Principal Lawyer, Sydney

Clerk Grade: 11/12

Salary Range: $145,378 - $168,130 + superannuation

Employment Type: Ongoing, Full-Time

Location: Sydney

About this role

The NSW Personal Injury Commission (Commission) is recruiting for a Principal Lawyer. This is a key position within the Commission.

The Principal Lawyer role will provide a range of legal and policy services. These will include providing legal and policy advice across a diverse range of issues and supporting the Commission's Legal and Policy Directorate team to deliver a number of key legal projects.

This is a great opportunity for a lawyer with experience and interest in NSW government policy to engage their legal and strategic advisory skills and contribute to the operations of the Commission, as well as to the development of the statutory functions through Rules and Procedural Directions. It is also a great opportunity for someone with leadership and mentoring skills, as the Principal Lawyer will provide guidance and support to junior legal staff as well as the Managing Lawyer in leading the delivery of advice and legal project work across the Commission.

About Us

The Commission resolves disputes between people injured in motor accidents and workplaces in NSW, insurers, and employers.

The Commission is an independent statutory tribunal within the New South Wales justice system, committed to providing a transparent and independent dispute resolution service.

Resolving disputes justly and efficiently in the shortest time frame is a priority for the Commission. We work with all parties (injured persons, insurers, and employers, where relevant) to discuss ways of achieving this.

The Commission exercises functions in three divisions - the Motor Accidents Division, the Workers Compensation Division and the Police Officer Support Scheme Division. You can read more about the Commission here.

As noted above, although the Commission is an independent Tribunal, the staff who work in the Tribunal are employed by the Department of Customer Service. Understand more about DCS - here.

In this Role you will work within the Commission's Legal and Policy Directorate and you will:

• Provide timely, accurate, strategic, and expert policy advice about issues relevant to the Commission, and ensuring issues are professionally addressed to meet stakeholder needs and legislative or regulatory requirements - the policy component of this role is important.
• Provide timely, accurate, strategic, and expert legal advice to the organisation on legislation, statutory interpretation, administrative law, litigation, good decision making, as well as systems and procedures to effectively address legal risks and contribute to the achievement of the Commission's objectives.
• Work collaboratively within the team and assist the legal manager in supervising, reviewing and supporting the delivery of work from other staff members within the team.
• Lead or support the delivery of legal projects or advice relating to policy and governance development, legislative reform, litigation and the drafting of Commission Rules, Delegations, and Procedural Directions.
• Managing internal and external enquiries on the Commission's privacy management plan and privacy policy, and responding to requests under the Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009.
• Supervising litigation involving the Commission in respect of judicial reviews or appeals to superior courts.
• Exercising certain statutory functions, including, but not limited to, the determination of applications for de-identification and/or publication of Commission decisions.
• Interpret, communicate, and explain complex legal issues for the Commission and prepare documents to provide guidance about legal implications.
• Contribute to the creation and delivery of 'knowledge management' including identifying and reporting on policy and legal developments and organising, managing, and automating content and service delivery.
• Develop, and maintain collaborative working relationships with internal and external stakeholders.

About you

• Do you have a current practicing certificate that qualifies you to work as a government lawyer in NSW? Note - If you allowed your certificate to lapse, however, you are eligible for a practicing certificate and could obtain it reasonably quickly, the Commission is interested in hearing from you.
• You are interested in working in a legal practice where your advice will be implemented across the entire organisation across a diverse range of subject matter.
• You have strong legal advisory and policy skills, and exposure to (or strong interest and understanding of) policy development and governance.
• You are details-oriented and able to demonstrate experience in completing highly technical legal work such as developing and/or amending rules, regulations, and procedural directions or similar.
• You have a strong performance focus, well developed organisation and planning skills and a demonstrated ability to deliver results in a high-volume environment with tight deadlines and competing priorities.
• You have supervised other staff and/or enjoy supervising staff.
• You have experience in, or interest in, leading or supporting projects which required you to consider and meet the views of multiple stakeholders.
• You are interested in continuous improvement and harmonising processes and procedures and problem solving to improve and streamline the efficiency and effectiveness of dispute resolution and legal processes.

If you said yes to the above, we want to hear from you!

How to Apply You are required to submit a cover letter and a current resume which clearly details your skills and experience as relevant to this role

Salary Grade 11/12, with the base salary for this role starting at $145,378 base plus superannuation

Click Here to access the Role Description.

For enquiries relating to recruitment please contact Meg Rapley via [email protected].

Visit the Capability Application Tool to prepare for the recruitment process by accessing practice application and interview questions based on the focus capabilities listed in the role description.

Closing Date: Thursday 5 June 2025 at 9:59am

Careers at Department of Customer Service
A career at the Department of Customer Service (DCS) gives you the opportunity to help improve government services and be part of reform that benefits people across NSW. We are focused on delivering excellent customer service, digital transformation, and regulatory reform. Come join us and influence the future of our great state.

Belong in our diverse and inclusive workplace

The strength of our workforce lies in its diversity and embracing difference, while the key to our success is leveraging the contributions of employees with different backgrounds and perspectives.

You can view our full diversity and inclusion statement here.

We want you to bring your best self to this application process. If you have any support or access needs that may require adjustments to allow you to fully participate in this selection process (including an alternate format of the application form) please contact [email protected] or 02 9494 8351.

For more information, please visit

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Information on adjustments available for the recruitment process