Senior Lawyer, Legal Policy Branch in Canberra

Who We Are

The PM&C General Counsel team deliver high level, practical legal advice to support the Prime Minister, Secretary and the department to identify and manage legal risk.

You will work in a small team and engage widely across the department, advising on a range of issues including employment, public and commercial law.

You will be comfortable working with a wide range of stakeholders, including senior executives.

What You Will Do

As a Senior Lawyer in the General Counsel team, you will work in a fast-paced environment and operate with a high degree of independence.

Your strategic and analytical mindset will mean you can be trusted to anticipate and mitigate legal risks, with a whole of department perspective.

• You Will Support The General Counsel In
• Building strong, trusted relationships across the department.
• Supporting the management of legal risks.
• Providing high level, solutions-focused legal advice to the Secretary, Senior Executives and internal stakeholders.
• Advising on workplace law, including advice on the Fair Work Act 2009, Work Health and Safety Act 2011, Public Service Act 1999, supporting workplace investigations, and drafting or reviewing workplace policies and procedures.
• Advising on public law and administrative law matters, including Freedom of Information requests, Privacy, statutory decision‑making and appointments.
• Supporting the Department’s compliance with the Legal Services Directions 2025.
• What You Will Bring
• Technical

Expertise: Strong capability working in a government environment, supported by in-depth experience, statutory interpretation and analytical skills.

Ability to deliver clear, practical advice on a range of legal issues within short timeframes, whilst balancing competing priorities.

• Strong Stakeholder Engagement and

Communication: Builds trusted relationships internally across the department and externally with other agencies and stakeholders.

Delivers a client focused approach and communicates confidently and effectively, including with senior executives.

Escalates sensitive issues appropriately and provides practical legal advice to support informed decision‑making.

• Judgement and
• Problem

Solving: Applies judgement and a practical, solutions‑focused approach to legal problems.

Assesses legal risk within the broader departmental and whole of government context, balancing legal, operational and strategic considerations when preparing advice.

• To Be Eligible To Apply, You Must
• Hold a law degree from an Australian university, or equivalent qualifications that make you eligible for admission as a legal practitioner in Australia.
• Be admitted, or eligible for admission, as a legal practitioner in Australia, and
• Be able to obtain and maintain a practising certificate with the ACT Law Society.
• The Following Experience Will Be Highly Regarded
• Five years’ post admission legal experience (or equivalent) gained in government and/or private legal practice.
• Demonstrated experience in government, advising on administrative law, statutory interpretation, commercial and/or procurement, and/or employment law matters.
• Flexible Work

At PM&C we recognise the broad benefits of offering flexibility in how, when and where work is performed.

We consider flexibility first from a starting position of ‘how can we make this work?’ and consider individual circumstances and operational requirements in making genuine attempts to establish mutually beneficial arrangements.

Please reach out to the contact officer if you would like to explore what flexibility might look like for you, such as part time work, variable start and finish times or working from home.

• Eligibility
• Under section 22(8) of the Public Service Act 1999 , employees must be Australian citizens to be employed in the APS unless the Agency Head has agreed otherwise, in writing.

At PM&C to be eligible for this position you should be an Australian Citizen by the completion of the recruitment process , except under exceptional circumstances.

• The successful candidate must be able to obtain and maintain a security clearance, or hold a current security clearance of an appropriate level.
• The successful candidate will be assessed through our pre‑employment screening checks, such as an Australian Criminal History Check, and will normally be subject to a six‑month probation period if new to the APS or has not yet completed their probation period elsewhere in the APS.
• Security Clearance Required
• Negative Vetting Level 1 (Secret)
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