The Garvan Legal Office sits within the Professional Services Team led by the Chief Operating Officer. The Legal Office works with relevant internal stakeholders to ensure that Garvan’s research, corporate and commercial activities are conducted in a way that is in alignment with Garvan’s mission, to provide pragmatic legal advice and to ensure that the Institute takes a responsible approach to risk management and that Garvan complies with relevant laws and policies. The Legal Office also provides support to the Garvan Research Foundation (GRF) and Australian Bio Resources (ABR).

THE OPPORTUNITY

The Senior Lawyer:

Takes a lead role in negotiating, reviewing and managing agreements relating to Garvan’s research activities and intellectual property.

Helps ensure that all Garvan staff comply and keep up to date with relevant laws and policies. This includes staying on top of legal developments, interpreting laws in the context of the Institute’s activities, developing, implementing, and maintaining required policies and procedures to maximize compliance within the Institute.

Provides legal advice and support on a diverse range of corporate and commercial legal matters.

Works closely with other Institute divisions including Strategy Delivery and Operations, Grants and Research Ethics, Governance & Integrity to ensure agreements entered into by the Institute are consistent with Garvan’s strategic objectives and legal obligations.

Works across related entities: the Garvan Research Foundation (GRF); and Australian BioResources Pty Ltd (ABR) to ensure agreements entered into by the Institute are appropriately risk managed.

Salary: Up to $160,000 + 12% super + salary packaging (depending on experience)

Employment Type: Permanent full-time

SNAPSHOT OF BENEFITS

Generous salary packaging to save you income tax on your wages thereby boosting your monthly take home pay (max. $15,900 general expenses + $2,650 meals/accom)

Ample opportunities for on-going training and development

Stimulating and diverse research environment

Flexible work arrangements e.g. start / finish times

18 weeks paid parental leave for both parents including paid superannuation

A range of additional leave types to meet your personal needs including cultural leave, conference leave, community service and study leave

Discounted Health Insurance

Lifestyle discounts with our community partners

WHAT YOU WILL DO

ESSENTIAL DUTIES and RESPONSIBILITES

Key responsibilities include:

Legal service delivery - agreements and advice

Negotiating, preparing and managing a range of agreements to facilitate research and related activities at Garvan including:

Research Collaboration Agreements, Material Transfer Agreements (MTAs), Data Transfer Agreements (DTAs); and services contracts relating to human and animal research

Agreements relating to intellectual property management, ownership and protection

Review of funding and grant agreements with government and philanthropic funding bodies

Negotiating, preparing and managing a range of contracts and agreements to facilitate commercial transactions including services and procurement agreements, IT and technology agreements, property agreements and employment agreements.

Working with on complex intellectual property, strategy and technology transfer matters between Garvan and external academic and commercial organisations (including drafting licencing and assignment agreements)

Providing advice to internal stakeholders including research staff and the professional services team regarding interpretation of contracts in terms of rights and liabilities

Working with GRF to provide legal services such as corporate sponsorship arrangements, fundraising agreements and agreements related to promotional initiatives.

Managing external contracting arrangements including monitoring activities post-contract, renegotiations and variations/amendments.

Assisting with management of legal compliance requirements to minimize risks for the Institute including monitoring changes in legislation and assessing their impact on Garvan.

Policies, systems and process

Developing, reviewing and updating templates, clauses, policies and procedures in relation to Legal Office activities and providing input into Garvan policies generally.

Working with Legal Office management and organisational tools (e.g. contract management systems) and identifying and implementing process improvements to improve productivity and effectiveness and ensure the Legal Office is working in accordance with best practice.

Coordinating and preparing approval documentation for Garvan executives and/or Board in accordance with Garvan’s Contracts Approval Process.

Staff mentoring and training

Training and mentoring more junior staff including delegation and supervision of tasks for casual legal interns/students.

Development and delivery of internal training programs where appropriate.

Management & internal reporting

Assisting the Head of Legal in preparing any reports/advice required for the Garvan Board & Executive Team

ABOUT YOU

EXPERIENCE, KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS REQUIRED

The key skills and experience include:

Essential:

Bachelor of Laws and a current practising certificate from the Law Society of NSW (or eligibility to immediately apply for such certification) with a minimum of 8 years PQE. Experience in a medical research institute (or similar) environment preferred.

Extensive commercial contracts drafting skills

Demonstrated understanding of intellectual property law

Demonstrated experience in corporate law and governance

Excellent commercial awareness with strong relationship building, influencing, and negotiating skills in order to provide practical legal solutions for the business

Excellent verbal and written communication skills and the ability to convey complex information in a concise and clear manner that is readily understood by non-lawyers and supports expeditious and effective decision-making

Exceptional team player with ability to build rapport and maintain solid working relationships with internal and external stakeholders

Proactive with excellent time management and organisational skills and the ability to meet deadlines and prioritise work in a dynamic environment

Ability to systematically analyse complex problems, draw relevant conclusions and implement appropriate solutions

The ability to develop and run internal training programs to lawyers and non-lawyers

Works well in a small team environment and collaborates effectively

Desirable:

Previous experience working in an in-house environment in a technology transfer office for a medical research institute, university, biotech/pharma company or other research organisation

Previous experience in the management and regulation of “big data” or genomic data

Experience advising on employment law issues in an in-house environment

ABOUT GARVAN

Garvan Institute of Medical Research is an independent Medical Research Institute (MRI) in Sydney, delivering scientific and clinical impact on a global basis and in partnership with organisations that share our vision. We are proud to be one of Australia’s largest and most highly regarded MRI’s.

Our vision is global leadership in discoveries to impact and our enduring purpose is to impact human health, by harnessing information encoded in our genome.

We seek to see our world-class discovery research achieve life-changing impacts, not only for individual patients with rare diseases, but for the many thousands affected by complex, common disease.

Garvan promotes a diverse workplace and is committed to the principles of equity, diversity, inclusion and belonging. We are always looking for culture ‘add’, not culture ‘fit’ and are building diverse teams with great sets of complementary styles and skills to help deliver our important work effectively.

HOW TO APPLY

To apply for this position, please submit your application with a CV and cover letter as one document, stating why you are interested in this role. If you think you’re the right person for this role, we’d love to hear how your capabilities, achievements and experience set you apart. Only applicants with full working rights in Australia are eligible to apply for this role.