Lawyer

The Organisation

Westjustice is a community organisation that provides free legal help to people in the Western suburbs of Melbourne.

Westjustice can help with a broad range of everyday legal problems including consumer disputes credit and debt family law and family violence fines motor vehicle accidents tenancy youth criminal law and more.

Westjustices purpose is to deliver targeted services and drive meaningful change.

Benefits & Culture

• Be a part of an organisation where 98% of our team are proud to work for
• We pay 3% above the SCHADS award
• Strong focus on wellbeing
• Strongly committed to being a diverse and inclusive organisation
• Flexible working conditions
• Gifted additional paid leave over the summer holiday period

The project

Westjustice is embarking upon an exciting project with Youthlaw Melbourne City Mission (MCM) and the Centre for Innovative Justice (CIJ) at RMIT University. We are seeking an experienced lawyer confident in a range of relevant practice areas and passionate about making a difference within an innovative project.

The Handing the Keys to Young People Project will deliver a homelessness-justice integrated practice model to support unaccompanied young people with legal and social support needs to assist with accessing and maintaining housing. The project will also contribute to a growing evidence base looking at the needs experiences and goals of unaccompanied young people rooted in a deep recognition of children and young people as victim survivors in their own right. The project also aims to address uncertainty around key areas of law including the extent to which a legislative right to housing exists for young people under the age of 18 who cannot remain safely at home.

Services will be delivered by an integrated practice model for unaccompanied young people (up to 25 years of age) with interrelated experiences of family violence and homelessness. It will focus on those young people who present to the service system without a protective parent; are facing legal (and other) barriers to accessing or maintaining safe secure housing; and whose needs cannot best be met by another program or service response.

Service delivery will commence in December 2025 and conclude January 2027. The program will be delivered primarily in inner Melbourne and Melbournes Western suburbs based on the existing footprint of the program partners.

The role

Westjustice is seeking to employ a Lawyer ideally with 2-3 years post admission experience preferably working with children and young people on a full-time maximum term contract to join our Children and Young Peoples Rights Team.

The role will report to the Children and Young Peoples Rights Program Manager/s and will provide in-reach and outreach legal services to children and young people aged under 25 in diverse settings including youth hubs youth refuges and youth housing services in the west. You will also have the opportunity to work closely with our partners CIJ MCM and Youthlaw.

The legal work includes advice case work and developing and delivering community legal education. You will also contribute to law and policy reform activity and the achievement of our strategic advocacy priorities that aspire for excellent legal and life outcomes for clients.

You will also contribute to and support evidence and practice improvements of the project (e.g. focus groups data collection sense-making workshops).

There will be an opportunity to develop legal skills and knowledge across other areas of practice.

This position will be based at our Sunshine Visy Cares Hub office but will be required to work at our other offices and/or clinic sites as required.

Skills and role requirement:

• The ability to engage and communicate effectively with children and young people and their families from migrant and refugee backgrounds through a trauma informed practice lens
• Demonstrated ability to engage with diverse audiences spanning young people and their families sector colleagues and supports.
• Working in an integrated multidisciplinary team
• 2-3 years post admission experience but candidates with less experience will be considered.

Demonstrated legal experience in any of our key legal areas:

• Family violence (highly desirable)
• Personal Safety Intervention orders (highly desirable)
• Criminal defence (highly desirable)
• Fines (highly desirable)
• Debts (highly desirable)
• Victims of crime (highly desirable)
• Tenancy (highly desirable)
• Social Security (desirable)
• Consumer (desirable)
• Discrimination (desirable)
• Family law (desirable)
• Child protection (desirable)

• Dedicated interest and commitment to social justice legal practice.
• Excellent time management and file management skills.
• Advocacy and litigation experience or the ability to develop these skills.

The successful applicants will require a current Working with Childrens Check and a National Police Check or be prepared to apply for both. Applicants must possess the right to work in Australia.

Remuneration

Salary range $103807- $108510 (commensurate with experience) with additional financial benefits of 17.5% leave loading generous salary packaging of up to $15900 for general living expenses accommodation and meal packaging plus statutory employer funded superannuation paid on top of the base salary.

For enquires call April Voigt (Children and Young Peoples Rights Program) onfor a confidential discussion.

To apply please send your resume together with a concise cover letter demonstrating your skills and experience via clicking Apply now. We will be interviewing candidates as applications are received so dont wait to apply! Submit your application as soon as possible to be considered for one of these exciting opportunities.

Westjustice is committed to building a diverse workforce. We strongly encourage applications from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people people living with a disability people from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds mature age workers and LGBTIQA-identifying people. People with lived experience of the justice system are encouraged to apply. A police check result does not automatically disqualify an application but will be individually assessed for the relevant role.

Please ensure that you let us know in advance of any reasonable adjustment you may require during any part of the recruitment process including application and interview by contacting Ellen Flint the subject line:Lawyer Handing the Key to Young People Project enquiry via information disclosed will be held in the strictest of confidence.