunity must be afforded equitably and to everyone. We understand this will require critical reflection on where power lies and how it functions, and active effort to disrupt it.
• Purposeful: Our services respond to the community, laws and people we work with. We value curiosity and relish opportunities to improve our work.

To apply

Submit a resume and covering letter to tell us how you are the right candidate for this role. Please ensure the cover letter addresses how you personally align to Women’s Legal values that are listed above.

See the Women’s Legal ‘Work with Us’ page for a full position description.

Any other enquiries can be emailed to Ruth McKendrick, HR Officer at **@womenslegal.org.au

We will begin shortlisting immediately, so please apply as soon as possible.

Equal Opportunity Employer

We recognise our work benefits greatly from the unique knowledge, skills and expertise of individuals with diverse experiences, including those with lived experience of family violence, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, women with disability and women from migrant, refugee or non-English speaking backgrounds. If this is you, we strongly encourage you to apply.

Women's Legal relies on an exception under the Equal Opportunity Act to employ women only.