Primary Purpose of the role

The primary purpose of the position is to deliver of culturally appropriate Family Law legal advice, and representation to clients in accordance with the ALS policies, procedures, and guidelines in Care & Protection/Family Law practice.

Why Join the ALS Team?

At the Aboriginal Legal Service (ALS) you can make an impact. You will join a strong movement fighting for social justice and equity for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, families and communities.

Our focus is our people: the people we support and the people we employ. We offer a career you can be proud of and a place where you feel safe to be yourself. We invest in our people and appreciate the rich diversity of lived experiences, languages, and culture.

Born out of a protest movement over 50 years ago, the ALS is an Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisation delivering high-quality, culturally safe legal and support services for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in NSW and the ACT. It’s an exciting time to be joining us. We recently received additional funding to deliver a range of new programs aimed at addressing systemic issues and driving structural reforms. This is creating significant opportunities for the ALS, our staff and communities.
As well as the satisfaction of working in a job that really matters, we offer our staff benefits including:

• Not-for-profit salary packaging to reduce your tax liability and maximise take-home pay
• Annual leave loading of 17.5%
• Career and professional development opportunities
• Access to personal counselling for you and your family
• Additional paid leave of up to 6 days per year, paid parental and study leave
• Flexible work options – talk to us about how we can make this role work for you

About the Role

The Intermediate Solicitor is part of the Care & Protection / Family Law Practice, reporting to the Principal Solicitor Care & Protection / Family Law Practice.

This position will be responsible for:

• Providing high quality and culturally appropriate legal advice and representation to Aboriginal clients and assisting them in resolving their legal problems and litigation where required.
• Researching, preparing, and providing representation for Aboriginal clients in legal matters and preparing briefs for counsel and attend to instructing counsel.
• Communicating with, taking instructions from, and effectively representing Aboriginal clients in court who may present as distressed, when the legal concepts involved may be complex and difficult for the client to understand, or when the circumstances of the legal matter and possible result could lead to separation from family.
• Where directed and appropriate, supervising and mentoring junior solicitors with the conduct of their matters.
• Where required holding regular diary meetings with other solicitors to allocate file work, ensuring the fair and balanced allocation of work to junior solicitors, and making all necessary adjustments to the electronic diary.
• Travelling to regional and interstate locations for work purposes.

About You

We’re looking for someone who brings:

• Legal qualifications and a current Practising Certificate with a minimum of 2 years’ experience in court advocacy in family law.
• In-depth knowledge of the relevant area of law, including practice and procedure of the FCFCOA
• A willingness and ability to travel to regional, metropolitan, and interstate locations for work purposes.
• Knowledge and appreciation of the cultural and social needs of Aboriginal communities combined with continuing respect and support for Aboriginal cultural practices when considering service delivery and other support for clients, their families, communities, and staff.
• Ability to provide high quality legal representation.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills combined with strong time management, legal research, and problem-solving skills.

Pre-Employment Requirements:

ALS is committed to implementing safe recruitment practices. Your application may be subject to pre-employment checks such as reference checks, Working with Children (NSW) or Working with Vulnerable People (ACT) check, Right to work in Australia, COVID-19 vaccinations and National Police History check.

If you have questions about this role, please email [email protected] using the subject line: Intermediate Solicitor - Care & Protection / Family Law Practice - Dubbo / Parramatta enquiry via EthicalJobs.

An application pack  is attached.