Salary: $116,413 to $140,849 (Plus Superannuation of 12%)
Fixed term two years
Usual hours of work: Full time 1.0 (applications for part-time work may be considered. Flexible work conditions may be available)
Usual work location: East Melbourne / with occasional visits to the VCAA's Coburg Assessment Centre
About the Unit The Legal Services Unit is a small team providing a full range of specialist legal advice and services across the operations of the VCAA, in areas including commercial law, employment, discrimination, copyright and other IP, governance and compliance (privacy, FOI, public interest disclosures). The Unit manages the organisation's IP assets. The Unit also manages investigations and hearings under Part 2.5 of the Education and Training Reform Act 2006, relating to student examination misconduct. The Unit comprises a principal solicitor/manager, one senior solicitor, a solicitor and copyright manager, with additional staff engaged for peak periods as needed.
Role Purpose The primary purpose of the role is to provide authoritative legal advice on contracts and commercial issues arising in the business of the VCAA. The Senior Solicitor reports to and support the Principal Solicitor in the delivery of legal services to the VCAA. Because of the size of the Unit, where business needs require it, the Senior Solicitor must have the capability and willingness to develop and apply skills in the other areas of law handled by the Unit, to provide advice and support.
Responsibilities include drafting tailored and template legal documents, assisting with contract and agreement negotiations before agreements are entered and during the life of agreements, advising on and developing written agreements for a range of transactions including sponsorships and venue hire, maintaining records of contracts entered by the VCAA (the organisation's contracts and indemnities register), and developing supporting materials such as guidelines and checklists for VCAA employees who manage contracts. Provision of training to inhouse clients from time to time by formal and informal means is also a requirement.
Other duties will be as directed, and may include legal advice on other commercial and non-commercial legal matters, according to the needs of the Legal Services Unit and the organisation. As the Unit is small, we work together to achieve Unit and organisation goals.
The VCAA engages suppliers to provide services including secure printing (requiring particular attention to security, confidentiality and integrity issues), IT hardware, software and SAAS, and advisory services, educational services related to assessment (including marking and assessment design) and reporting (including online results to students) and corporate services including security. The organisation is developing a number of digital products for the delivery of services.
Procurement advice is provided to the VCAA by the Department of Education's Procurement Division. An understanding of Victorian government procurement policy and practice, or the ability to rapidly acquire this knowledge, is necessary for this role. Contracts are managed during their life by the relevant business units of the VCAA. The Senior Solicitor is sometimes called upon to advise on contract management and performance issues.
This is a client service role, providing an opportunity to advise and assist across the organisation.
Attributes You have:
Extensive experience providing legal advice on contracts, agreements, licences, leases and related commercial matters including indemnities, insurance, intellectual property, privacy, risk management
Extensive experience drafting contracts, agreements and legal documentation and maintaining template documents
Experience providing expert legal advice and support, preferably in a government or other regulated context
Experience providing training and preparing training and guidance materials
Excellent written and spoken communication skills,
You are:
able to work as part of a team and unsupervised
curious, keen to solve problems
organised and capable of managing competing priorities
Friendly, able to develop good relationships with clients
Qualifications and Experience Essential: Tertiary qualification in law and admitted to practise in Victoria or able to gain admission promptly. Minimum 5 years PQE.
The department values diversity and inclusion in all forms - gender, religion, ethnicity, LGBTIQ+, disability and neurodiversity. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander candidates are strongly encouraged to apply.
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