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• Senior Government Lawyer - Executive Level 1
• Canberra, ACT
• $125,220 - $153,394

About the Department of Education
We contribute to Australia's economic prosperity and social wellbeing by creating opportunities and driving better outcomes through access to quality education and learning.

The Role
To be a Senior Government Lawyer at the Department of Education, you will have highly developed technical legal abilities, strong interpersonal and leadership skills and a ‘can-do’ attitude. We operate flexibly between our teams and team placement for successful candidates will take into account their skills, experience and preferences as well as the department’s operational needs.

While we welcome applications from strong candidates with diverse skills and interests, we are particularly looking for lawyers for the following teams:

Commercial Law Team
Our Commercial Law Team, which provides specialist commercial legal services for the department. The work of this team is wide ranging and includes advising on the design and conduct of procurements and grants, media campaigns, contractual rights such as breach and termination processes, other commercial law subject matter such as intellectual property, corporations law, Australian Consumer Law, issues that arise from funded capital works projects, and the drafting of (often bespoke) deeds, contracts, variations and the like.

Advising Teams
Our Advising teams, which advise on our portfolio legislation and work closely with their respective client groups (‘Early Childhood’; ‘Higher Education, Research and International’; and ‘Schools and Youth’) in the development, implementation and administration of Government policies and programs.

Duties and Responsibilities
As a Senior Government Lawyer, you will:

• Provide high quality, complex or sensitive legal advice to clients, that is solutions focused and identifies and differentiates between legal requirements and risks, and legal opportunities
• Work with a significant degree of autonomy to manage complex legal matters, reporting to the Principal Government Lawyer and escalating and seeking guidance on matters as appropriate
• Develop and manage effective relationships with a range of internal and external stakeholders
• Work with clients to develop and implement programs, as well as provide complex advice on existing legislation, potential reforms and legislation development
• Apply statutory interpretation and administrative law skills in the development and administration of the department’s programs
• Advise on potential legal claims and disputes and manage litigation matters, including opportunities to perform in-house advocacy in tribunal matters
• Work flexibly with other teams in the legal practice
• Provide leadership and supervise, mentor and manage junior staff, building capability, supporting professional development and ensuring high quality work output

Qualifications and Education
To be eligible for a legal position in our practice, applicants must have:

• A degree in law from an Australian tertiary institution, or a comparable overseas qualification
• Admissions as a legal practitioner in an Australian Court
• Eligibility to hold a restricted Government practising certificate

How to Apply
To apply for this position, please submit your application in our online recruitment system. You will need to:

• Provide a summary (no more than 750 words) that outlines your skills, knowledge, and experience and why you should be considered for this vacancy. You should take into consideration the position overview (including any detailed position specific requirements) when drafting your response. Where possible include specific relevant examples of your work.
• Upload your Resume
• Provide contact details for 2 Referees.

The APS work level standards are structured to clearly differentiate between the work expected (i.e. responsibilities and duties) at each classification level. We encourage you to review these when writing your application.

Eligibility
Citizenship - to be eligible for employment with the Department, you must be an Australian Citizen or, in limited circumstances, in the process of obtaining it.

Security Clearance - our successful candidate is required to hold, or have the ability to obtain, and maintain a Baseline security clearance.