Senior Solicitor

About the role:

Reporting to the Principal Solicitor, the Senior Solicitor will support the Dispute Resolution and Inquiries unit within the Legal Services and Integrity Branch. The role will provide practical, outcome-focused legal advice and support across a broad range of areas within the health portfolios (such as hospitals & health services, primary & community health, mental health, public health, alcohol & drugs, and ageing & aged care) which may be the subject of significant disputes, claims, prosecutions, litigation or inquiries.

As a Senior Solicitor in the Legal Services and Integrity Branch you will be required to provide expert practical legal advice to the Ministers, the Secretary, the Department of Health and relevant Administrative Offices on a range of legal matters in a timely manner.

You will also prepare Ministerial correspondence, Cabinet submissions and other written reports and briefings to clients. Your advice must be clear, accurate and appropriate to meeting the client's needs. You will also be required to engage and oversee external legal firms in meeting the needs of Departmental clients for advice and representation in courts, tribunals and inquiries.

About us: 

At the Victorian Department of Health we want a future where Victorians are the healthiest people in the world. A Victoria where our children and people thrive, our workplaces are productive and safe, and our communities are more connected.  

We see it as our job to support Victorians to stay healthy and safe. And to deliver a world-class healthcare system that ensures every single Victorian can access safe, quality care that leads to better health outcomes for all. 

How you'll make a difference:

Suitable applicants will be able to demonstrate:

Knowledge & Skills

Planning and Organising - Sets clearly defined objectives and priorities and operates accordingly, reviewing and adjusting as required; identifies processes, tasks and resources required to achieve a goal; establishes systems and procedures to guide work and track progress; recognises actual and potential barriers and finds effective ways to deal with them.

Statutory Intrepretation - Demonstrates ability to interpret legislation and strong advisory skills. Excellent communication, interpersonal and presentation skills including the ability to effectively communicate and negotiate sensitive legal issues with a wide range of clients, colleagues and stakeholders in a constructive and purposeful way.

Leadership - Builds team commitment by demonstrating personal conviction; translates organisational strategy into meaningful long-term plans and objectives for own area of responsibility; motivates others to deliver against goals.

Organisational Awareness - Understands issues and pressures to which the organisation has to respond; understands the reasons behind the organisational climate and culture.

Workplace Agility - Has skills and experience in reprioritising, refocussing and redirecting efforts to constantly respond to the evolving strategic needs of the organisation.

Personal Qualities

Developing Others - Actively seeks to improve others' skills and talents by providing constructive feedback, coaching and training opportunities; empowers others by investing them with the authority and latitude to accomplish tasks; appropriately delegates responsibilities to further the development of others.

Relationship Building - Establishes and maintains relationships with people at all levels; promotes harmony and consensus through diplomatic handling of disagreements; forges useful partnerships with people across business areas, functions and organisations; builds trust through consistent actions, values and communication; minimises surprises.

Conceptual & Analytical Ability - Deals with concepts and complexity comfortably; uses analytical and conceptual skills to reason through problems; has creative ideas and can project how these can link to innovations.

Teamwork - Cooperates and works well with other in pursuit of team goals, collaborates and shares information, shows consideration, concern and respect for others feelings and idea, accommodates and works well with the different working styles of others, encourages resolution of conflict within the group.

Learning Approach - Committed to ongoing development of skills and experience including working on different types of matters and continuously developing legal and leadership skills.

Integrity - Committed to the public interest; operates in a manner that is consistent with the organisation's code of conduct; inspires trust by treating all individuals fairly

Qualification - The successful candidate must hold (or be eligible to hold) a current practising certificate under the Legal Profession Uniform Law.

Specialist Expertise - 

The following would be beneficial:

• 5 years post admission experience is preferred
• Experience in complex or sensitive multi-party litigation, prosecutions, judicial review proceedings

A strong background in Government Law and the provision of legal and policy advice to government, including strong statutory interpretation skills and administrative law experience.

To learn more please click ‘Apply' to view the Position Description on the Careers.vic website. 

What we offer: 

• The opportunity to perform meaningful work, making direct contributions toward enabling Victorians to be the healthiest people in the world.
• A wide range of growth and development opportunities within the department and wider Victorian Public Service & Sector.
• A strong commitment to work-life balance, including a diverse array of flexible working arrangements.

How to apply: 

Applications should include a resume and a cover letter. Click the ‘Apply' button to view further information about the role including key contact details and the advertisement closing date. 

We are committed to developing and supporting a workforce that is well equipped and highly motivated to provide responsive and quality services to all Victorians. We continue to build an inclusive workplace that embraces diversity of backgrounds and differences to realise the potential of our employees for innovation and delivering services aimed at enhancing the lives of all Victorians. 

All roles can be worked flexibly and we encourage applications from Aboriginal people, people with disabilities, LGBTIQ+ and people from culturally diverse backgrounds. Please contact us if you require any adjustments to participate in the recruitment process at *********@health.vic.gov.au. Please view our commitment to Diversity and Inclusion here.

Preferred applicants may be required to complete a police check and other pre-employment checks including proof of vaccination against COVID-19. Information provided will be treated in the strictest confidence, in line with our Privacy Policy. 

The Jobs and Skills Exchange (JSE) Recruitment Policy allows for priority consideration for Victorian Public Service (VPS) and select employees of the Victorian Public Sector who apply through the Jobs Skills Exchange (JSE) jobs board platform. As such, these employees are strongly encouraged to submit their application through JSE rather than via external advertisement.