• Full-time, 1-year contract (parental leave backfill role)
• Melbourne or Sydney location

The Human Rights Law Centre, a leading national human rights organisation, is seeking a dynamic, motivated Senior Lawyer to work within our business & human rights team.

This is a 1-year position based in either Melbourne or Sydney from December 2023 to December 2024. This is a full-time 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 business & human rights work

Our business & human rights 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 policy solutions to ensure Australia’s laws effectively protect against human rights abuses committed by Australian companies operating overseas and that where abuses occur, companies are held to account and communities and individuals impacted by their activities can access justice & remedy.

About this role

The Senior Lawyer will lead our advocacy to strengthen Australia's laws for preventing and addressing modern slavery and other human rights abuses in corporate supply chains and help to develop strategic litigation and complaints in partnership with affected communities and workers. The work may also include work on our existing cases, such as our human rights complaint against Rio Tinto on behalf of communities in Bougainville impacted by the company’s former mine. The role may also encompass some work within the organisation’s other human rights focus areas.

We’re seeking an innovative, strategic senior lawyer and advocate with a passion for human rights and corporate accountability and demonstrated experience working in diverse coalitions to achieve law reform and social change.

Key responsibilities

Reporting to the Legal Director, Business & Human Rights, the Senior Lawyer will:

• Develop and implement innovative legal and advocacy strategies in partnership with affected communities and workers to address serious corporate human rights abuses by Australian companies.
• Work with allies to strengthen Australia’s legal and policy framework for preventing and responding to human rights abuses.
• Provide high quality legal advice and representation to clients, ensuring compliance with legal professional responsibilities.
• Develop robust policy positions and build consensus around recommendations in support of our advocacy objectives.
• 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 business and human rights 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 may be required and some work outside standard business hours to accommodate work across time zones.

Selection Criteria

Essential

• A demonstrated understanding of and commitment to promoting human rights, corporate accountability and economic justice, including relevant legal frameworks.
• A law degree and admitted or eligible to practice in an Australian jurisdiction.
• A minimum of 5+ years post-qualification experience working in a legal and/or policy setting on human rights issues. Experience in labour, tort or consumer litigation or in international law relating to business & human rights an advantage.
• 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.
• Demonstrated experience in researching and writing policy submissions or reports for advocacy purposes.
• Sound knowledge of legislative processes and politics and a demonstrated capacity for innovative strategic and analytical thinking.
• Able to communicate easily with people from diverse backgrounds and quickly build relationships of trust and confidence.
• Willingness to work collaboratively, including in helping to build and nurture effective and diverse alliances to promote human rights or law reform, including with unlikely allies.

Desirable

• Experience in public speaking, media advocacy and/or campaigning.
• Experience working closely with marginalised communities or workers, particularly in the Pacific region.
• Fundraising experience.

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 a disability are strongly encouraged to apply.

The position is a full-time 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.

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

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 AND HOW TO APPLY

For further information including how to apply, see the Recruitment Pack attached below.