Associate

Associate | LCA Operations

Slater and Gordon Lawyers are a leading personal injury and class actions law firm where every member of our team has a shared passion for our clients: we are people caring for people.

Our commitment to our people includes offering genuine work-life balance, with a hybrid work environment allowing them to split their time between home and the office. We recognise and reward high performance and have outstanding employee benefits including a week of shutdown leave, paid parental leave, extra-long service leave, together with various ongoing learning and professional development opportunities.

**What are we looking for?**

We are looking for an Associate to join our Legal Cost Agreement (LCA) Operations team. This role could be based in Melbourne or interstate. Flexible and hybrid work arrangements are available for this role.

A background and/or exposure to contract law and legal drafting would be highly desirable. Expect to be trained and mentored in your role with ongoing professional development.

You will be working closely with the Head of LCA Operations and responsible for managing and optimising all aspects of legal cost agreements across the firm nationally. You will have a deep understanding of the legal market and analysing, updating, and implementing legal cost agreements to enhance efficiency and effectiveness across the firms’ legal operations. You will be instrumental in maintaining compliance with applicable laws and regulations. A typical day will have you manage several key responsibilities, some of which include:
**Compliance and Regulatory Matters**:

- Conducting research and preparing memorandums of advice regarding legislative requirements and changes in law to ensure compliance.
- Monitor changes to applicable legislation and court decisions which impact legal cost agreements, cost disclosure compliance and legal costing.

**Cost Agreement Development**:

- Support the development and drafting of cost agreements nationally, including plain-language drafting of cost disclosures and contractual terms.
- Monitor and update cost agreements to reflect changes in legal services, privacy and other applicable legislation, and annual pricing updates.

**Documentation and Record-Keeping**:

- Maintaining legal cost agreement database nationally and ensuring that all agreements are in compliance with applicable laws and regulations.
- Ensure all records are easily accessible and organised.

**Team Collaboration**:

- Work closely with the LCA Operations Coordinator and other internal stakeholders to implement changes to legal cost agreements and pricing and related processes.

**Technology Integration**:

- Collaborate with internal IT teams to manage and integrate cost agreements into user-friendly internal systems

**Other**:

- Other duties as directed.

**What will you bring?**

Ideally, you will have the following skills and attributes:

- Proven Post Admission Experience
- Previous experience and a passion for Contract Law or Personal Injury Law
- Very strong written skills, with high attention to detail and the ability to express complex ideas in clear and concise plain language
- Previous experience with drafting contracts (highly desirable)
- Commercial acumen
- Excellent attention to detail
- Knowledge of regulation of the legal sector and compliance obligations
- Outstanding communication & interpersonal skills
- Ability to exercise judgement and resolve problems quickly
- A strong team player.

**What next?**

**_ Acknowledgement of Country _**Slater and Gordon acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all First Nations peoples today.