Head of Strategic Litigation Development
Foster litigation as a tool for change on human rights, democracy and climate change.
Summary about this job
Litigation & Dispute Resolution
Company: Grata Fund
Location: Sydney
Work type: Full Time
Salary: $100,000 plus 9.5% super and salary packaging
Phone: +61-7-3643-6650
Fax: +61-3-2435-4189
E-mail: n\a
Site: n\a
Detail information about job Head of Strategic Litigation Development. Terms and conditions vacancy
About the business
The Head of Strategic Litigation will work in collaboration with the Executive Director to implement Grata Fund's vision and strategy for a robust public interest litigation culture in Australia by:
- Working with the legal sector, academia and campaigners to incubate new strategic litigation in Australia on human rights, democracy and climate change.
- Removing cost barriers to litigation via case financing.
- Building broad campaign alliances around supported litigation to ensure lasting impact beyond the courtroom.
About the role
The Head of Strategic Litigation Development reports to the Executive Director and is responsible for:
- Developing new strategic litigation leads & briefs: monitoring Federal & State legislative proposals, trends and new laws to identify opportunities for litigation; working with the legal and campaign sector to identify strategic opportunities for litigation; and where necessary, develop briefs for counsel.
- Managing Grata Fund's case application process: reviewing and providing feedback on applications for support; identifying strategic potential of cases to address underlying causes of injustice; soliciting and reviewing independent prospects advice from counsel; and making recommendations to the ED & Board on which cases Grata Fund should support.
- Promoting Grata Fund's offering, application process and partnership philosophy to the legal & campaign sector.
- Developing partnerships with pro bono legal teams and pro bono counsel to take cases from ideation to reality.
- Drafting and managing Indemnity and Guarantee Funding Agreements in funded litigation. Drafting and managing partnership Memorandums of Understanding.
- Drafting submissions for relevant Parliamentary and law reform enquiries.
Benefits and perks
6 weeks annual leave
Salary packaging options available as we are a PBI entity.
Skills and experience
We're seeking an Australian qualified lawyer with 3+ years legal experience, who excels at strategic thinking, is results-oriented, and has strong project management and relationship-building skills.
- Results-driven: bias for producing results and a track record of thinking laterally to find solutions (rather than getting immersed in process) and persevering despite obstacles.
- Strategic-thinker: Fluency in reviewing legislative proposals and ability to monitor legislative trends and ability to work with diverse interest groups to identify and foster opportunities for strategic litigation to protect and advance human rights, democracy and climate change.
- Relationship-builder: Track record of building relationships and alliances among a wide range of legal and non-legal players.
- Project management experience: Track record of staying on top of multiple projects without dropping any balls, anticipating obstacles, identifying and involving stakeholders appropriately, and using resources wisely.
- Strong communicator: Stellar formal written communications skills (policy papers, submissions, legal briefs etc). Ability to tell stories in a compelling way for non-legal audiences a plus.
Knowledge of third party litigation funding issues and significant prior experience as a litigator or campaigner are plusses but are not requirements.