General Counsel, Legal Services

at  Queensland Health

We are Metro South Health
We are the major public healthcare provider for Brisbane’s south side, Logan, Redlands and the Scenic Rim. We operate five major hospitals and a range of community, specialty and state-wide healthcare services. We are renowned for teaching and research excellence.
We are truly dedicated people who care about our community. We come to work to make a difference. We save lives, changes lives and make the world a better place. We overcome the many challenges that come our way by going above and beyond and achieve the best possible outcomes by working together. We are bold, innovative, collaborative, inspiring.
We recognise our strength comes from the diversity of our people and so we encourage people of all genders, ethnicities, ages, abilities, languages, sexual orientation and family responsibilities to apply.
We are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive workplace for our people and our community.
We are part of and proud of the community we serve. We are better together.
Join us at Metro South Health and be part of a world-class, dynamic and growing health service that embraces technology, excellence in health care, teaching, research and empowering our people to be the best in serving our community.
About the Role

The General Counsel leads Metro South Health’s (MSH) legal function and provides and coordinates legal advice and legal services across MSH. The role identifies and manages legal issues and risks, advises the executive leadership on significant strategic issues, and provides advice on statutory, regulatory and government policy compliance.

• Lead the delivery of high quality legal services and strategic legal advice across MSH, offering a high level understanding of the significant legislative and policy framework in which public health services in Queensland operate.
• Operationally manage a team of 14+ lawyers and staff across the health-service, and provide professional leadership, support and guidance in accordance with best practice and contemporary HR practice.
• Use highly developed technical skill in the provision of legal advice (often in urgent circumstances) across a broad range of areas (i.e medico-legal/health, commercial) which is relevant, cogent and practical with minimal use of external lawyers.
• Liaise with key internal and external stakeholders including the MSH executive leadership team, counterparts in other hospital and health services, the Department of Health and other government stakeholders.

Mandatory qualifications
The General Counsel is required to have a Bachelor of Laws (or equivalent tertiary qualification) and be admitted as an Australian Legal Practitioner of the High Court of Australia or the Supreme Court of an Australian State or Territory.
Minimum 8 years post admission experience in a similar field or position and experience practising in-house, within government, or in a top-tier environment is highly desirable to be successful in the role. The incumbent must also have high level knowledge, skills and experience in the areas of law identified above.
Find out about the role in more detail and how to apply in the attached Role Description.
Our values of Integrity, Compassion, Accountability, Respect, Engagement and Excellence, shape our culture within Metro South Health. Our values guide our day-to-day decision making and are fundamental to what we care about as a health service, how we behave, how we interact with each other and provide care to the many patients who come through our doors every day.
We offer rewarding career opportunities across a wide range of clinical and non-clinical areas across our health service and pride ourselves on providing a work environment that is safe, satisfying, flexible, and promotes a healthy work-life balance.
As a Metro South employee, you will benefit from a higher than standard employer contribution to Superannuation of up to 12.75%, access to salary packaging, flexible working arrangements and competitive salary rates with annual incremental increases.
You can find out more about why it’s so great to work at Metro South here: www.metrosouth.health.qld.gov.au/join-our-team.This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Australia License

• Lead the delivery of high quality legal services and strategic legal advice across MSH, offering a high level understanding of the significant legislative and policy framework in which public health services in Queensland operate.
• Operationally manage a team of 14+ lawyers and staff across the health-service, and provide professional leadership, support and guidance in accordance with best practice and contemporary HR practice.
• Use highly developed technical skill in the provision of legal advice (often in urgent circumstances) across a broad range of areas (i.e medico-legal/health, commercial) which is relevant, cogent and practical with minimal use of external lawyers.
• Liaise with key internal and external stakeholders including the MSH executive leadership team, counterparts in other hospital and health services, the Department of Health and other government stakeholders