Principal Lawyer - Services

Our Team

In the face of rising levels of unmet legal need, Justice Connect designs and delivers high impact interventions to increase access to legal support and progress social justice.

Justice Connect’s Access Program is a multidisciplinary team of in-house legal, data, project, and service design expertise. We collaborate to increase access to legal assistance and progress social justice by responding quickly to a wide range of legal problems with a particular focus on disaster response, financial rights and employment law problems. We have expertise in dealing with issues that have escalated to court proceedings with a long history of running court-based services across a range of jurisdictions. 

Our legal services use a range of approaches including specialist advice, pro bono referrals (leveraging our network of over 10,000 pro bono lawyers) and online resources to help people experiencing legal problems. We also operate weekly pro bono clinics for help seekers involved in litigation in Victorian courts, Federal courts and VCAT. 

Our strategy commits us to identifying ways to scale legal help with digital solutions, including our in-house developed digital platform, Justice Connect Answers (JCA). We seek to identify and respond quickly to emerging legal need in the community. In all our work, we centre client experience and our commitment to impact. 

Our ideal candidate

You'll bring to the team experience in the following areas:

• People leadership of staff, including demonstrated capacity to achieve outcomes individually and in a team environment and to produce quality results in a timely manner.
• Demonstrated experience engaging and building strong stakeholder relationships to build organisational capacity.
• Demonstrated ability to manage a legal practice, including strong understanding of professional and ethical obligations and risk management.
• Demonstrated knowledge of digital integrated service delivery
• Highly developed research and analytical skills.
• Highly developed oral and written communication skills.

Demonstrated experience in one or more of the following areas of law:

• Administrative law, including Supreme Court appeals
• Commercial Litigation
• Property law; and/or
• Domestic Building law
• Bankruptcy, employment and discrimination law

Expertise that you may have that would support our team:

• At least 5+ years of post-admission experience as a Principal Lawyer or Senior Lawyer.
• Hold a Principal Practicing Certificate

Candidates will need to demonstrate commitment to Justice Connect's vision, strategy and values.

What you will achieve in the role

In this role, you’ll work to

• Lead and manage a team with the Access Program to deliver a high-quality legal service, including self-represented clinic practices and pro bono referrals.
• Lead the integration of technology into the Access Program’s service delivery
• Supervise lawyers and paralegals to deliver high quality legal services
• Embed Justice Connect’s values in the work of the team, share knowledge and provide leadership focused on delivering the Justice Connect strategy and building the culture and mindset of the team
• Build and maintain strong stakeholder relationships to maintain confidence in our legal services, to support strong referral pathways, and to support existing and new collaborations with sector partners
• Identify risks and issues impacting service delivery, stakeholder relationships, and projects, in close collaboration with other leaders in the Access Program team
• Engage with service research and data to identify opportunities for service improvement

A week in this role

If you were here last week, you would have:

• Met with the legal team to discuss emerging issues in the legal practice, discuss more complex legal issues arising from help seeker enquiries, address any workflow issues and prioritise work for the fortnight
• Reviewed and approved an advice plan regarding issues such as an appeal from VCAT to the Supreme Court regarding the dismissal of a discrimination claim, summary possession orders in the Supreme and County Courts and breach of contract matter arising from a fraudulent investment
• Attended a meeting with the Federal Court for self-represented litigants
• Conducted a stakeholder meeting with two pro bono firms on referrals
• Consulted with staff regarding eligibility of help seekers with domestic building disputes
• Met with the Access Program leadership team to review fortnightly service data and staff insights to support decision making on how to further improve our intake and triage processes
• Weekly catch ups with staff reporting to the role

What we offer

We believe is creating an environment where people will thrive.

If you want your next role to have purpose, support you to master new skills and build meaningful relationships then Justice Connect is the place to work.

We offer a range of benefits including:

• Progressive leave entitlements
• Flexible working arrangements with a minimum of 40% in the workplace attendance across the month
• Paid study leave for approved programs
• Access to EAP
• New hire and ongoing learning and development

How to Apply

Please upload your resume and a cover letter which outlines your skills and experience that will help you achieve success in this role.  

For further information contact Nadine Bartholomeusz-Raymond on 03 8636 4472.

Applications close 11:59 PM on 24 May 2024.

Important role information

The position reports to the Manager and Principal Lawyer, Access program.

Employment is full time permanent.  Part time arrangements will be considered.

The salary for this role $108,367.83 per annum, plus 11% superannuation, annual leave loading and generous salary packaging options.

This role can be based at our Melbourne or Sydney CBD offices with 40% of the month in the workplace with hybrid working arrangements.

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