Why YOU are important to us and what impact will you have on the Legal Division and the departments' goal. The Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry's legal work is unique. You will have the opportunity to provide advice and services while working closely with policymakers and operational staff on matters that directly affect all Australians across areas as diverse as biosecurity, agricultural production, trade, food, wine, fisheries and forestry. A job with Legal Division is a chance to meaningfully apply your skills to practical outcomes in an environment and with colleagues that are focused on supporting you, your learning, and development. The current vacancy sits within the Practice Management Unit (PMU). The PMU provides support to the Chief Counsel, General Counsels, and the Legal Division's large team of lawyers across the practices. The PMU develops and administers the systems to support a diverse, full service legal practice supporting the department. These systems include business and workforce planning, providing project management support for legal teams and managing billing and invoicing for external legal service providers. As a Senior Paralegal, you will work within the Practice Management Unit to support the department's legal procurement, legislative reporting, and legal training. Further, you will assist in co-ordinating and preparing the Legal Division's accruals, divisional co-ordination, and forecasting. The key duties of the position include This is where you play an important role. Key duties of Senior Paralegal include, but are not limited to: working closely with the Assistant Practice Managers and Practice Manager to support the Chief Counsel, General Counsels, and Principal Legal Officers across the division to facilitate business efficiency reviewing, analysing, and evaluating procedures and materials used by the division to suggest changes and improvements assisting with monthly forecasting, budget management, and financial performance assisting with preparing reports and documents for the Executive and lawyers in the division assisting with divisional co-ordination, including preparing for Senate Estimates tracking of legal expenditure and managing legal expenditure invoices and other expenses across the division assisting with outsourcing of legal matters and liaising with external legal providers managing monthly legal accruals for the department working collaboratively with internal and external stakeholders, including the procurement and accounts receivable teams, as well as client areas across the department assisting with development and implementation of systems and processes across the legal branches developing and delivering internal training to staff in the division on legal division specific systems assisting with project work to support the legal branches and providing ad hoc administration support to lawyers, including preparing reports on legal work in the division assisting with on boarding of new staff, contractors and legal secondees assisting with all aspects of the Continuing Legal Education in-house training program triaging a legal help desk legal research and ad hoc paralegal tasks to support the work of the legal branches. Please Note: This recruitment process will be used to fill one ongoing (permanent) or non-ongoing position. The merit pool established through this selection process, which is valid for a period of eighteen months from the date the vacancy was advertised in the Public Service Gazette, may also be used to fill future non-ongoing and ongoing vacancies in the branch where the duties are of a similar nature.
