The Director of Schools invites applications from suitably qualified and experienced personnel for the role of Junior In-House Legal Counsel commencing as soon as possible. The initial appointment will be for a period of 12 months.

WHY WORK FOR CATHOLIC EDUCATION IN THE DIOCESE OF WOLLONGONG

We provide our team with:

• Flexible & hybrid working opportunities (under the Catholic Education Diocese of Wollongong Remote Working Policy)
• Ex-gratia leave during the Christmas Period
• Competitive salary of $125,300 plus superannuation
• Salary packaging
• Excellent professional development programs, tailored to your needs
• An environment that encourages innovation and collaboration through education
• A platform to contribute to the life, mission, and work of the Catholic faith community

ABOUT THE ROLE

This position exists to provide broad based timely and practical legal advice to schools and Catholic Education Office service areas and provides direct support to and operates under the direction and guidance of the In-House Legal Counsel.

CEDoW is a large and complex system of schools operating in the highly regulated education sector and this position plays a role in identifying, mitigating, responding to and managing legal risks and issues both proactively and responsively. You will be required to:

• Provide commercially astute, timely and practical legal advice and propose solutions on a range of legal matters across many areas of CEDoW’s operations.
• Draft and review legal documentation and support CEDoW Policy and Procedure development
• Act as the legal representative for CEDoW in legal proceedings where the matter has not been deemed to require specialised external counsel including but not limited to court or tribunal proceedings, litigation, mediation, and negotiations, where required.
• Disseminate legal information and deliver in-house training/professional development.
• Ensure appropriate records are created and maintained in all legal matters.
• Maintain the style, protocols and high professional standard for all materials generated aligned with CEDoW protocols and legal requirements.
• Undertake other duties as required from time to time as requested by the In-House Legal Counsel.

ABOUT YOU

• Commitment to supporting the mission of Catholic Education.
• Demonstrated ability to assess legal risk and provide commercially astute, timely and practical legal advice, often based on limited information and within tight timeframes.
• Knowledge, experience and/or understanding in some areas of law pertaining to a large and complex educational organisation and operations.
• Demonstrated ability to conduct legal research and analyse large volumes of complex information with a view to assessing and mitigating risk, operating within legal parameters, and problem solving.
• Demonstrated knowledge and experience in drafting legal documents.
• Understanding and experience of legal processes and proceedings, and an ability to represent CEDoW’s interests in legal proceedings.
• Experience in legal administration and handling of confidential and sensitive material/information.
• Outstanding communication skills and demonstrated ability to convey complex information and provide training and professional development in a manner that is appropriately adapted to the audience.
• Proven ability to work both autonomously and collaboratively.

QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE

• Suitable tertiary qualifications in law.
• Hold a NSW Practising Certificate issued by the Law Society of NSW.
• Current solicitor member of the Law Society of NSW or a current full solicitor member of an equivalent body in an Australian State or Territory.
• At least one to five years PAE.
• Experience in family law and/or contract law is desirable.
• May have some experience in undertaking legal proceedings.
• In-House advisory and/or education sector experience is desirable.

WORKING WITH CHILDREN CHECK

This role is classified as child-related work and therefore a Working with Children Check (WWCC) is required prior to your employment at CEDoW.

POSITION APPLICATION

To confidentially discuss your application, please contact:

• until 16 June 2025 - Michael Knight, Assistant Director - Governance, Assurance and Risk on 4250 9035; and
• from 17 June 2015 - Sarah Cahill, In-House Legal Counsel on 4250 9506.

Applicants are asked to complete an online application and to briefly address the ‘About You’ section (equivalent to 2-3 pages) and submit a short CV (2-3 pages).

Closing Date: 22 June 2025 Friday at 11:55pm