Civil Liberties Policy Lawyer

NSWCCL is looking for a person with legal qualifications to work with its executive and committee on priority civil liberties and human rights issues.

This is a new position created to strengthen our capacity to respond to an increasing volume of challenges to civil liberties and rights in Australia. It will be an exciting and challenging position.

The focus of this position will be advocacy work around priority civil liberties issues. This will include: research and analysis of issues; preparing advice on matters before state and federal parliaments; formal submissions to parliamentary and other inquiries; organising and participating in public forums; arguing our case in the media and professional forums and, increasingly, though social media. It could also involve developing and running campaigns and special projects.

As NSWCCL’s work is largely done by volunteers, the person will be working closely with relevant committee and executive members and will need to be collaborative, highly motivated and able to set and manage priorities across multiple tasks.
Much of the work we do must be done within externally established timeframes to be useful.

Skills and Qualifications

We are looking for a person with:
•a strong commitment to the protection of civil liberties and human rights
•strong conceptual and analytical capacity
•highly developed research skills including the ability to undertake detailed research which synthesizes large amounts of material under tight time pressure to provide a concise research deliverable
•highly developed oral and written communication skills when communicating across legal and non-legal audiences
• ability to communicate across traditional and online media platforms, including facebook and twitter
• familiarity with civil liberties and human rights issues and New South Wales, Commonwealth and international legal frameworks which regulate these issues
• highly developed organisational skills, including the ability to plan and manage priorities and meet deadlines with limited supervision
•ability to work collaboratively and creatively in a largely volunteer context
•advanced Microsoft Office skills
•ability to work independently including a high level of self-motivation, personal
accountability for results and sound judgement.
Qualifications
Legal qualifications are essential, together with some post qualification experience. A current practising certificate is not required. A broad qualification also including humanities, social sciences or economics would be an advantage.

Details

Location: Sydney – at the NSWCCL office at 105 Pitt Street Sydney (near Wynyard Station).
Hours of Work: We are ideally looking for a full time staff member, but will consider 0.8 or 0.9 FTE. The position will involve some domestic travel and work outside normal work hours including a minimum of 2 early evening meetings per month.
Term: The position is for a 12 month term in the first instance, which we intend will be renewed, subject to funding. The appointment is subject to a three month probationary period.
Supervisor: Designated Executive member of NSW CCL.
Salary: Range $62,000 to $70,000 per annum (depending on experience) plus superannuation, annual and sick leave.
Apply: Please send your application to therese.cochrane@nswccl.org.au. Closing date 25 April 2018. Applicants should read the Position Description before submitting their application. Applications should comprise a cover letter (maximum one page), a document addressing the selection criteria (maximum two pages) and a CV. Please include your name in the subject line of your application email.