General Counsel

Job Description

Take a lead role and use your highly evolved interpersonal, legal & management skills to deliver honed and commercially astute advice to the Women’s.

• Add value to a highly regarded institution
• Broad, challenging in-house position
• Join the Executive Team

About Us  

The Royal Women’s Hospital is Australia’s oldest and most distinguished tertiary hospital, dedicated to improving the health and wellbeing of women and newborns, offering specialised services within maternity, neonatal and women’s health.  Our goal is to be the best place to work, learn and contribute, and to provide exceptional experiences for our patients and consumers.
 
Our General Counsel Role

The General Counsel is the lead in-house lawyer for the Women’s and is responsible for providing legal advice to Chief Executive, Board and our Executive. The role sits within the Office of the CEO and has a seat on the Executive Team.

The General Counsel is responsible for legal risk management, legal compliance and ensuring staff understand their legal obligations. 

In addition, the successful applicant will be required to:  

• Contribute to the overall leadership and management of the Women’s.
• Provide support to achieve the Women’s strategic priorities.
• Contribute to the collaborative development and delivery of the Strategic Plan through the development of strategic service directions aligned with the operational requirements of the hospital.
• In line with the Women’s values and culture, provide honed commercial advice in respect to the activities of the Women’s.
• Keep ahead of changes to the law and to advise the Women’s and its employees of those changes as appropriate.
• Review all new legislation affecting the health industry and delivery of health services, recognizing the importance of good governance at the Women’s.
• Undertake legal risk management activities so as to ensure compliance.
• Attend Board and where necessary Board sub-committee meetings, and supervise the Deputy Board Secretary.
• Manage external legal providers, be actively involved in medico legal matters and FOI requests, supporting subpoenaed staff members when necessary.
• Ensure there is financial responsibility and accountability within the Legal Department and develop strategies that will ensure budgetary targets and KPI’s are met.
• Advise and work with the Chief Procurement Officer on all probity matters pertaining to procurement activities.
• Provide input and advice to the maintenance and development of the Women’s policies and policy framework.

About you  

We are seeking applications from commercially minded lawyers with at least 9+ years of experience gained in health legal practice or a readily transferable area of law/industry. In addition to your honed commercial legal skills, you will have highly evolved interpersonal skills, the ability to manage and lead a small team, and a willingness to provide quality customer service to the organization. As you will deal with a range of key stakeholders, including the CEO, the Board, the Executive, key clinical staff and other public sector General Counsels, you will possess the ability to influence and engage with senior executives as well as others more broadly across the business.  

Benefits  

This role offers a rare chance to take on a leadership position in a well-established and highly regarded for purpose business, and contribute to successfully implementing the vision shared by the team at the Women’s. A key senior role, the General Counsel will use their legal skills to benefit the community. In return, the Women’s offers a good salary package, a range of employee benefits, including flexible working conditions, WFH, training and career opportunities.  

To Apply

To be considered for this quality Melbourne based role or to obtain a copy of the position description, email a CV to Paul Burgess via [email protected] or call Paul to discuss on 0414 687 629. This role is exclusive to Burgess Paluch.