• Location: nipaluna/Hobart or Naarm/Melbourne
• Term: Ongoing
• Full-time: 37.5 hours per week (flexible working arrangements will be considered for suitable candidates)
• Remuneration: SCHADS Level 7-8 $117,300 - $133,425 + 11.5% super + 17.5% Annual Leave Loading
• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, and members of the Global Majority* are particularly encouraged to apply.
• Reporting to: Deputy Director, Policy & Law Reform

Environmental Defenders Office (EDO) is the largest environmental legal centre in the Australia-Pacific, dedicated to protecting our climate, communities and shared environment by providing access to justice, running ground-breaking litigation and leading law reform advocacy.
As the region’s legal experts in our field, we aim to be a brave, unified, and focused team, committed to inclusion and excellence in all that we do. We strive to be a diverse and inclusive workplace supporting a highly skilled, engaged, and effective team, where everyone can feel that they belong.

The opportunity

Are you a legal professional with the vision, drive and leadership to create lasting change? We have an exciting opportunity for a Managing Lawyer to lead our Tasmania/Victoria practice with a client focus on nipaluna/Hobart area. This role offers the opportunity to step into a pivotal leadership role where you will be at the forefront of climate and environmental justice in the region.

As Managing Lawyer, you will work with a passionate team leading some of the most critical environmental challenges of our time, tackling climate justice, pollution, water, cultural heritage protection, and biodiversity – making a real and lasting impact where it matters most.

EDO is a diverse and inclusive workplace. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are particularly encouraged to apply.

Key selection criteria

Core skills

• An unrestricted practicing certificate or entitlement to one, enabling you to hit the ground running.
• Proven leadership in legal supervision – you’re confident in guiding and developing both legal and non-legal staff and confident in managing a diverse and meaningful caseload.
• Demonstrated experience in supervising staff in providing legal services, including legal advice, legal education, law reform and/or litigation.
• A minimum of 5 years PAE working as a solicitor with environmental law, administrative law or litigation experience, 8 + years PAE highly desirable
• Sharp problem-solving skills and ability to make sound judgments - you know how to weigh different perspectives and make well-reasoned decisions that inspire confidence
• Reliability under pressure – you’re organised, responsive and able to manage competing priorities to meet deadlines
• Excellent oral and written communication skills suited to a range of audiences

Substantive experience

• Demonstrated experience in litigation, administrative or environmental law and/or related disciplines
• A passion for shaping law reform or policy – you have the capacity (and ideally experience) to engage in meaningful law reform and policy work that drives lasting impact.
• A deep commitment to working alongside diverse communities—you value inclusive, collaborative approaches and bring the skills and sensitivity needed to work effectively with people from all walks of life. Experience in this space is highly regarded.

Personal qualities and cultural competency

• A champion of the agreed values of the EDO
• Strong initiative and self-motivation
• Commitment to the protection of the environment and public participation in environmental decision-making
• A strong sense of ethics and understanding of professional obligations
• Demonstrated awareness of and sensitivity to the needs and concerns of individuals from diverse cultures, backgrounds and orientations in both the delivery of our work and our internal culture
• Demonstrated ability to work in a collaborative and team-based environment.

Our Culture and Benefits:

• We care deeply about creating a workplace where our team members feel valued, respected, and empowered. We are committed to providing equal opportunity regardless of gender identity, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation, or life stage.
• The chance to be part of the largest environmental legal practice in the Australia-Pacific
• A very flexible and family-friendly workplace
• Option to work from home and the office
• 8 weeks paid parental leave, regardless of gender or carer status
• 15 days personal/carer’s leave
• 20 days annual leave
• 3 days paid cultural leave
• Extra leave over the Christmas period
• Access to Employee Assistance Program (EAP)
• Ongoing professional development opportunities
• EDO proudly has a JEDI (Justice, Equality, Diversity, Inclusion) Committee and a Mental Health Ambassador Committee, and has developed a First Nations Program with the aid of Indigenous-led consultancies.
• Affinity groups for the following: Global Majority*, LGBTQIA+ & People with Disability

*Global Majority is a collective term that first and foremost speaks to and encourages those so-called, to think of themselves as belonging to the majority on planet earth. It refers to people who are Black, African, Asian, Brown, dual-heritage, indigenous to the global south, and or, have been racialised as ‘ethnic minorities’.

Our Values

Commitment – We are committed to; a united organisation, to each other, to collaboration, to justice, to our communities and to creating a world where nature thrives.
Diversity – We are respectful of and welcome diversity of staff, volunteers, offices, environmental regions, communities, stakeholders.
Integrity – We work effectively, efficiently, strategically, professionally, and ethically; “justice is in our nature”.
Vision – We lead change and environmental empowerment using innovation, creativity, and courage.

How to Apply

• Click 'Apply Now' above
• To review the position description, please see this link: www.edo.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/EDO-Position-Description

If you have queries in regard to this advert, please contact [email protected] using the subject line: Managing Lawyer -  Hobart / Melbourne enquiry via EthicalJobs.

Applications will be assessed as they are received.

Applications must include a CV and a letter that addresses each of the selection criteria.

Please note: Your application may be considered for future roles at the EDO within the next 12 months without additional advertising. Please notify us in your application if you would not like to be considered for similar roles beyond this recruitment.

If you have any accessibility needs for the recruitment or interviewing process, please let us know in your application or by emailing [email protected] using the subject line: Managing Lawyer - Hobart / Melbourne enquiry via EthicalJobs.

Vaccination Requirements

EDO is not issuing a vaccination mandate. EDO staff have the option to share vaccination details within the EDO HRIS system, EDO will maintain this record of vaccination status of EDO employees, however if staff do not wish to disclose this information, it will not be enforced.
Working with clients face-to-face:

• EDO works with diverse peoples and groups across the Australian and Pacific communities, including people who are considered a high-risk group in terms of COVID-19.
• In order to ensure the safety of all EDO employees and the people we work with and around, staff visiting overburdened communities are required to take a COVID-19 test three (3) days prior and on the day of travel to the overburdened community.

Other Information

All offers of employment may be subject to satisfactory background checks including a National Police Check, disclosure of previous or current disciplinary action, referee checks, proof of eligibility to work in Australia and qualification checks.