ABOUT US

Inner Melbourne Community Legal (IMCL) is a not-for-profit community organisation that provides free legal assistance to disadvantaged people in the City of Melbourne area. Our mission is to promote social justice and the health and wellbeing of the community through advocacy, education and casework.

We focus our resources towards helping the most disadvantaged members of the community including individuals experiencing homelessness, mental illness, disability, substance dependency and people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds.

Following an amalgamation of IMCL and Flemington Kensington Community Legal Centre in 2022, IMCL now operates across two offices in North Melbourne and Kensington, and delivers multiple integrated outreach services in partnership with other community organisations in the local area. Signature programs include our Health Justice Partnerships with major metropolitan hospitals, Housing Justice Program with homelessness agencies, the School Lawyer Program and the Police Accountability Project, which assists people experiencing police harm and advocates for systemic reform.

ABOUT THE ROLE

This role lawyer sits within the Family Law and Family Violence team at IMCL. It comprises of the following key elements:

City of Melbourne Family Services project:

• Design and deliver an integrated outreach service at Family Services sites;
• Provide direct legal services (advice and casework) to CoM referrals with minimal supervision primarily in family law;
• Oversee referrals from, or generated by the program and be the primary contact for CoM;
• Develop partnerships and strengthen stakeholder relationships with Family Services and any connected organisations;
• Providing professional legal education for CoM staff;
• Lead the management of these partnerships in order to implement a sustainable service model and maximise referrals

Family Law and Family Violence advice and case work:

• Provide direct legal services to clients with minimal supervision;
• Assist the practice in family law and family violence casework including litigation in FCFCOA and Magistrates’ Courts, and support the provision of family violence duty lawyering;
• Ensure compliance with IMCL’s legal assistance guidelines, policies and procedures;
• Participate in IMCL’s outreaches, duty lawyer service and clinic services.

This role aims to increase access to free legal help for marginalised and disadvantaged communities who experience barriers to accessing justice. This includes clients and children at risk of or experiencing family violence, particularly those who are socio-economically disadvantaged, socially excluded and/or culturally and linguistically diverse. The project will facilitate access to justice by supporting these clients to avoid, identify or resolve common life problems such as family conflict/breakdown, child arrangements, family violence, child protection, and housing insecurity that impact their life opportunities and ability to thrive and feed intergenerational cycles of disadvantage.

Works With:

IMCL management, lawyers, non-legal staff, volunteers, and partner organisations.

Position key responsibilities

Legal advice and casework:

• Deliver high-quality legal advice and casework to clients in family law, and in some instances, family violence, child protection, child support and divorce/annulment.
• Manage a caseload, including litigation files, as negotiated annually with the Managing Lawyer. Senior Lawyer expected to run a higher caseload than a Lawyer.
• Escalate high risk matters to the Managing Lawyer or Director of Legal Practice, as appropriate.
• Support the delivery of legal services through other IMCL clinics and outreaches on a rostered basis, including as family violence duty lawyer.

Supervision and support of lawyers and staff:

• Provide appropriate supervision to lawyers, other staff and volunteers as required.

Projects and partnerships:

• Manage the Family Services partnership and outreaches.
• Lead the development and delivery of professional legal education sessions for professionals that provide services to Family Services clients and other related organisations.
• Together with the Evaluation Officer, provide support to assess legal need and monitor and evaluate impact
• Together with the Director Policy & Advocacy, contribute to relevant law reform activities
• Represent the Centre in key networks and forums
• Lead and participate in law reform projects.

IMCL clinic and outreaches:

• Attend staff roster and clinic commitments such as family law clinic and Royal Women’s Hospital clinic.
• Family violence duty lawyer at Melbourne Magistrates’ Court.

Professional development:

• Undertake professional development relevant to areas of practice, other related work and development plan

If you have any further questions, please contact Molly Williams, Director of Legal Practice, on 03 9328 1885 or at [email protected] using the subject line: Lawyer / Senior Lawyer – Family Law and Family Violence enquiry via Ethical Jobs.

A position description is attached.