Deputy Managing Lawyer

About this role

• Full time ongoing position
• Salary range: $110,357 - $127,333 (pro rata) plus super plus salary packaging
• Up to $15,900 in salary packaging and hybrid WFH & office model

About the role
In this role you will manage and lead a team of Senior and Junior Legal Help Generalist Lawyers, manage a Specialist phone-based legal advice service with a focus on mental health legal rights, assist in day-to-day operations, establish stakeholder partnerships, provide legal supervision and assistance with complaints and review and update service agreements and protocols.

You will be required to stay up to date with legal developments and contribute to direct service delivery. Additionally, you will support staff operations and foster a positive team culture and undertake additional duties as needed to support program and strategic plan.

About Legal Help
Legal Help is an innovative access to justice contact centre. It is the gateway to Victoria Legal Aid (VLA) and proposed main entry point to the legal assistance sector in Victoria under the Access to Justice reforms.

Legal Help is a leader in technology and the law. It provides responsive and targeted high-quality legal help to community members by diagnosing legal problems in a wide range of areas, providing legal information, legal advice and referrals to legal and non-legal services. Legal Help facilitates much needed access to legal advice and information for people living in rural or regional areas who may not be able to travel to a legal office.

This role is based at our Melbourne CBD office on Wurundjeri Country.

About you
As our ideal candidate, you will possess:

• People management and leadership capabilities in motivating a team, providing supervision, mentoring and debriefing, and fostering a cooperative and supportive team environment.
• Demonstrated capacity to work as a highly skilled lawyer and/or legal policy officer in complex matters including criminal law, family law and/or civil justice.
• Substantial knowledge or practical experience in the law and relevant court procedures across a range of jurisdictions, with a particular focus on mental health and disability law.
• Excellent interpersonal skills including the ability to communicate effectively and respectfully with a range of stakeholders, including clients from diverse backgrounds.
• A current unrestricted Australian practising certificate which entitles you to practise in Victoria as a government legal practitioner (mandatory).

Don't meet every requirement? At VLA, we understand that your work and life experiences can be just as valuable. If you're excited about this role but your CV doesn't align perfectly with our job description, we encourage you to apply anyway. You may be just the right candidate for this or one of our many other opportunities.

About Victoria Legal Aid
We provide legal representation to those who need it most. With over 1400 staff employed in 16 offices across Victoria, we help people with their legal problems by providing information, advice and education with a focus on the prevention and early resolution of legal problems.

Our clients come from all walks of life and so do we. We hire great people from a wide variety of backgrounds and foster a work culture that's inclusive as well as diverse. Your unique ideas and perspectives are valued so that we best represent the people we serve.

Employee benefits

• Focus on work-life balance including flexible working arrangements
• Hybrid work from home & office model
• Training and professional development opportunities
• Excellent salary packaging options including General Expenses up to $15,900, Meals & Entertainment up to $2,650 and Novated Leasing
• Opportunity to join Myki Commuter Club(and salary package the cost)
• Supportive team environment in modern offices (including free gym and end-of-trip facilities at our CBD office)
• Access to discounted Private Health Insurance

How to apply
To be considered for this role, please submit your current resume and a cover letter addressing the key selection criteria.

If you require adjustments to the recruitment and selection process or need an alternative format to any of the application material, please don't hesitate to get in touch with our team.

For further information, please review the attached position description or contact Beck Johnston-Ryan, Managing Lawyer on (03) 9606 5202 or recruitment@vla.vic.gov.au.

No agency applications will be accepted.

Applications close by 11.59pm on Tuesday 30 September 2025.

Other relevant information
It is a requirement that staff attend for office-based days at their primary work location. In line with this requirement, interstate applications will be considered only where the candidate is able and willing to relocate to Victoria, unless part of a border community.

VLA is committed to putting the safety and wellbeing of children first.