When women thrive at work, everyone benefits.

At Women’s Legal Service NSW, we believe that safe, fair, and respectful workplaces change lives. The Working Women’s Centre NSW at Women's Legal Service NSW stands with women who experience discrimination, unfair treatment, or harassment at work and we’re looking for solicitors who want to make workplaces safer and more equitable for all women.

The Working Women’s Centre NSW is part of a national network of Working Women’s Centres funded in each state and territory to deliver specialist employment and discrimination law services for women.

The Solicitor and Senior Solicitor roles offer a rare opportunity to be part of the Working Women’s Centre NSW. These roles are perfect for women lawyers who want to use their expertise to create tangible change for individual clients, and for the systems that shape women’s experiences at work.

You’ll join a feminist, values-driven organisation where collaboration, care, and courage are part of everyday practice.

SENIOR SOLICITOR

As a Senior Solicitor, you’ll provide free specialist legal advice and representation to women experiencing discrimination, sexual harassment, underpayment, and other forms of workplace injustice. Your work will be grounded in a trauma-informed, culturally safe, and gender-justice framework.

You will bring at least five years’ post-admission experience in employment, industrial, or discrimination law, with proven experience managing and litigating complex matters. You’ll also contribute to strategic litigation, law reform, and systemic advocacy that advances fairness and accountability in workplaces across NSW.

Your leadership will help shape the Working Women’s Centre’s legal practice mentoring junior solicitors and paralegals, strengthening partnerships with pro bono practices and barristers, and ensuring women’s voices and experiences drive our reform priorities.

Key Responsibilities

• Provide high-quality, trauma-informed legal advice to clients via phone, online, in person, and through outreach clinics.
• Manage a caseload of complex legal matters and strategic litigation, including representation in courts and tribunals.
• Lead and coordinate legal service delivery in specific practice areas or projects.
• Support and mentor solicitors and paralegals in legal strategy, ethics, trauma-informed practice and professional development.
• Contribute legal expertise to the development and delivery of community legal education and training.
• Participate in and lead rural, regional, and remote outreach trips across NSW.
• Drive law reform, strategic litigation, and advocacy aligned with feminist, intersectional, and systemic change goals.
• Uphold best practice in legal ethics, client care, and culturally safe, trauma-informed service delivery.

As a Senior Solicitor, you’ll help shape a legal practice that not only represents women but amplifies their experiences and challenges the structures that keep inequality in place in the workplace.

SOLICITOR

As a Solicitor, you’ll deliver advice and representation to women experiencing discrimination, workplace harassment, or other forms of disadvantage at work. You’ll bring sound legal knowledge, a commitment to trauma-informed practice, and a passion for supporting women to understand and assert their rights.

You will further develop your specialist expertise in employment and/or discrimination law. You’ll collaborate closely with feminist solicitors in the legal team, private solicitors, and pro bono barristers, and contribute to education, advocacy, and systemic reform projects.

Key Responsibilities

• Provide high-quality, trauma-informed legal advice to clients via phone, online, in person, and through outreach clinics.
• Manage a caseload, including representation in courts and tribunals.
• Support legal service delivery in specific practice areas or projects.
• Contribute to the development and delivery of community legal education and training.
• Participate in rural, regional, and remote outreach trips across NSW.
• Support law reform and advocacy projects aligned with feminist, intersectional, and systemic change goals.
• Uphold best practice in legal ethics, client care, and culturally safe, trauma-informed service delivery.

As a Solicitor, you’ll help women stand up against workplace injustice, ensuring every client is heard, respected, and supported to take action.

WHY THE WORKING WOMEN’S CENTRE NSW

At the Working Women’s Centre NSW, you’ll join a team of passionate advocates who believe that every woman deserves to feel safe, valued, and respected at work. You’ll work in a supportive, feminist environment that values collaboration, curiosity, and care.

Here, your legal skills have real-world impact by improving the safety and wellbeing of women in workplaces across the state. Together, we’re building fairer systems, safer workplaces, and stronger communities.

At Women’s Legal Service NSW, you’ll join a values-driven organisation that embraces intersectional feminism, trauma-informed practice, and collaboration with community. You’ll work with a supportive, expert team committed to improving legal and social outcomes for women across the state.

Together, we’re creating change - case by case, law by law, system by system.

We are hoping candidates can start this year but for the right candidate we will consider your application if you want a change in the new year, so please apply.

ABOUT US

Women’s Legal Service NSW advocates for an end to gender-based violence and for gender equity in Australia. As a state-wide specialist women’s legal service, we assist women and non-binary people across NSW to obtain legal advice and representation from our client centred, trauma informed, culturally safe, holistic legal practice to address women’s safety and economic security.

We use our experience gained from working with women over more than four decades and our expertise in a feminist analysis of social issues and the law to determine where we can make the most meaningful and impactful interventions that make positive change structurally and systemically. We have invested in the development of our specialist expertise to advocate for structural changes in legislation and policy through law reform and through the provision of education and training to our colleagues in the legal profession, the community services sector, and the community.

We advise and represent women in a range of practice areas including discrimination, employment, sexual harassment, family law, domestic/family and sexual violence, and compensation and victims support for victims of crime.

WORKPLACE OF CHOICE

Women’s Legal promotes gender equality through creating a workplace of choice for women that is:

• Safe. We have clear and effective policies on sexism, discrimination, harassment, bullying and abuse.
• Diverse. We acknowledge, encourage and respect diversity and lived experience.
• Culturally Safe. We acknowledge and respond to the need for cultural safety for First Nations staff.
• Flexible. We support flexible work arrangements that accommodate caring responsibilities, disability or health needs, and study commitments.
• Supported. We practice trauma-informed care that recognises the impact of vicarious trauma. Staff have access to debriefing as needed and are supported through regular external professional debriefing supervision.
• Focussed on Career Growth, Leadership and Training. We support staff to build careers in social justice by offering structured opportunities for professional development in legal practice, leadership, training delivery, and contributing to strategic organisational development, equipping you for roles within the legal assistance and advocacy sectors.

Salary range 2025-2026

Women’s Legal seeks to close the gender pay gap by providing job and economic security with an Enterprise Agreement that pays above Award, excellent working conditions and provides generous leave provisions. You have the option to salary package which can add up to $15,900 in tax-free pay annually.

Solicitor Grade 5

$100,182.32 to $121,355.39 p.a (with increase at 1 July 2026) plus salary packaging.

Senior Solicitor Grade 6

$125,491.91 to - $139,405.11 p.a (with increase at 1 July 2026) plus salary packaging.

The positions are based in our office at Lidcombe. The roles will require some travel across Greater Sydney as well as to rural, regional and remote NSW and nationally.

Women’s Legal considers being a woman is a genuine occupational qualification for this position under s. 31 of the Anti-Discrimination Act 1977 (NSW).

Senior SOLICITOR selection criteria

Selection criteria must be addressed for you to be considered for an interview.

Essential criteria

• Commitment to Social Justice and Gender Equity. Demonstrated understanding of, and commitment to, social justice issues for women, particularly First Nations women, and women experiencing deep and persistent disadvantage (social, economic and cultural) and lack of access to legal services.
• Qualifications. Admitted (or eligible for admission) as a legal practitioner in NSW and holds a current NSW practising certificate.
• Legal Ethics and Risk Management. Familiarity with ethical and professional obligations under the Legal Profession Uniform Law, and sound understanding of risk management and confidentiality.
• Legal Knowledge and Practice Areas. Experience, post-admission, in managing complex legal matters and practical experience in providing sound legal advice in at least one of the following areas: discrimination, employment, sexual harassment, family law, domestic/family and sexual violence, compensation and victims support for victims of crime.
• Client-Centred and Trauma-Informed Legal Practice. Proven ability to work with clients facing disadvantage, trauma and legal complexity across diverse client groups, and experience in the provision of client-centred, trauma-informed, culturally safe legal advice, casework, and court/tribunal representation.
• Legal Research and Analysis. Strong legal research, analysis and drafting skills.
• Communication and Interpersonal Skills. Excellent interpersonal, collaboration, negotiation, and written and verbal communication skills.
• Technical & Systems Proficiency. Proficiency in Microsoft Office and legal practice management tools, (e.g. Actionstep) and data reporting.
• Time Management and Organisational Skills. Strong organisational and problem-solving skills with capacity to manage competing deadlines and priorities.
• Law Reform and Advocacy Engagement. Ability to contribute to law reform and policy submissions.
• Legal Education and Community Engagement. Ability to research, write and deliver legal education resources spanning the range of Women’s Legal Service NSW practice areas, including contributing to community legal education initiatives

Additional criteria

• Pre-Employment Screening. Satisfactory Working with Children Check.
• Willingness to Travel. Ability to travel in line with work commitments.
• Professional Development. Commitment to ongoing professional development and compliance with Continuing Professional Development (CPD) requirements

Desirable criteria

• Sector Experience. Experience in the legal assistance sector or not for profit sector.

Selection criteria listed above must be addressed for your application to be considered.

Solicitor selection criteria

Selection criteria must be addressed for you to be considered for an interview.

Essential criteria

• Commitment to Social Justice and Gender Equity. Demonstrated understanding of, and commitment to, social justice issues for women, particularly First Nations women, and women experiencing deep and persistent disadvantage (social, economic and cultural) and lack of access to legal services.
• Qualifications. Admitted as a Solicitor in NSW with a current unrestricted NSW practising certificate.
• Legal Ethics and Risk Management. Demonstrated understanding of legal practice obligations under the Legal Profession Uniform Law.
• Legal Knowledge and Practice Areas. At least 5 years post-admission experience, including litigation and managing a range of complex legal matters and providing high-quality legal advice in at least two of the following areas: discrimination, employment, sexual harassment, family law, domestic/family and sexual violence, compensation and victims support for victims of crime.
• Client-Centred and Trauma-Informed Legal Practice. Proven ability to work with clients facing disadvantage, trauma and legal complexity across diverse client groups and demonstrated experience in providing client-centred trauma-informed, culturally safe, legal advice, casework, and court/tribunal representation.
• Legal Research and Analysis. Excellent legal research, analysis and drafting skills.
• Communication and Interpersonal Skills. Excellent interpersonal, collaboration, negotiation, and written and verbal communication skills.
• Technical & Systems Proficiency. Proficiency in Microsoft Office and legal practice management tools, (e.g. Actionstep) and data reporting.
• Time Management and Organisational Skills. Excellent organisational, project management, and problem-solving skills with capacity to independently manage competing deadlines and priorities.
• Law Reform and Advocacy Engagement. Proven ability to identify and lead law reform initiatives including strategic litigation.
• Legal Education and Community Engagement. Ability to design, deliver and evaluate legal education and training spanning the range of Women’s Legal Service NSW practice areas.
• Leadership and Mentoring. Strong mentoring skills.

Additional criteria

• Pre-Employment Screening. Satisfactory Working with Children Check.
• Willingness to Travel. Ability to travel in line with work commitments.
• Professional Development. Commitment to ongoing professional development and compliance with Continuing Professional Development (CPD) requirements.

Desirable criteria

• Sector Experience. Experience in the legal assistance sector.

Selection criteria listed above must be addressed for your application to be considered.

For enquiries about the position contact Sharmilla Bargon, Assistant Principal Solicitor, Working Women's Centre, at [email protected] using the subject line: Employment and Discrimination Solicitor / Senior Solicitor- Working Women's Centre NSW enquiry via EthicalJobs.

Position Descriptions are attached. Selection criteria must be addressed for your application to be considered to progress to interview.