Organisation : Justice Connect
Location : Melbourne
Work type : Contract/Temporary
Sector : Law, Justice & Human Rights
Salary type : Annual Package
Application closing date : 3 Dec, 2021
About the organisation
An exciting opportunity has arisen to join one of Australia’s most successful public interest and social justice organisations. In the face of rising levels of unmet legal need, Justice Connect designs and delivers high impact interventions to increase access to legal support and progress social justice.
We are committed to taking an impact-focused approach, applying research and design principles to develop our products and services to ensure they make a tangible difference for our clients and sector peers. We deliver services that assist both people and community organisations. Those we assist often struggle to navigate the law, are unable to use the law in their daily lives and experience the impacts of harsh and unjust laws. We aim to prevent and to solve legal problems so that we can prevent the negative impacts on people’s lives and organisations and empower the community to use the law as a force for good.
Given the scale of the challenges we address, we use digital innovation to extend our reach and impact, supporting us to be more efficient and accessible, while helping us capture and use data to better understand legal need and underlying systemic issues. We harness the extraordinary pro bono contributions of over 50 member firms and the barristers we work with across the country. We channel pro bono effort through our innovative service models to ensure that pro bono hours deliver real impact for the community.
We develop strategic interventions to help address the system-level drivers of legal problems and barriers people face when engaging with the legal system. By addressing root causes of flawed or unfair laws and poorly designed systems, we prevent the long-term challenges that people and organisations continue to face.
Our creative and passionate staff drive us forward with a commitment to evaluation and iteration that ensures our impact increases year on year.
Homeless Law is our specialist legal service for people experiencing or at risk of homelessness across Victoria. We work closely with pro bono lawyers to provide hundreds of people with legal representation, advice and information. Our services are outreach based and client centred, and we don’t just focus on legal issues. Homeless Law's social workers and our relationships with the homelessness and wider-community sector build our capacity to holistically understand and respond to clients with a diverse range of needs.
About the role
Role purpose:
The Senior Lawyer, Homeless Law will play a leadership role in delivering integrated and holistic legal services for people experiencing or at risk of homelessness. The role will also make significant contributions to Homeless Law’s impactful project, advocacy and engagement work, particularly focussed on progressing social justice for people in or exiting prison facing housing insecurity.
Key responsibilities:
- Contribute to the supervision and leadership of Homeless Law’s casework and risk management, including by delivering high-quality legal advice and representation to Homeless Law clients and help-seekers.
- Supervise, mentor and offer legal guidance to Homeless Law in-house lawyers, secondees, practical legal trainees and Homeless Law pro bono lawyers.
- Undertake collaborative project management and engagement work related to Homeless Law’s Closing the Revolving Door Prison Project and our innovative project related to post-release legal need.
- Develop and maintain collaborative relationships with key stakeholders of Homeless Law, in particular participating Justice Connect member law firms and community partner agencies involved in our work with people in or exiting prison facing housing insecurity.
- Develop and deliver training programs for pro bono lawyers, caseworkers and clients in relevant areas of law and practical legal skills, including those related to the legal needs of people in or exiting prison.
- Prepare and revise plain-English digital resources for lawyers, advocates and consumers.
- Actively contribute to Homeless Law’s legal practice management and risk escalation.
- Undertake systemic advocacy work, including contributing to submissions on areas of law or policy related to Homeless Law’s clients and advocacy priorities, particularly those related to breaking the cycle between prisons, the justice system and homelessness.
- Work with the Principal Lawyer, Homeless Law to identify and pursue strategic litigation opportunities that further the aims and objectives of Justice Connect and Homeless Law.
- Actively participate in the promotion of Homeless Law activities, including by contributing to internal and external publications.
- Help with the governance, reporting and evaluation requirements of Homeless Law, including reports for the Justice Connect Board and external funders.
- Contribute to Justice Connect’s Reconciliation Action Plan Activities.
- Assist with Justice Connect’s organisation-wide projects and processes as necessary, including undertaking quality assurance measures and legal process improvement work.
- Perform other duties as directed and necessary to the proper performance of the role.
Selection criteria:
Please view the attached PDF for information regarding the selection criteria.
Employee benefits:
Justice Connect offers employment benefits including salary packaging (making part of your salary tax-free), flexible working arrangements, above award annual leave provisions and opportunities for professional development. Justice Connect is an organisation that strives to show leadership, operate sustainably and demonstrate our effectiveness. You will be rewarded with a workplace culture that is professional, committed, collaborative and creative and where you can make a real difference through your work.
How to apply
Applications not allowed for this job listing.
Please quote in application: Senior Lawyer, Homeless Law via Pro Bono Australia.
Sector: #Law_Justice_and_Human_Rights
