Paralegal

**About us**
The Department of Government Services (DGS) was established on 1 January 2023 to improve everyone's experience of doing business and interacting with the Victorian government. We bring important day-to-day services together in one department to make things easy and seamless for Victorians and businesses. We are doing this by connecting and digitising our systems and platforms across state and local government as well as streamlining our corporate and procurement services.

**About the role**
This Paralegal is responsible for providing high quality and confidential executive, administrative and secretarial support to the Office of General Counsel (OGC). Reporting directly to the Deputy General Counsel, this role is vital to the smooth running of the OGC.

The role will primarily support the Consumer Affairs Victoria (CAV) Legal team and the Public Law and Disputes team in OGC in the handling and running of litigation matters (for example, preparing Court and Tribunal books, correspondence, and assisting with legal research). Consumer Affairs CAV is Victoria's principal consumer protection regulator, and CAV protects and promotes the interests of consumers. The Public Law Team supports the Worker Screening Unit and DGS more generally, meaning a large portion of its work relates to matters under the _Worker Screening Act 2020_. The role will also provide support for other teams in DGS's OGC where capacity allows.

The successful incumbent will have a strong background in executive support with demonstrated experience providing a broad range of services to senior executives. You will be reliable and have exceptional verbal and written communication skills. Resourcefulness, and an ability to prioritise tasks and ensure deadlines are met will also help ensure success in this role.

**Key Accountabilities**
- Support DGS OGC with paralegal tasks, including preparing Court and Tribunal books, completing legal research, drafting correspondence and assisting with general file management.
- Provide high-level and confidential executive, secretarial and administrative support to OGC staff and managers including HR related activities.
- Support and manage OGC's information management systems through records management processes (including registers required under the Legal Services Panel, matter management, and finance processes).
- Develop, proofread and process briefs, correspondence and other material in a thorough, accurate and timely manner and developing and manage OGC's policies, procedures and precedents.
- Prepare and distribute accurate and well-presented internal reports and other information as required by the General Counsel and Deputy General Counsel, and update and maintain OGC's information on the intranet and internet.
- Act as a key contact for internal and external stakeholders and develop and maintain professional and productive working relationships with all stakeholders including various executive offices.
- Assist with the coordination and implementation of projects, activities and tasks that come under the responsibility of OGC.

To be considered for the role, you must be able to demonstrate:

- Experience in providing executive support and assistance to senior executives within a large, complex organisation. Experience in a legal environment beneficial.
- Experience working with limited supervision in a sensitive and fast-paced environment, with a high level proficiency in a range of administrative, HR and Finance software programs such as Office 365.
- Strong planning and organisation skills, and the ability to effectively utilise available resources.
- Written and Oral Communication - Prepares project briefs, correspondence, reports and other material which are succinct, clear, well-written and logically structured and excellent oral communication skills.
- Collaboration and Stakeholder Management - Manages the development and implementation of stakeholder initiatives, creates collaborative relationships with stakeholder groups, and partners with them to broker shared solutions.

**M**andatory requirements**
- A law degree (or well advanced progress towards a law degree) is a mandatory requirement. Admission to legal practice is desirable but not essential.

For specific responsibilities please review the attached position description.

This position is only open to applicants with relevant rights to work in Australia.

**How to apply**
- a resume; and
- a cover letter which addresses the key selection criteria (within three pages)

**Other relevant information**

The department is committed to providing and maintaining a working environment which is safe and without risk to the health of its employees and clients and consistent with the department's obligations under the Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004 (OH&S Act), to support this DGS has a COVID-19 Vaccination policy which **strongly recommends** all DGS employees be fully vaccinated.

DGS actively promotes diversity, inc