The Working Women’s Centre SA Inc is a not-for-profit organisation, charity and a community legal centre that provides a legal service to vulnerable working women and people. The Centre has three arms of work:

Legal Service – we provide legal advice and representation to vulnerable workers who contact the Centre with work issues through one-to-one clinic appointments. Clients may require ongoing advice and if so we also provide advice outside of these clinic appointments. We provide a representation service and have the capacity to represent a client through to the conclusion of a hearing.

Advocacy – we conduct advocacy to resolve systemic issues that affect women and other vulnerable workers, such as sexual harassment and precarious work. Our advocacy program is informed by our legal and education service.

Education – we provide fee-for-service and free training for workers and employers about workplace rights, sexual harassment, responding to disclosures of domestic violence and other topics.

The Centre was established in 1979 and has been advising, supporting and advocating for vulnerable women for 42 years. The Centre provides support, advice, information, and representation to women who face issues in their employment in both federal and state jurisdictions. The Centre is also concerned with the structural inequalities for women in the workplace, and conducts outreach, community.

Employment conditions are specified in the Working Women’s Centre SA Inc Enterprise Agreement 2021 however bargaining has commenced for a new agreement.

We have recently won funding from the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations to build capacity within the Centre. The Principal Lawyer will be responsible for leading the WWC legal team.

Mission

The Principal Lawyer is a member of the WWC Leadership Team and contributes to the strategic and operational planning of the Centre. The Principal Lawyer works with other leaders of the organisation to ensure that the Legal Team is working in unison with the Education and Advocacy Teams.

The Principal Lawyer is responsible for ensuring that Legal Team is functioning to a professional and high standard of legal practice, which is structured and legally compliant, and responds to the needs of South Australian working women.

Legal Team management

Leading the legal team to providing information, industrial and legal advice to vulnerable people who are primarily not members of unions and who do not have their own lawyer.

Leading the legal team to provide industrial legal advice across a wide range of federal and state legislation concerning industrial, discrimination and employment matters.

Represent clients in conciliation, arbitration, and court hearings with respect to workplace claims and disputes.

Co-designing and implementing the litigation strategy.

Manage the legal practice by ensuring that all funding KPIs are met and the legal team is at all time legally compliant.

Provide and manage supervision to lawyers.

Ensure the Centre's compliance with Community Legal Centres Australia (CLCA) Risk Management Guide and the Australian Solicitor's Conduct Rules.

Outreach and Community Education

Represent the Working Women’s Centre on a broad range of community, union, government, legal and departmental committees as necessary.

Raise awareness through innovative and target of the need of women and vulnerable people in various forums.

Union Liaison And Assistance

Educate and assist women in gaining representation from their unions.

SELECTION CRITERIA

You must address each selection criteria. We suggest that you use each criterion as a heading for your response.

A tertiary legal qualification and the ability to hold a Principal Practicing Certificate.

Demonstrated knowledge of Fair Work Act 2009, state and federal discrimination and sexual harassment legislation, and a sound understanding of workers' compensation schemes.

Demonstrated case management and litigation experience including managing complex legal cases, representing clients in court, and instructing external counsel when necessary.

Demonstrated management of a legal team including the ability to resolve conflict, delegation to ensure a fair distributtion of work across a team, and performance management.

Demonstrated ability to consult on, design and implement team policies.

Exceptional time management skills and demonstrated ability to prioritise tasks.

A demonstrated commitment to the principles of worker's rights and intersectional feminism.

Understanding of gender politics and the intersection with labour/employment policy.

A demonstrated capability to work in a team and contribute to a positive team culture.

Desirable Selection Criteria

Experience assisting people with sexual violence victims/survivors

Experience with Community Legal Centre compliance.

We encourage applications from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

We encourage applications from people of colour.

We encourage applications from all cis and trans women, as well as non-binary people who are comfortable working on advocacy that focuses on the experiences of women.

We encourage applications from disabled applicants, please contact us about the accessibility of the workplace.

We encourage LGBTIQ+ applicants.

We encourage applications from survivors of gender violence.

We know that sometimes the best people for the role may not fit the exact selection criteria.