Principal Solicitor - Sexual Violence Legal Service

The Organisation
  
The Women’s Legal Centre ACT is an innovative, specialist community legal centre providing crucial legal and social support services to women, trans and gender diverse people in Canberra and committed to our vision to keep women safe, strong and in control of their lives.
  
The Sexual Violence Legal Service is a nation leading service, delivered in partnership with Victim Support ACT. It delivers legal assistance to people subjected to violence within a multi-disciplinary service model, with a focus on people engaged in the criminal justice processes. Lawyers in the service work together with Victim Support Advocates to provide integrated and trauma-informed support to clients.
  
If you are motivated to undertake a managerial and practicing role, WLC ACT will support your growth and work with you to shape a role that supports the legal career you want to build. This may be aspirations of going to the Bar, being a Court Litigator, time off during school holidays, exploration of a broader mix of practice areas including family, employment, discrimination or criminal law; we invite and encourage you to share your legal goals.
  

Benefits & Culture

• Attractive remuneration, generous salary packaging, 5 weeks paid leave
• Genuine commitment to professional development, within a flexible and respectful environment
• Permanent role within a new and unique practice area
• Annual health and wellbeing allowance, paid cultural and reproductive health leave
• New office with modern facilities, supportive of women, trans and gender diverse people and their children 

The Role
  
Working in close collaboration with the executive team to develop and deliver on strategy, you will lead and drive the Sexual Violence Legal Service (SVLS) and manage a multidisciplinary team to deliver groundbreaking legal advice and representation to people subjected to sexual violence.
  
You’ll champion the growth of the SVLS practice and along with your team deliver ongoing innovative and trauma-informed legal support services. Additionally, you will: 

• Lead a team of legal practitioners working collaboratively with victim support advocates
• Develop and maintain strong relationships with external stakeholders within the criminal justice institutions and frontline services agencies
• Manage overall service delivery, including active risk management, strategic planning, and project management
• Oversee a caseload of matters including representation in ACT courts and facilitate the resolution of complex case matters
• Represent the Centre in public forums, media, and in the community and legal sectors

Skills Required
  
You bring a creative blend of leadership and mentorship experience, together with legal practice knowledge and high-level technical skills relevant to criminal law. You have a vision for improving criminal justice with a focus on safety, respect, choice and empowerment for people subjected to sexual violence. You also have:

• Experience in criminal law practice, minimum 5 years PAE and a demonstrated ability to deliver high quality complex legal advice and representation in relation to sexual assault matters
• Professional stakeholder relationship skills including collaboration with partners and community advocates
• Experience of leading and motivating teams, supervising legal practitioners and overseeing workload and allocation of matters to staff members
• Commitment to trauma-informed practice, reflection and self-care practices
• Eligibility to hold an ACT Unrestricted Practicing Certificate

  
The Centre highly values lived experience of intersectionality and welcomes applications from First Nations women, women from migrant and refugee backgrounds, and women of colour and women with other relevant lived experience.

If you want to use your leadership and legal skills to improve the experience and outcomes of people subjected to sexual violence in the criminal justice system, please submit your resume together with a cover letter addressing the skills required. Alternatively call Debbie Jardine at NGO Recruitment on (02) 8243 0570 for more information.

As there is no formal closing date for this role, if you are interested, we would encourage you to apply as soon as possible.

NGO Recruitment values equitable recruitment practices and is committed to representing candidates reflective of the diverse organisations and communities we work with. We welcome and encourage applications from all backgrounds, ages, and identities, and are happy to adjust our recruitment process to support accessibility needs. If you are interested in this position and have most of the skills or experience, we are looking for, please go ahead and apply.