Solicitor in Charge

Overview

Solicitor in Charge, Your Voice: Children's Out-of-Home Care Advocacy Service - Legal Officer Grade VI

• Competitive Salary: $165,865 - $169,359pa (plus superannuation and leave loading)
• Temporary Full Time up to 30 June 2026 (possibility of extension or conversion to ongoing)
• Location: Sydney CBD

About Us

Legal Aid NSW helps people with their legal problems. We can help people with most areas criminal law, family law and every day civil law legal issues. We give legal advice, help at court and do family dispute resolution. We can do this over the telephone or at one of our 28 offices.

Your Voice: Children's Out-of-Home Care Advocacy Service (Your Voice) is a specialist team in the Family Law Division of Legal Aid NSW. Your Voice provides family law, civil law, advocacy and casework assistance to highly disadvantaged young people who are out-of-home care (OOHC) or have had an OOHC experience.

About The Role

Initially, the primary purpose of the role is to lead the design and establishment of a cross-practice multidisciplinary socio-legal service for children and young people who are in OOHC or have had an OOHC experience.

Once the service is established, the primary purpose of the role is to provide senior management and leadership of the service and contribute to the strategic direction of Legal Aid NSW services for children and young people as high priority clients.

About You

You are a highly experienced solicitor with strong expertise in care and protection law, particularly in representing children and young people in the Children's, District and Supreme Courts. Your legal acumen is matched by a strong commitment to social justice and child welfare, and you bring a trauma-informed, culturally responsive approach to your practice. You have a proven history of working within or leading interdisciplinary teams, collaborating effectively with professionals across legal, welfare, and therapeutic domains to deliver holistic outcomes.

As a natural leader, you inspire and guide others with clarity, empathy, and purpose. You're known for your innovative thinking and ability to approach complex challenges with creativity and strategic insight. You consistently seek out-of-the-box solutions that enhance legal support for vulnerable children and young people in out-of-home care.

Why You Should Join Legal Aid NSW

We are committed to diversity and inclusion. We are committed to creating a culturally safe and genuinely inclusive organisation and workplace for everyone who works and interacts with us. We strive to be a place where people from diverse backgrounds want to work, where voices and cultures are valued and where people feel valued, welcomed, respected and heard.

We want a workforce that reflects our clients, so we can deliver a service that meets the needs of the community. We welcome applications from people with diverse backgrounds — including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, people with disability, the LGBTQI+ community, culturally diverse people and other diverse communities.

We acknowledge, support and accommodate the diverse access needs of people with visible and invisible disabilities. If you need an adjustment to participate in the recruitment process, or you'd like information about what we can do to help you, please contact our team at erecruitment@legalaid.nsw.gov.au.

Other Benefits Of Working With Us

• You will have access to training, development and mentoring opportunities.
• We are an accredited Flex Ready and Carers and Employers certified employer and are recognised as leaders in flexible work. Most of our staff work flexibly — for example, from home some of the time or in a way that helps them balance family and work life
• Find out more at Working at Legal Aid NSW

You Must

The essential requirements for this role

• Be admitted or be eligible for admission as a legal practitioner in NSW
• Be able to provide a current NSW Practising Certificate before you start work with us
• Be willing to do a Criminal Record Check and Working with Children Check
• Hold Australian or NZ citizenship, Australian Permanent Residency(for ongoing vacancies) or a valid visa to work in Australia (for temporary vacancies)
• Capacity to travel regularly, and to regional and remote areas
• Eligible to undertake care and protection work in accordance with the quality standards

The Family Law Division have several roles where it is a statutory obligation for staff to hold a valid Working with Children Check. You will be required to provide your Working with Children Check details prior to commencement in any role requiring the check.

How To Apply

You must submit your application online. Applications received late or by email will not be accepted. Please make sure your application is complete, and that you have answered all questions before submitting.

Your Application Must Include

• Your resume (no more than 5 pages)
• Cover letter (no more than 2 pages). In your cover letter, please address the following target questions:
• Target Question 1: Outline your experience working with children and young people in out-of-home care, including how your work has supported their safety, wellbeing, and welfare.
• Target Question 2: Describe a time when you led change or introduced an innovative approach and how you engaged and collaborated with internal and external stakeholders to achieve improved outcomes for children and young people.

We may use this recruitment to create a talent pool for similar ongoing or temporary vacancies we have over the next 18 months.

Do you need help to apply?

If you have questions about the role, you can reach out to Katie Kelso, Executive Director Family Law on (02) 9219 5711 or via email at katie.kelso@legalaid.nsw.gov.au.

If you are an Australian Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander and are thinking about applying, you can contact Legal Aid NSW Aboriginal Services Branch to arrange a confidential conversation about any questions you may have.

The Role Description sets out the responsibilities and Focus Capabilities of the role.

The focus capabilities and key accountabilities in the role description indicate what is expected at that level. Being familiar with these will help you understand what the panel will be looking for in the successful candidate.

Applying for a role is a great NSW Government resource for helping you prepare your application.

Closing Date

Tuesday 2 September 2025 at 11.59pm

Job Details

• Seniority level: Director
• Employment type: Temporary
• Job function: Legal
• Industries: Government Administration

#J-18808-Ljbffr

---