• Full-time or 0.8 FTE, 14-month contract (parental leave backfill role)
• Melbourne or Sydney location

Are you passionate about working with communities adversely impacted by corporate activities to hold companies to account through strategic legal interventions and advocacy? The Human Rights Law Centre, a leading national human rights organisation, is seeking a dynamic, motivated Senior Lawyer to work within our corporate accountability team.

This is a 14-month position based in either Melbourne or Sydney from December 2023 to February 2025. This is a full-time or 0.8FTE position however we are open to flexible arrangements for the right candidate and will also consider job share applicants.

ABOUT THE HUMAN RIGHTS LAW CENTRE

The Human Rights Law Centre uses strategic legal action, policy solutions and advocacy to support people and communities to eliminate inequality and injustice and build a fairer, more compassionate Australia.

Our vision is an Australia where everyone is free to lead a decent, dignified life; where our laws, policies and institutions promote fairness and equality; and where people and communities have the power to address inequality and injustice and ensure that governments always act in the public interest.

We maximise our impact by working closely with key partners, including community organisations, pro bono law firms and barristers, academics and experts, and international and domestic human rights organisations. We are independent of government & business, with most of our funding coming from donations and philanthropic grants.

The Human Rights Law Centre is a registered charity with offices in Melbourne and Sydney. We are a diverse team with a strong, shared commitment to creating a better, fairer Australia.

The Human Rights Law Centre is an equal opportunity employer and is committed to promoting a diverse and inclusive workforce. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, people from culturally diverse backgrounds, women, LGBTIQ+ people and people with disability are encouraged to apply.

ABOUT OUR CORPORATE ACCOUNTABILITY WORK

Our corporate accountability work seeks to ensure that Australian companies respect human rights wherever they operate and to hold them accountable where they do not. We use a mixture of litigation, advocacy and campaigning to ensure Australia’s laws effectively protect against human rights abuses committed by Australian companies and that where abuses occur, companies are held to account and impacted communities and workers can access justice & remedy.

ABOUT THIS ROLE

The Senior Lawyer will help to lead our corporate accountability work, including working in partnership with communities on the development of cases and complaints against companies for abuses in their operations and supply chains and advancing our advocacy to strengthen Australia's laws & policies for addressing such abuses.

The role will focus in particular on our ongoing human rights complaint against Rio Tinto for human rights and environmental impacts caused by the company's former Panguna mine in Bougainville. In 2021, in response to the complaint, Rio Tinto agreed to fund a major impact assessment of the mine to document impacts and develop solutions. We are currently working with communities around Panguna to ensure the impact assessment leads to Rio Tinto taking responsibility for remediation and clean-up. See here for further information about this work.

We are seeking an innovative, strategic senior lawyer and advocate with a passion for human rights and corporate accountability and demonstrated experience working with impacted communities.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Reporting to the Legal Director, Corporate Accountability, the Senior Lawyer will:

• Develop and implement innovative legal and advocacy strategies in partnership with affected communities to address serious corporate human rights abuses by Australian companies.
• Provide high quality legal advice and representation to clients, ensuring compliance with legal professional responsibilities. • Build and maintain strong working relationships with key government, business and investor stakeholders and develop engagement strategies to shift senior stakeholders to achieve our advocacy objectives.
• Build and foster effective networks and coalitions with other civil society organisations to achieve our advocacy objectives and build communities of change.
• Research and write reports, legal & policy submissions, briefing papers, speeches, letters and other publications that effectively communicate and promote our advocacy objectives.
• Represent the organisation in senior-level meetings, at public events and in the media in relation to our corporate accountability work.
• Working with the Legal Director and fundraising team, help to identify and secure financial resources to support the work of the business & human rights team and assist with fundraising events, applications, reporting and acquittal.
• Assist with supervising secondees and with recruitment as required.
• Occasional interstate or international travel will be required as part of this role and some work outside standard business hours to accommodate work across time zones.

SELECTION CRITERIA

Essential

• A demonstrated commitment to promoting human rights, corporate accountability and environmental justice.
• A law degree and admitted or eligible to practice in an Australian jurisdiction.
• A minimum of 5+ years post-qualification experience working in legal, policy or advocacy roles in a relevant field (eg. human rights or environmental law, corporate accountability, environmental or social justice, international development or community organising).
• Experience working with clients or communities who have experienced rights abuses or systemic injustice and a commitment to a partnership model of legal and advocacy work that amplifies community voices.
• A critical, strategic thinker, with the ability to review and evaluate technical information (eg. relating to environmental or human rights impact assessments).
• Outstanding written and verbal communication skills and proven ability to produce high quality external communications targeted at a variety of audiences.
• Excellent organisational and project management skills, including managing large projects involving external partner organisations. Demonstrated ability to work autonomously and to set priorities, plan and organise workflow to meet tight deadlines.
• Able to communicate easily with people from diverse backgrounds and quickly build relationships of trust and confidence. • Willingness to travel to Bougainville.

Desirable

• Experience working closely with indigenous and/or Pacific communities or communities impacted by mining.
• Experience engaging with senior stakeholders within government, companies and/or investor groups to effect change.
• Experience working within or helping to build coalitions for law reform or social change.
• Experience in public speaking, media advocacy and/or campaigning.

BENEFITS OF WORKING WITH THE HUMAN RIGHTS LAW CENTRE

The Human Rights Law Centre is an equal opportunity employer and is committed to promoting a diverse and inclusive workforce. We know our team and our work is stronger with a diversity of backgrounds and experience, including lived experience of the issues we work on. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, people of colour, people from culturally and linguistically diverse and refugee backgrounds, people with diverse religious beliefs, women, LGBTIQ+ people and people with disability are strongly encouraged to apply.

The position is a fixed-term position with a six-month probation period.

The full-time annual salary for this role is $114,297 and you will have access to generous salary packaging provisions, 5 weeks annual leave and four days additional wellbeing leave each year.

The tax savings for staff who take full advantage of salary packaging options can significantly increase their take home pay.

A position description is attached.

The Human Rights Law Centre’s Enterprise Agreement also provides paid cultural and ceremonial leave. See further: Human Rights Law Centre Enterprise Agreement.

The Human Rights Law Centre offers flexible working arrangements, opportunities for professional development and mentoring, and a workplace culture that is collaborative, dynamic, values diversity and is committed to learning and looking after each other.

Further information

For further information about the Human Rights Law Centre, see www.hrlc.org.au. For further information about this position, email [email protected] using the subject line: Senior Lawyer - Corporate Accountability / Environmental Justice - Melbourne / Sydney enquiry via EthicalJobs.