• Work alongside high-performing legal professionals and deliver effective legal advice and assistance in criminal law at busy community legal service
• Supervising and teaching students in clinical practice
• Located at our Deakin Downtown office, Melbourne CBD
• HEW 8 $98,322 + 17% Superannuation, full time or part time, 2-year fixed term

Deakin Law Clinic (the Clinic) is a community legal service offering free legal advice and assistance to people experiencing disadvantage in their access to justice, or whose matters are conducted in the public interest. It is based in Deakin’s corporate centre in the Melbourne CBD.

The Clinic provides legal placements for advanced students of Deakin Law School under the supervision of qualified legal practitioners in the areas of civil and commercial law, criminal law, employment law, family law and venture law.

As a Clinical Solicitor, you will be responsible for delivering an effective community legal service including the provision of high-quality advice, assistance and casework service to a diverse client base primarily in criminal law. You are also required to teach, supervise and instruct law students undertaking professional/clinical practice units and contribute as required to the Deakin Law School’s practical legal training offerings.

Your key responsibilities will include but not limited to:

• deliver an efficient and effective legal service to clients in accordance with legislation and legal directions, policy, guidelines, and practice standards primarily in the area of criminal law
• contribute to the delivery of professional/clinical legal practice units to Deakin law students through the supervision and instruction of students enrolled in these units and working in the Deakin Law School clinics
• maintain networks and close connections with community organisations, law reform agencies, and potential client sources and support services
• develop experiential learning opportunities via clinical electives and other work integrated learning courses
• oversight the training, supervision, and support of clinical law students, which includes organising case reviews, supervising written work and performing teaching, assessment and administrative tasks for assigned clinical courses

To be successful, you’ll have:

• a current Australian practising certificate, which entitles you to practise as a Legal Practitioner in Victoria
• a Bachelor of Laws degree with subsequent relevant work experience in criminal law and at least one other area of law
• demonstrated practical experience in legal practice and relevant court procedures with evidence of case management
• demonstrated capacity to work as an advocate and caseworker in complex legal matters in criminal law
• demonstrated problem solving, research, conceptual and analytical skills, including the ability to identify emerging issues, trends and risks and the expertise to resolve complex operational problems
• excellent organisational, time management and coordination skills, together with a demonstrated ability to prioritise workload, work with competing demands to meet deadlines, be flexible in responding to changing work priorities with a demonstrated ability to anticipate and action work
• ability to negotiate and deal with difficult issues in a sensitive and professional manner, coupled with conflict resolution skills; demonstrated ability to use tact and discretion in establishing and maintaining effective working relationships
• interpersonal skills that demonstrate the ability to establish and maintain effective working relationships

For a copy of the position description, please see below:

FINAL PD Clinical Legal Practitioner.pdf

This role has been identified as having contact with children and requires the incumbent to apply for and maintain a Working With Children Check (refer to Deakin’s Recruitment Procedure for further details).

Please submit your updated resume and a short cover letter outlining your skills and experience for this role.

Are You Ready?

Deakin is one of the new breed of global universities – agile, dynamic and innovative. We are committed to making a genuine difference in people’s lives through excellence in education and research. Join a Victorian university with global impact and let’s see what we can achieve together.

Our people are important to us, and we understand the significance of providing them with a dynamic and diverse working environment, with opportunities to grow and develop their careers.

At Deakin, we offer a variety of benefits including a flexible and sustainable working environment, lifestyle benefits and various discounts with our third-party suppliers.

We value diversity and aim to build an inclusive environment that champions, embraces and respects differences. We support and encourage applications from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, and people of all abilities, cultures, sexual orientation, and genders.