• Parental Leave Position – Full Time – 8 months

Grata Fund is seeking a full-time Strategic Litigation Solicitor/Strategic Litigation Senior Solicitor for a parental leave cover position.

The Strategic Litigation Solicitor/Strategic Litigation Senior Solicitor will work in collaboration with the Executive Director and Head of Strategic Litigation to implement Grata Fund’s vision and strategy for a robust public interest litigation culture in Australia by:

• Working with the legal sector, academia and campaigners to incubate new strategic litigation in Australia on human rights, democracy and climate change.
• Removing cost barriers to litigation via case financing.
• Building broad campaign alliances around supported litigation to ensure lasting impact beyond the courtroom.

Job Responsibilities

This is a 8 month fixed-term contract role based in Sydney with remote work options available for the right candidate. The Solicitor/Senior Solicitor reports to the Head of Strategic Litigation and is responsible for:

1. Develop new strategic litigation leads & briefs: monitor Federal & State legislative proposals, trends and new laws to identify opportunities for litigation; work with the legal and campaign sector to identify strategic opportunities for litigation; and where necessary, develop briefs for counsel;
2. Facilitate Grata Fund’s case application process: review and provide feedback on applications for support; identify strategic potential of cases to address underlying causes of injustice; solicit and review independent prospects advice from counsel; and under the supervision of the Head of Strategic Litigation make recommendations to the ED & Board on which cases Grata Fund should support;
3. Draft law reform submissions and reports and engage in law reform and policy advocacy on issues of interest to Grata;
4. Promote Grata Fund’s offering, application process and partnership philosophy to the legal & campaign sector;
5. Develop partnerships with pro bono legal teams and pro bono counsel to take cases from ideation to reality; an
6. Other reasonable duties as directed.

Qualifications

We’re seeking an Australian qualified lawyer who excels at strategic thinking, is results-oriented, and has strong project management and relationship-building skills.

• Results-driven: Bias for producing results and a track record of thinking laterally to find solutions (rather than getting immersed in process) and persevering despite obstacles.
• Strategic-thinker: Fluency in reviewing legislative proposals and ability to monitor legislative trends and ability to work with diverse interest groups to identify and foster opportunities for strategic litigation to protect and advance human rights, democracy and climate change.
• Relationship-builder: Track record of building relationships and alliances among a wide range of legal and non-legal players.
• Project management experience: Track record of staying on top of multiple projects without dropping any balls, anticipating obstacles, identifying and involving stakeholders appropriately, and using resources wisely.
• Effective communicator: Stellar formal written communications skills (policy papers, submissions, legal briefs etc). Ability to write stories in a compelling way for non-legal audiences is a plus.

For a Solicitor role, we’re looking for someone with 3+ years legal experience.

For a Senior Solicitor role, in addition to the above, we’re looking for someone with 6+ years legal experience, extensive experience in casework and litigation for marginalised communities (preferably in the areas of human rights, climate change and democracy), and extensive experience in developing and delivering sector-wide law reform and advocacy projects.

Knowledge of third party litigation funding issues and significant prior experience as a litigator or campaigner are plusses but are not requirements.

Salary:

• Solicitor: $80,300 - $91,500
• Senior Solicitor: $95,000 - $104,500
• Plus 9.5% super, 6 weeks leave per annum and salary packaging options available.
• Approx. 8 month parental leave cover position. Start date ~ 1 September 2021 (negotiable).

Grata Fund is fully committed to diversity and inclusion. Applications are strongly encouraged from First Nations people; people living with disability; people who identify as LGBTIQ+; and those from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds.

About Grata Fund

Grata Fund is an innovative nonprofit organisation whose mission is to enable Australians to hold governments and corporations accountable via litigation on human rights, democratic freedoms and climate change.

We launched in 2016 by supporting Doctors for Refugees and Fitzroy Legal Service to successfully overturn draconian gag laws in the Border Force Act which threatened doctors with 2 years in prison for reporting abuse in offshore detention centres. Since then, we’ve worked to support cases ranging on issues from remote Indigenous housing rights, to climate change risk, to technology and human rights.

Grata Fund works closely with the legal sector, campaigners and academia to develop and fund critical public interest litigation. Based at the UNSW Law Centres Precinct in Sydney, we plan to grow our young organisation into the leading strategic litigation incubator in the country.