About us

Ellis Legal Lawyers & Advocates (ELLA) is a small specialist practice with a vision of a community where survivors of child abuse in Australia’s institutions are able to speak their truth and obtain meaningful responses from institutions which enables them to live their lives with dignity, respect, security and freedom from the burden of their past traumatic experiences. ELLA is based in the Sydney CBD. Our aim is to provide a specialist legal service for abuse survivors nationally at minimal or no cost to the survivor. We achieve this by either providing advice on a pro bono basis or seeking to ensure that the costs of representation are fully met by the relevant institution.

Our work is premised on a commitment to justice as a fundamental human right and a recognition that this vulnerable client group face many barriers to obtaining justice, largely due to the impacts caused by the abuse they have suffered as children. We demonstrate this commitment through our professional advice, a contribution to education within the legal and related professions, public advocacy, and collaborative partnerships with other organisations.

ELLA is at the cutting edge of innovative and ethical legal representation of our client group and has developed collaborative claims resolution processes which seek to minimise the re-traumatisation which is an inherent risk in legal processes. This is supported by the integrity, kindness and generosity of our staff, a belief in continuous learning through listening to our clients, a dedication to environmentally sustainable products and practices, a respect for the traditional custodians of our land and waters, fidelity to effective and collaborative custodianship of respect and integrity as pivotal values of our society and a pledge to fair and flexible conditions for staff which recognise the risk of vicarious trauma.

We are currently seeking a full-time experienced solicitor to work within our legal team. If you have good interpersonal skills, experience in private legal practice or the not-for-profit legal sector working with victims of institutional abuse, great attention to detail, are flexible and collaborative and possess a strong desire to make a difference for human rights and social justice, we look forward to hearing from you.

We offer competitive salaries to staff. The salary for this position will be commensurate with experience.

Selection Criteria

To be considered for this role, please address the following essential selection criteria in your application:

• A minimum of 3 years post-qualification experience in private legal practice.
• Current NSW Practicing Certificate.
• A minimum of 12 months continuous experience in working in a similar role with victims of institutional abuse in private legal practice.
• A commitment to working to support victims of abuse.
• A commitment to collaborative legal practice.
• A demonstrated personal commitment to social justice, integrity, respect, confidentiality and sustainable practices.
• High level verbal and written communication skills and a demonstrated capacity to prioritise high volume tasks.
• Advanced computer skills including the use of Word, PowerPoint, and Excel.
• A demonstrated ability to communicate patiently and empathetically with a range of people including vulnerable clients.
• A basic understanding of and willingness to learn more about the common impacts of childhood trauma and the key elements of resilient management of vicarious trauma.
• A demonstrated ability to work flexibly and collaboratively including identifying and resolving emerging practice/workplace challenges.