ABOUT US

The Department of Education (the department) is responsible for delivering and regulating state-wide learning and development services to approximately one-third of all Victorians across the early childhood and school education sectors. The department is also one of Victoria’s biggest employers, with approximately 80,000 teaching staff and around 5,000 public service employees.
The Legal Division provides highly valued legal services to support the delivery of the department’s strategic objectives, key reforms and to manage legal risk. In doing so, Legal Division provides direct, practical and strategic legal advice to portfolio ministers, the secretary, other senior staff and over 1,600 government schools, supporting approximately over 650,000 Victorian Government school students.

If you are looking to advance your legal career and would relish the opportunity to work in a high-performing in-house legal team that provides specialist legal advice to a broad range of clients on diverse areas of law, this is for you.
The role offers an exciting opportunity for a dynamic lawyer looking to make an impact and undertake rewarding work. You will be providing high quality, fast paced, and practical advice to Victorian government schools, regional offices and corporate staff in the Department of Education across a variety of areas of law including family law, intervention orders, child protection, school community safety orders, trespass, privacy and information sharing, duty of care, subpoenas and witness summonses and other school-related legal matters in accordance with the VPS values.
The Children, Families and Education Law unit (CFEL) also manages proceedings, inquiries and investigations such as those conducted by the Coroners Court of Victoria and Commission for Children and Young People. The unit provides legal review of department policies and guidelines, correspondence and Cabinet documents and assistance in legal policy issues related to early childhood and schools.
The successful candidate will have experience in some or all of these areas of law, be able to provide high quality and fast-paced legal advice both in writing and verbally, and be motivated to work in a team environment and learn about new areas of law, including the work of a government lawyer.
The successful candidate will work with and be mentored by lawyers who are passionate about their work and genuine about supporting your career aspirations.