The Role

General Counsel - Dispute Resolution and Litigation Branch (GC-DRL) in Defence Legal is seeking appropriately qualified, dynamic and motivated EL 1 Legal Officers to join the Branch at its Campbell Park office in Canberra.

Successful candidates will need to be able to work collaboratively within GC-DRL to manage, assess and advise on highly sensitive and often complex legal claims against the Commonwealth. These claims often involve financial and reputational risk.

An EL 1 Legal Officer:

• Is accountable under broad direction to perform and achieve complex to very complex legal work within an integrated workforce. They will require an in-depth knowledge of and compliance with legislative frameworks, government decision-making and Defence’s mission and policy requirements.
• Will exercise a considerable degree of independence and perform a subject matter expert role. They will exercise sound decision making and judgement to provide expert policy advice. They will have in-depth knowledge of the legal function and are responsible for the development, implementation, compliance and review of policies and procedures relevant to their work within that function. They will engage in complex to very complex problem solving and issues management and may coordinate and perform detailed or sensitive projects that impact on strategic, political or operational outcomes for Defence.
• May be a team coach or lead a project or administrative team and will be accountable for the outcomes of the teams work and the appropriate use of resources to produce and achieve outcomes. They are expected to be capable of building team capability through coaching and feedback and reviewing and developing the quality of work undertaken by others within a work unit. They may exercise the associated people and financial responsibilities to achieve work unit outcomes.
• Will be responsible for actively managing key stakeholder relationships and will be required to identify relevant stakeholders’ expectations and concerns to develop and communicate methodologies and practices to achieve outcomes. They will be accountable to contribute towards ongoing self-improvement and professional development of their work area.

The duties of EL 1 Legal Officer include the following:

• Manage staff, resources, workloads and priorities to deliver timely, cost-effective and quality legal services.
• Coordinate, perform and support legal activities and tasks, ensuring compliance with Defence governance requirements.
• Apply legal knowledge to provide representation and present at various internal and external forums.
• Understand and apply legal knowledge and expertise in the preparation of legally-related doctrine, documents, advice, briefs, correspondence and talking points including matters of a sensitive nature.
• Communicate in a clear, concise, accurate and articulate manner, both in writing and orally.
• Liaise and work collaboratively with stakeholders and negotiate in a persuasive manner to achieve business outcomes.
• Assess and comply with legislative, policy and regulatory frameworks.
• Analyse complex to very complex issues, applying legal expertise to identify, design and propose solutions.

This role is eligible for an additional remuneration benefit known in Defence as a Building Defence Capability Payment (BDCP). This enables Defence to provide a premium, in addition to the base salary otherwise payable under the Defence Enterprise Agreement (DEA), for positions in occupational disciplines/classifications that are critical to Defence capability. For further information, please contact the contact officer.

About our Team

GC-DRL, within Defence Legal, provides strategic legal advice on all litigation and dispute resolution, on behalf of Defence. GC-DRL is an integrated team of APS lawyers, paralegals, contracted lawyers and administrative staff. The team works on a diverse range of legal matters, including significant litigation, and regularly engages with a variety of internal client areas, external stakeholders, other areas of Defence Legal, external legal advisers and counsel while adhering to internal and Court-related deadlines.

Some of the main streams of work in GC-DRL are:

• Managing claims against the Commonwealth including inquests, contractual disputes, commercial claims, personal injury claims, work health and safety matters (including prosecutions), judicial review challenges, debt recovery actions and compensation claims.
• Responding to court orders such as subpoenas and summonses, legislative requests and police requests and search warrants and assisting with the protection of information.
• Managing common law compensation claims relating to alleged historic abuse.
• Managing historic contamination-related claims.

Our Ideal Candidate

You will need to be able to demonstrate:

• At least 4 years’ post-admission experience managing litigation and dispute resolution matters.
• Ideally, a good knowledge of the Commonwealth legal environment.
• Strong analytical and communication skills.
• An ability to work under pressure and adapt to changing work priorities.
• An ability to adhere to deadlines.
• Excellent attention to detail.
• You are a motivated self-starter.
• A collaborative, positive, team focused and collegiate outlook, with an ability to positively contribute to the work of the team and support senior legal staff.
• Good client engagement and relationship management skills.
• Experience supervising and mentoring junior lawyers and paralegals

Application Closing Date: Sunday 6 April 2025

For further information please review the job information pack, reference ASG/01694/25 on https://defencecareers.nga.net.au/?jati=E9527677-DDE1-0A69-32D4-E3A97C1F423F