• Location: Australia wide
• Term: ongoing
• Job Type: Full-time 37.5 hours per week
• Remuneration: SCHADS Level 5: $100,175 + 11.5% super + 17.5% Annual Leave Loading
• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, and members of the Global Majority* are particularly encouraged to apply.
• Reporting to: Director Legal Practice/Principal Lawyer

Environmental Defenders Office (EDO) is the largest environmental legal centre in the Australia Pacific, dedicated to protecting our climate, communities and shared environment by providing access to justice, running ground-breaking litigation and leading law reform advocacy.

As the region’s legal experts in our field, we aim to be a brave, unified, and focused team, committed to inclusion and excellence in all that we do. We strive to be a diverse and inclusive workplace supporting a highly skilled, engaged, and effective team, where everyone can feel that they belong.

We are recruiting for a Legal Practice Management & Training Lead to drive practice management in EDO’s legal practice.

The opportunity:

We are looking for a legal practice manager or a senior legal administrator looking to work for purpose and lead EDO’s legal practice administration and training.

his role will provide support and leadership to the Legal Practice Director and collaborate with senior Legal Practice staff to lead excellence in the legal practice through high quality practice management and training.

The role will play a pivotal role in ensuring EDO’s Legal Practice is operating to high standards of excellence. The role will review and support the drafting of policies and procedures, the carrying out of cross checks, coordinating the Information Barrier creation and management, development of new legal practice forms and templates and compliance.

The role will primarily involve leading the practice administration, quality and assurance of EDO’s legal practice and providing executive support to the Legal Practice Director /Principal Lawyer.

Candidate Profile:

You are an experienced legal practice manager or senior legal administrator, with a demonstrated capacity to lead practice administration and training to drive excellence in legal service delivery.

You thrive in a leadership position, or are looking for an opportunity to lead, and work with initiative, integrity and attention to detail.

You may have experience in the community legal or legal assistance sector and are familiar with community legal centre risk management policies and procedures. You may have delivered training in your current or past role, or want an opportunity to lead training and development program to contribute to the collective success of the organisation.

You have a strong desire to contribute and utilise your skills and experience to work for purpose, and can see a place for you in an organisation committed to a safe climate and healthy environment.

You enjoy working with a high level of autonomy and independence You thrive as part of a team, and can readily mentor administrative staff, and seeing their expertise grow to benefit the team and our work.

You will use your proven ability to build rapport with a wide range of people at all levels, in conjunction with your clear communication skills to help guide and work with all staff promptly and sensitively.

To be suitable for this role you will also demonstrate values and behaviours aligned with our organisational culture and a strong interest in First Nations culture.

EDO is a diverse and inclusive workplace. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, and members of the Global Majority* are particularly encouraged to apply.

Key selection criteria:

Essential requirements

• Demonstrated experience in as a legal practice manager or senior legal administrator (8+ years preferred)
• Demonstrated capacity to contribute to and lead excellence in practice management, in a community legal centre setting desirable.
• Provide leadership, direction, support and supervision to administration / paralegal staff and volunteers
• Demonstrated capacity to build and promote a culture of continual improvement resulting in positive and best practice outcomes at all levels of the legal practice
• Excellent emotional intelligence and oral and written communications skills
• Strong problem-solving skills and ability to make sound judgements and decisions
• Knowledge and passion for Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (JEDI) Principles

Substantive experience

Practice Administration

• Demonstrated extensive experience including electronic file management, conflict checking, and other core practice management responsibilities
• Experience in the risk management settings in the community legal or legal assistance sector (desirable)
• Experience in developing forms, templates and checklists to assist in good practice administration and management
• Experience in working in online IT systems for file and document management, data and reporting, including Microsoft Office, and capacity to learn new systems
• Demonstrated experience in the implementation of legal service delivery policies and procedures, experience in drafting and review of policies and procedures desirable
• Demonstrated capacity to lead, mentor and support legal administrators, paralegals and volunteers

Policy & Training

• Experience coordinating and developing online training modules targeted to legal staff at various levels of seniority in practice management / policies and procedures
• Experience in delivering induction training to new staff in legal practice administration systems
• Demonstrated experience assisting with monitoring and reviewing support and training materials, how-to guides and procedures to ensure consistency across the organisation

Core skills

• Attention to detail and precision in record keeping, data management and procedures
• Excellent organisational and administration skills, with demonstrated ability to work productively and to deadlines.
• Strong problem-solving skills and ability to confidently exercise sound judgement and make decisions in high-pressure scenarios, based on consideration of different views
• Demonstrated ability to work productively autonomously, to take initiative, to work within a collaborative team environment, and to deadlines
• Excellent oral and written communication skills suited to a range of audiences

Personal qualities and cultural competency

• A champion of the EDO values
• Strong initiative and self-motivation
• Commitment to the protection of the environment and related human rights
• A strong sense of ethics and understanding of professional obligations
• Demonstrated awareness of, and sensitivity to, the needs and concerns of First Nations peoples and peoples from diverse cultures, backgrounds and orientations in both the delivery of our work and our internal culture
• Thrive in a collaborative team-based environment

Our Culture and Benefits:   

• We care deeply about creating a workplace where our team members feel valued, respected, and empowered. We are committed to providing equal opportunity regardless of gender identity, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation, or life stage. 
• The chance to be part of the largest environmental legal practice in the Australia-Pacific 
• A very flexible and family-friendly workplace 
• While primarily office-based, some flexibility to work from home
• 8 weeks paid parental leave, regardless of gender or carer status
• 10 days paid family and domestic violence leave per year
• 3 days paid cultural leave per year
• Extra leave over the Christmas period
• Access to Employee Assistance Program (EAP)
• Ongoing professional development opportunities 
• EDO proudly has a JEDI (Justice, Equality, Diversity, Inclusion) Committee and a Mental Health Ambassador Committee, and has developed a First Nations Program with the aid of indigenous-led consultancies. 
• Three Affinity groups for the following: Disability, Global Majority* and LGBTQIA+

*Global Majority is a collective term that first and foremost speaks to and encourages those so-called, to think of themselves as belonging to the majority on planet earth. It refers to people who are Black, African, Asian, Brown, dual-heritage, indigenous to the global south, and or, have been racialised as ‘ethnic minorities’.

Our Values

Commitment – We are committed to a united organisation, to each other, to collaboration, to justice, to our communities and to creating a world where nature thrives.

Diversity – We are respectful of, and welcome, diversity of staff, volunteers, offices, environmental regions, communities, stakeholders.

Integrity – We work effectively, efficiently, strategically, professionally, and ethically; “justice is in our nature”.

Vision – We lead change and environmental empowerment using innovation, creativity, and courage.

How to Apply

• Click 'Apply Now' above
• To review the position description, please see this link: Position-Description_Legal-Practice-Quality-Training-Lead-September-2024.pdf

If you have queries in regard to this advert, please feel free to contact us at [email protected] using the subject line: Legal Practice Management & Training Lead - Australia Wide / Flexible Location enquiry via EthicalJobs.

Applications must include a CV and a letter that clearly addresses each of the selection criteria above.

The Key Selection Criteria show the minimum essential requirements of the position. The desirable criteria outline additional attributes which would enable the successful candidate to perform the role more effectively; they are not essential but may be used to distinguish between applicants during the shortlisting process.

EDO particularly encourages applications from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, Pacific Island people, people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, workers of all ages, people with disabilities and people who identify as LGBTQIA+.

Please note: Your application may be considered for future roles at the EDO within the next 12 months without additional advertising. Please notify us in your application if you would not like to be considered for similar roles beyond this recruitment.

If you have any accessibility needs for the recruitment or interviewing process, please let us know in your application or by emailing [email protected].

Vaccination Requirements

EDO is not issuing a vaccination mandate. EDO staff have the option to share vaccination details within the EDO HRIS system, EDO will maintain this record of vaccination status of EDO employees, however if staff do not wish to disclose this information, it will not be enforced.

Working with clients face-to-face:

• EDO works with diverse peoples and groups across the Australian and Pacific communities, including people who are considered a high-risk group in terms of COVID-19.
• In order to ensure the safety of all EDO employees and the people we work with and around, staff visiting overburdened communities are required to take a COVID-19 test three (3) days prior and on the day of travel to the overburdened community.

Other Information

All offers of employment may be subject to satisfactory background checks including a National Police Check, disclosure of previous or current disciplinary action, referee checks, proof of eligibility to work in Australia and qualification checks.