Paralegal

September 12, 2024

Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry

Canberra

APS 5 - $81,690 - $89,615 per annum plus superannuation
Legal Division
Canberra, ACT

Opportunity to work in a professional legal environment within government.
Collaborative team and varied work.
City based location with flexible working options.

Who we are
The current vacancy falls within the Practice Management Unit (PMU). The PMU provides support to the Chief Counsel, General Counsels, and the Legal Division’s large team of lawyers across the practices. The PMU develops and administers the systems to support a diverse, full service legal practice supporting the department. These systems include business and workforce planning, providing project management support for legal teams and managing billing and invoicing for external legal service providers.

The Job
Duties for the roles include but are not limited to:

working closely with the Assistant Practice Managers and Practice Manager to support the Chief Counsel, General Counsels and Principal Legal Officers across the division to facilitate business efficiency
tracking of legal expenditure and managing legal expenditure invoices and other expenses across the division
assisting with outsourcing of legal matters and liaising with external legal providers
managing monthly legal accruals for the department
working collaboratively with internal and external stakeholders, including the procurement and accounts receivable teams, as well as client areas across the department
assisting with development and implementation of systems and processes across the legal branches
developing and delivering internal training to staff in the division on legal division specific systems
assisting with project work to support the legal branches and providing ad hoc administration support to lawyers, including preparing reports on legal work in the division
assisting with on boarding of new staff, contractors and legal secondees
assisting with all aspects of the Continuing Legal Education in-house training program
triaging a legal help desk
legal research and ad hoc paralegal tasks to support the work of the legal branches.

Please note that the merit pool established through this selection process, which is valid for a period of eighteen months from the date the vacancy was advertised in the Public Service Gazette, may also be used to fill future ongoing vacancies in the division where the duties are of a similar nature.

What are we looking for
knowledge and experience
Previous experience in a similar role is desirable but not essential. In particular experience in the following would be advantageous: