Solicitor - Environment & Planning

**PERTH**

**THE OPPORTUNITY**

We have a new opportunity for an experienced solicitor or junior Senior Associate to join our Environment, Planning and Communities team within the Finance, Real Estate and Projects practice in Perth.

In this role you will work closely with Partner Mel Debenham. Mel is a leading practitioner in environment, planning, native title and heritage law across the mining, oil and gas, energy, infrastructure, and industrial/environmental advisory sectors. Our national practice is highly regarded, including being consistently ranked Band 1 for Environment and Band 2 for Native Title by Chambers Asia-Pacific.

Offering full land access and approval services, you will be part of a busy national team that provides project development, compliance, transactional and strategic advice as well as advocacy and representation on contentious matters. We act for a range of international, major Australian and mid-cap companies and Government clients across multiple sectors and jurisdictions, providing a practical and commercial approach to environmental, social and planning issues, including in relation to:

- environmental impact assessments and major projects strategy;
- approval processes and advisory work in relation to planning law, environmental regulation, Aboriginal cultural heritage and other regulatory regimes;
- native title and cultural heritage, including negotiation of agreements and designing native title strategy in compliance with the Native Title Act and other drivers;
- pollution control, incident management, defending enforcement action and managing contaminated land;
- transactional support across a diverse range of contexts, including in M&A, project finance and procurement; and
- stakeholder engagement and community interfaces.

Your role will involve both front-end and contentious work. In addition, you will have exposure to build your client management and development responsibilities, and work within a collaborative and growing team that will foster your career development.

**SKILLS, EXPERIENCE AND QUALIFICATIONS**

To be successful in this role, you will have:

- 3+ years’ legal experience in Australia including demonstrated experience within environmental and planning law or Native Title and cultural heritage law
- An excellent academic record
- Excellent communication, time management and project management skills
- A demonstrated willingness to be flexible and adaptable to different working styles
- An eagerness to create an exceptional experience for our clients and value empathy, simplicity and commerciality as we do.

**GROUP / TEAM**

Real Estate

**GROUP / TEAM DESCRIPTION**

We bring together experts in land access and acquisition, environment and planning, regulatory approvals, native title and cultural heritage to provide our clients with seamless and integrated project advice.

**ROLE TYPE**

Legal professionals/Practice Group

**CONTRACT TYPE**

Permanent

**WORKING PATTERN**

Full Time

**DIVERSITY & INCLUSION**

At Herbert Smith Freehills you will be part of a diverse, innovative culture where high performance, client focus and highly engaged people are our differentiator. People at our firm come from a range of backgrounds and bring a wide variety of experiences and perspectives to their work with us. We strive to ensure that our inclusive environment means you feel valued and able to perform at your best by being your authentic self at work. We know that our future success not only depends on being innovative and progressive in the changing legal market but, most importantly, on our people feeling highly engaged in meaningful work.

We understand that you have commitments and personal interests outside of work and we strive to create a working environment based on mutual trust and respect, in which you can perform at your best whilst maintaining sustainable balance across your life.

Herbert Smith Freehills