Lawyer - Prosecutions

Work Type: Fixed-term - Full-time

Salary: $97,955 - $111,142

Grade: VPS 4

Occupation: Legal

Location: Melbourne - CBD and Inner Metro suburbs

Reference: VG/101471

The Victorian Fisheries Authority (VFA) is a statutory authority established to facilitate the effective management of Victoria's fisheries resources in a coordinated and strategic way that ensures their ongoing sustainability. The VFA functions to ensure that the Government, the recreational and commercial fishing sectors, and the Victorian community can share in and obtain the benefits from sustainable fisheries management.

The VFA has employees located in the Melbourne CBD, metropolitan Melbourne and across regional Victoria.

Lawyer - Prosecutions

• Salary: 97,955 - $111,142 (Plus superannuation)
• Fixed-Term position for 6 months. VPS employees may apply for this role as a secondment opportunity.
• Usual hours of work: Full-time
• Usual work location: Melbourne – CBD (Flexible)

The Role

As a Lawyer - Prosecutions, you will be responsible for conducting prosecutions within Victoria across various Courts.

The Lawyer's role includes reviewing briefs of evidence for sufficiency of evidence, providing authoritative and accurate legal advice and recommendations to investigators and authorised officers, prosecuting contraventions across a broad range of laws, including those relating to the Fisheries Act 1995 and other relevant legislation the VFA enforces, managing the administration of offence files, infringement notices and official warnings.

As part of a newly formed capability, the Lawyer will have an influential role in the growth of the unit including playing a part in the development of policies, procedures and practices as well as implementing change and delivering training to authorised officers, investigators, and other prosecutors. As such, this role provides opportunity for the successful candidate to develop strong leadership and stakeholder engagement skills.

The successful candidate for this position will be organised, with strong attention to detail, possess strong conceptual and analytical skills and be capable of working independently. A flexible and adaptive individual with a focus on teamwork and a drive for service excellence and professionalism will excel in this role. Prior experience in the practice of criminal law and evidence is essential.

Key accountabilities include:

• Provide legal support to the Community Engagement and Major Crime Division to achieve strategic enforcement outcomes including by:
• Identifying, researching, and analysing legal and policy issues relevant to operations and functions of the Community Engagement and Major Crime Division of the VFA.
• Delivering advice under supervision to investigators and officers conducting investigations and operations.
• Having working knowledge and experience in relevant legislation and legal practice pertaining to the role and the organisation.
• Reviewing matters and providing recommendations for appropriate enforcement action.
• Communicating with influence, in writing and verbally, to convey specialist information of legal and evidential issues to investigators, officers and relevant stakeholders.
• Prepare and conduct prosecutions of Fisheries and other offences including by:
• Assessing briefs for sufficiency of evidence and providing recommendations for appropriate action, in accordance with relevant policies, guidelines, procedures and standards.
• Appearing as an advocate in summary prosecutions in Victorian Court, by doing so demonstrating high level communication skills and negotiation skills representing VFA in Court appearances.
• Briefing and instructing counsel and contracted solicitors on the State Government Legal Panel as required.
• Managing an individual caseload of prosecutions, abiding by model litigant principles, including by:
  • Engaging proactively in discussions with investigators, officers, and solicitors for accused aimed at achieving early resolution of matters through appropriate negotiations;
  • Maintaining good file management using relevant databases and systems; and
  • Reviewing Court outcomes and making recommendations on process improvements and/or referring matters for appeal.
• Build and maintain constructive professional relationships with external stakeholders including by:
  • Liaising, consulting and negotia ting with other departments and agencies, on all matters concerning prosecution of offences, including the DPP, OPP, VGSO, Fines Victoria etc.
  • Liaising with external stakeholders including barristers, Court/tribunal staff, other government departments and agencies and professional bodies in relation to litigation and a wide range of legal and policy issues.
• Under the direction of the Managing Principal Lawyer – Prosecutions, work autonomously but within a team environment including by:
  • Contributing to the development of the VFA Prosecutions Unit including by contributing to policy development, identification of issues and trends and resolution of problems in the prosecution of cases.
  • Undertaking assignments independently, or as required, with other members of the Prosecutions Unit.
  • Working within limited time constraints.
  • Seeking support and direction from team members and supervisors when necessary.
  • Undertaking other duties and projects as required.

The Team

The position of Lawyer – Prosecutions will work within Prosecutions Unit, which sits within the Victorian Fisheries Authority (VFA) group.

About You

To be successful in this role you will have the following skills and experience:

• Communication Skills: Prepares briefs, letters, emails and reports using clear, concise and grammatically correct language; Edits written communications to ensure they contain the information necessary to achieve their purpose and meet audience needs; Ensures appropriate style and formats are used; Confidently conveys ideas and information in a clear and interesting way; Clearly understands the target audience and the objectives of the communication; Uses audience feedback to refine communication and ensure communications are understood; Handles difficult and sensitive communications well; Demonstrated ability to translate legal concepts and legislation into 'plain language'.
• Planning and Organising: Sets clearly defined objectives and priorities and operates accordingly, reviewing and adjusting as required; Identifies processes, tasks and resources required to achieve a goal; Establishes systems and procedures to guide work and track progress; Recognises actual and potential barriers and finds effective ways to deal with them.
• Problem Solving: Seeks all relevant information for problem-solving; Liaises with stakeholders; Analyses issues from different perspectives and draws sound inferences from information available; Identifies and proposes workable solutions to problems; Implements solutions, evaluates effectiveness and adjusts actions as required.
• Influence and Negotiation: Gains agreement to proposals and ideas; Builds behind-the-scenes support for ideas to ensure buy-in and ownership; Uses chains of indirect influence to achieve outcomes (e.g. 'Gets A to show B so B will tell C'); Involves experts or other third parties to strengthen a case.
• Organisational Awareness: Understands issues and pressures to which the organisation has to respond; Understands the reasons behind the organisational climate and culture.
• Decisiveness: Makes rational and sound decisions based on a consideration of the facts and alternatives; Makes tough decisions, sometimes with incomplete information; Evaluates rational and emotional elements of situations; Makes quick decisions where required; Commits to a definite course of action.
• Detail focus: Observes fine details; Identifies gaps in information; Looks for logical sequences of information; Highlights practical considerations of plans and activities.

Further Information

For a confidential discussion, pleas e contact Vivian Nguyen, Managing Principal Lawyer – Prosecutions on

The department is committed to creating and maintaining a child safe organisation. We have zero tolerance of child abuse and are committed to taking the necessary steps to protect children from harm by adopting a preventative, proactive and participatory approach to child safety in accordance with the Child Safe Standards.

Successful candidates will be required to undergo a National Police Records Check prior to commencing employment with the Department. For further information on the position, please refer to the attached position description.

How to Apply

Please click the 'Apply Now' button. As part of the application process, you will need to provide a copy of your resume and cover letter.

Applications close at 23:59pm on Sunday, 14 September 2025.

Applications close Sunday 14 September 2025 at 11.59pm

Posted

29 August 2025