Principal Legal Officer, Office of International Law – Executive Level 2

Job Description

Our Opportunities

The Office is expanding its Trade and Investment and Litigation teams and is seeking to fill multiple positions, at all levels, in these areas. For these roles, we are looking for public international lawyers with an interest and experience in:

• litigation, especially in investment arbitration, including undertaking discovery, managing expert and lay witnesses, and preparing written and oral pleadings, and
• trade and investment law, including negotiating trade and investment agreements.

The Office is also looking to fill positions across all areas of practice and welcomes applications from all public international lawyers, particularly those with skills and experience in:

• human rights and refugee law
• international criminal law
• the law of armed conflict and the use of force
• cyber and intelligence law
• oceans and environment law
• air and space law
• nuclear law, and
• diplomatic law and the law of international organisations.

Who are we looking for?

We seek people who bring new ideas, diverse experience, and global perspectives, and are willing to explore innovative ways of working. People who work for us will display leadership at all levels, apply information effectively in order to solve problems, and work collaboratively to achieve outcomes.

The tasks and key projects that Principal Legal Officers may be involved with include:

• leading practice groups and litigation teams of 5 – 10 Legal Officers
• leading on the provision of specialised legal advice to Australian government agencies on matters of international law
• supporting senior leadership in the implementation of organisational strategy and governance across the Office
• developing legal advising capacity amongst staff and building high performing teams
• managing diverse stakeholder relationships across government.

Please refer to the AGD Performance Expectations for more detail.

The range and nature of work within the Attorney-General’s Department requires a workforce that reflects our diverse society and the department provides a number of support mechanisms for employees.

As an AGD employee, you will:

• be part of an inclusive and diverse work environment
• receive a generous starting salary and work conditions
• benefit from supportive learning and development
• be supported by a range of active networks including the Indigenous Employee Network, the Celebrating Ability Network, the Women’s Network, the Pride Network and the Cultural and Linguistically Diverse Network.

To see further information regarding our support for our employees, please see our Workplace Diversity Page.