ABOUT LEGAL AID NSW

Legal Aid NSW is the largest legal aid agency in Australia, comprising of a Central Sydney office and 28 regional offices in metropolitan and regional centres across NSW including the two satellite offices located at Walgett and Burke, and a number of specialist services and advice clinics. Working at Legal Aid NSW provides the opportunity to support people with disabilities, people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, women and children, Indigenous people and people with mental illness who may experience difficulties when enforcing and defending their rights.

ABOUT US

The Children's Civil Service (CCLS) is a specialist team within Legal Aid NSW that provides holistic civil law and youth casework assistance to highly disadvantaged people in Sydney who are involved with the criminal justice system. The CCLS is a multi-disciplinary team and works in collaboration with criminal lawyers and other stakeholders to provide wrap around civil law services to vulnerable young people, including children and young people who are in, or have a history of being in out of home care.

The team manages a diverse and demanding workload and assists young people in a range of civil law issues including: human rights matters, consumer debt, fines, discrimination and advocacy within the out of home care environment. The CCLS also engages in strategic advocacy about systemic issues experienced by disadvantaged and vulnerable young people.

ABOUT THE ROLE

The Solicitor in Charge role provides senior management, direction and leadership of the CCLS to deliver the goals of the service. The role is required to: 

• Provide leadership and expert guidance to legal officers and other staff to ensure the delivery of high quality legal services and compliance with Legal Aid NSW policies, guidelines and practice management standards.
• Develop, deliver, monitor and review service delivery plans
• Manage change impacting the team
• Manage resourcing and develop staff
• Develop and maintain high level relationships with internal and external stakeholders
• Contribute to the civil law executive and leadership of the civil law division

ABOUT YOU

You will be an experienced lawyer and manager who has the capability to manage a multidisciplinary workforce and legal practice. You will have demonstrated experience in delivering legal services to young people (or another vulnerable client group) and a commitment to working with vulnerable communities. You will be able to manage change effectively and respond to a high volume and a variable work environment.

You will have demonstrated experience in working collaboratively with stakeholders and finding innovative ways of leading service development and delivering holistic services.

ESSENTIAL REQUIREMENTS

•  Qualifications to practise as an Australian legal practitioner
• Ability to provide a valid NSW Practising Certificate upon commencement
• Willingness to undertake a Criminal Record Check and Working with Children Check
• Hold Australian or NZ citizenship, or be an Australian Permanent Resident (essential for ongoing vacancies) or hold a valid working visa (for temporary vacancies)
• Fully vaccinated against COVID-19 prior to commencement

HOW TO APPLY

Applications MUST be submitted online through our website to be considered. No late applications will be accepted.

Applicants should read the Role Description and consider the Focus Capabilities and Key Accountabilities when preparing their resume and cover letter.

Applicants are also encouraged to read the following reports:

• Children’s Civil Law Service Evaluation – September 2019
• Legal Aid NSW’s “Drift from Care to Crime” issues paper
• The Joint Protocol to reduce the contact of young people in residential out of home care in the criminal justice system

Applicants are requested to attach:

• current resume / curriculum vitae (CV) (maximum 5 pages)
• cover letter (maximum 2 pages) responding to the following two questions:

1. Please outline your skills and expertise in leading and managing a diverse multidisciplinary team of professionals (including social workers) in a legal setting.
2.  This role requires you to strategically plan for, prioritise and deliver legal and casework services to vulnerable young people. Please outline your suitability for such a role.

The selection process will include a range of comparative assessment techniques to assist in determining capability and suitability for the role.

This recruitment will be used to fill any current vacancies and may be used to create a Talent Pool for similar future temporary or ongoing vacancies that may arise over the next 18 months.

To ensure recruitment at Legal Aid NSW continues without interruption during the COVID-19 pandemic, virtual methods may be used for interviews and assessments. This may include interviews conducted by video, telephone interviewing, Microsoft Teams meetings and online assessments.

OUR COMMITMENT TO DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION

Legal Aid NSW welcomes applicants from diverse backgrounds, including people with disability, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, the LGBTI community, culturally diverse people and other diverse communities.

Legal Aid NSW provides dignified access to accommodate the diverse needs of our community.  We acknowledge and support the access needs of people with visible and invisible disabilities, as such all of our offices are accessible.

If you require a reasonable adjustment in order to participate in the recruitment process, or you are looking for general information about our reasonable adjustment process, please contact our team via email, and advise your preferred method of communication: [email protected] using the subject line: Solicitor in Charge enquiry via EthicalJobs.

For Aboriginal specific information regarding working at Legal Aid NSW, our Aboriginal Staff network, career development opportunities and support systems please email: [email protected].

FURTHER INFORMATION

• Temporary part-time opportunity at Central Sydney (28hpw from June – December 2022)
• Subject to funding, there is the possibility of this role increasing to full-time (35hpw)
• Flexible work options available
• Enquiries: Katrina Wong on (02) 9219 5006 or [email protected] using the subject line: Solicitor in Charge - Children’s Civil Law Service enquiry via EthicalJobs.
• Applying for a Role
• Working at Legal Aid NSW