Principal Legal Officer

The Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water is seeking a Principal Legal Officer in Canberra, Australia. This role involves leading a section within the Legal Division, providing complex legal advice, managing litigation, and developing legal strategies. The position requires mentoring junior lawyers and collaborating with various branches on environmental and regulatory matters. The department emphasizes staff development and offers competitive remuneration.
Who we are

The Legal Division is managed by the Chief Counsel and is comprised of both lawyers and non-lawyers. Together we are responsible for legal services required by the department. We partner with the business areas of the department, the Executive, and the Secretary, to identify and manage legal risk across the department and facilitate excellent legal outcomes for our clients. As a member of the Division, you will be involved in interesting and important work which may span environment protection, energy, climate change and heritage, and on-ground operations in Commonwealth national parks and Antarctica. The Legal Division operates in a fast paced, exciting environment. We focus on ensuring our staff are supported and developed so that they are in the best position to take on and enjoy the challenges of the work. We provide competitive conditions and remuneration and provide opportunities for lawyers to either specialise or diversify their skills, while learning from and being supported by highly skilled senior lawyers.

The Legal Division is made up of 3 Branches:
• Environment and Dispute Resolution
• Corporate, Climate Change and Energy
• Legislation, Water and Parks.

Work across the Legal Branches includes:
• Advertising on commercial matters including procurements, underwriting arrangements, funding activities, finance law and delegations (including work on key projects such as Marinus Link and Capacity Investment Scheme, as well as supporting the operations of the Australian Antarctic Division, water purchasing and ICT procurements).
• Providing legal advice on a broad range of issues including statutory interpretation and administrative law, regulatory actions and investigations.
• Managing the department’s litigation across a broad range of matters including merits review, judicial review, regulatory enforcement, commercial disputes, and Work Health and Safety matters, in a range of Courts and Tribunals.
• Developing legal risk and mitigation strategies, particularly in areas of novel or complex work.
• Developing and coordinating legislation bids and processes, including drafting instructions for the department’s ambitious legislative reform agenda.
• Developing legal guidance resources and policies and delivering training to the department.
• Coordinating freedom of information requests and providing privacy and secrecy advice.
• Providing administrative and financial support services to the Division.

The job

Principal Legal Officers hold leadership roles in the Legal Division. They display honesty and integrity and help to drive the vision and direction of the Division. In this role you will:
• Be responsible for motivating, mentoring, and leading a section to deliver on initiatives and goals whilst striving to create an inclusive, responsive and effective work environment.
• Use your technical expertise to provide complex and sensitive legal advice which identifies both legal requirements and areas of legal risk.
• Identify whole-of-government and department issues and work towards delivering quality government outcomes.
• Provide strategic legal advice to the Executive and the Minister.
• Mentor and guide junior lawyers, build the capacity of team members, manage performance and wellbeing, and identify development needs and opportunities.
• Engage with the Senior Executive and key clients to understand their business and provide solutions-focussed advice.
• Participate in the divisional leadership group, provide input to management decisions and strategic planning, and contribute to the vision of the Division.
• Undertake corporate duties which may include reporting, responding to coords, and risk identification and mitigation processes.
• Represent the department or division as required at inter-agency, executive, or external meetings.
• Oversee and prepare a range of written material including parliamentary and ministerial documents.

We have an immediate opportunity for a Principal Legal Officer role in our Environment Regulation Legal team in the Environment and Dispute Resolution Branch. This team provides administrative law and statutory interpretation advice on environmental regulation matters, including in relation to the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999.

We also intend to establish a merit list to fill future opportunities across the practice for Principal Legal Officers. If you enjoy a challenge and want to work in a team in a fast-paced and exciting legal environment, then please apply.

What we are looking for

We are seeking candidates who can demonstrate the following:
• Candidates must hold a degree in law and be admitted to practise in Australia.
• We thrive when our teams are made up of people from different backgrounds, cultures, genders, education, training, and skills.
• Have significant technical expertise in the delivery of legal advice in a relevant area of law, including the ability to identify and analyse complex or sensitive issues and provide strategic advice in an accurate, pragmatic, timely and professional way.
• Effectively manage a diverse case load and manage competing and changing priorities with resilience.
• Build and maintain effective relationships with both internal and external stakeholders, the Executive and the Ministers’ Offices.
• Lead, develop and mentor lawyers and build a cohesive and collaborative team.
• Use appropriate strategies to resolve conflicts or issues with sound judgement, and approaches challenging interactions with care and sensitivity.
• The successful candidate will have significant previous experience in legal practice, with a minimum of five years post-admission experience.
• The successful candidate will have, or have the ability to quickly gain, an extensive knowledge of the legislative frameworks and decision-making processes relevant to the department.

Mandatory qualifications
• Bachelor of Laws and admission to practice in Australia.