• Location: Regional office located in Garramilla/Darwin. Remote work available if resident in the Northern Territory or South Australia.
• Term: Ongoing
• Full-time: 37.5 hours per week (flexible working arrangements will be considered for suitable candidates)
• Remuneration: SCHADS Level 4 to SCHADS Level 6: $88,300 - $116,500+ 11.5% super + 17.5% Annual Leave Loading
• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are particularly encouraged to apply
• Reporting to: Managing Lawyer – Northern Territory and South Australia Practice

Environmental Defenders Office (EDO) is the leading environmental law practice in the Australia Pasifik Region delivering legal solutions for people, nature and our climate. Our vision is for a world where nature thrives. We are ambitious about the role we can play in delivering that vision and we have an incredible team across the country working to achieve it.

We are dedicated to protecting our climate, communities and shared environment by providing access to justice, running ground-breaking litigation and leading law reform advocacy. Over our 30-year combined history, we have developed a formidable track record of empowering communities and delivering effective protection of the environment through legal services.

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

We have an exciting opportunity for a Solicitor (2+ PAE) or Senior Solicitor (5+ PAE) to join the Northern Territory Practice. This role offers the opportunity to contribute to climate and environmental justice in the Northern Territory region. You will work on a broad range of environmental issues including climate justice, threatened species protection, land clearing, water justice and biodiversity.

This role is based in Garramilla / Darwin but can be filled remotely from anywhere within the Northern Territory or South Australia region.
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 obtain one.
• A minimum of 2+ years PAE desired at the Solicitor level or 5+ years PAE for the Senior Solicitor level with environmental law, administrative law or litigation experience.
• Strong problem-solving skills and ability to make sound judgments and decisions based on consideration of different views.
• Demonstrated ability to work productively and to 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.
• Capacity to undertake law reform or policy, experience desirable.
• Capacity to work collaboratively with diverse communities and individuals, experience highly desirable.

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 lave
• 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' below
• To review the position description, please see this link: https://www.edo.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/EDO-Position-Description-Solicitor_Sen-Sol_Special-Counsel-May-2025.pdf 

If you have queries in regard to this advert, please contact Elanor Fenge, Managing Lawyer – NT/SA Practice on [email protected].

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: Senior Solicitor / Special Counsel - Northern Territory & South Australia Practice 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.