• Lawyer (2PAE –4PAE)
• Admitted lawyer / eligability for an un-restricted practicing certificate required or to be obtained upon employment
• Full time - Ongoing – Permanent
• Competitive annual salary of up to $94,142 commensurate to experience. Salary Sacrifice is available - (which can add up to $15,900 in tax-free pay per year)
• 12.5% superannuation
• Flexible workplace
• TOIL entitlements
• 6 weeks leave a year
• A workplace that recognises you as both a carer and worker

ABOUT THE CENTRE

The Working Women’s Centre SA Inc is a not-for-profit organisation and a community legal centre that provides a legal service to vulnerable working women and people. The Centre has three arms of work:

• Legal Service – we provide legal advice and representation to vulnerable workers who contact the Centre with work issues through one-to-one clinic appointments. Clients may require ongoing advice and if so we also provide advice outside of these clinic appointments. We provide a representation service and have the capacity to represent a client through to the conclusion of a hearing.
• Advocacy – we conduct advocacy to resolve systemic issues that affect women and other vulnerable workers, such as sexual harassment and precarious work. Our advocacy program is informed by our legal and education service.
• Education – we provide fee-for-service and free training for workers and employers about workplace rights, sexual harassment, responding to disclosures of domestic violence and other topics.

The Centre was established in 1979 and has been advising, supporting and advocating for vulnerable women for 42 years. The Centre provides support, advice, information, and representation to women who face issues in their employment in both federal and state jurisdictions. The Centre is also concerned with the structural inequalities for women in the workplace, and conducts outreach, community.

Employment conditions are specified in the Working Women’s Centre SA Inc Enterprise Agreement 2021 however a new enterprise agreement will be approved prior to the successful candidate commencing.

The Centre received National Legal Assistance Partnership funding to provide legal services relating to sexual harassment and discrimination. The Centre also received funding from the Fair Work Ombudsman to provide advice, representation and information to vulnerable workers relating to the Fair Work Act 2009. The successful candidate will be required to provide advice and representation over the two streams of legal funding.

About the role

The position is predominately an outreach and community legal education role. We expect that the successful applicant will devote approximately 3 days to the Centre's outreach program and 2 days to provide legal representation to our clients.

The allocated days for outreach and representation may vary depending on the needs of the Centre and the capacity of the legal team.

Community Legal Education and Outreach

The role will require you to provide free workplace education and training to the community about issues such as the workplace rights, national employment standards, and prevention of sexual harassment.

The role also requires you to maintain and grow our ongoing relationship within the legal, education, judicial and government partners.

The successful candidate will work closely with the legal team and fee-for service educators to build our training department and ensure cohesion across our legal and education teams.

You will primarily be responsible for delivering training and education relating to federal workplace laws while targeting vulnerable cohorts such as women, migrant workers, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, people from Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Backgrounds and disabled workers.

This training and education will be delivered online and in person and require the successful candidate to present seminars, facilitate adult learning and provide train-the trainer type education to community leaders and service providers who interact with vulnerable cohorts. The successful applicant will be required to travel regionally at least twice a year to conduct outreach.

The successful candidate will plan the Centre's free outreach and education for the year in line with funding requirements. This will also require them to participate in regional outreach at least twice a year.

Legal Representation and Case Work

The successful applicant must conduct legal advice sessions with vulnerable clients and represent a proportion of those clients in tribunals, commissions and courts in line with the Centre's litigation strategy and funding requirements.

LAWYER'S DUTIES

• Represent the Working Women’s Centre on a broad range of community, union, government, legal and departmental committees as necessary.
• Prepare and present community education, which can include presenting seminars in person, presenting webinars and producing resources for small business.
• Work with the training team to assist with policy review and legal accuracy of training content and materials.

CLIENT SERVICES/CASE WORK

• Providing information and legal advice to vulnerable people who are primarily not members of unions and who do not have their own lawyer.
• Provide industrial legal advice across a wide range of federal and state legislation concerning industrial, discrimination and employment matters.
• Represent clients in conciliation, arbitration, and court hearings with respect to workplace claims and disputes.
• Working closely with the Director/Principal Solicitor and the Senior Lawyer the successful candidate(s) will have responsibility for carriage of disputes, pre and post conciliation/mediation.
• Maintain files and organise client data for the purpose of reporting.
• Perform ancillary tasks as directed.

UNION LIAISON AND ASSISTANCE

• Educate and assist women in gaining representation from their unions.

SELECTION CRITERIA - THE SUCCESSFUL CANDIDATE WILL HAVE

• A tertiary legal qualification.
• The ability to obtain an unrestricted practicing certificate.
• Demonstrated knowledge of Fair Work Act 2009, state and federal discrimination legislation and a sound understanding of worker’s compensation schemes.
• Demonstrated ability to manage a case load and experience representing clients through the end of the conciliation stage of litigation
• Demonstrated ability to cultivate relevant networks and relationships with external organisations and communities.
• Ability to participate in and contribute to networking opportunities and activities including public speaking as required by the Director
• Demonstrated ability to plan and present community outreach
• A demonstrated commitment to the principles of justice and worker's rights.
• An understanding of gender politics, feminism and the intersection with industrial relations.

DESIRABLE SELECTION CRITERIA

• Experience assisting people with sexual violence victims/survivors

• We encourage applications from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. We encourage applications from people of colour.

• We encourage applications from all cis and trans women, as well as non-binary people who are comfortable working on advocacy that focuses on the experiences of women.

• We encourage applications from disabled applicants, please contact us about the accessibility of the workplace.

• We encourage LGBTIQ+ applicants.

• We encourage applications from survivors of gender violence.

We know that sometimes the best people for the role may not fit the exact selection criteria.

A position description is attached.

Interviews will be held in the week commencing 22 May 2023.