Senior Lawyer - Part Time

at  The Garvan Institute of Medical Research

The Legal Office sits within the Professional Services Team led by the Chief Operating Officer. The Legal Office works with relevant stakeholders to provide pragmatic legal advice to ensure that Garvan’s research, corporate and commercial activities are conducted in a way that is in alignment with Garvan’s mission. The Legal Office also provides support to the Garvan Research Foundation (GRF) and Australian Bio Resources (ABR).

Legal service delivery - agreements and advice

• Negotiating, preparing and managing a range of agreements to facilitate research and related activities at Garvan including:
• Research Collaboration Agreements, Material Transfer Agreements (MTAs), Data Transfer Agreements (DTAs); and services contracts relating to human and animal research
• Agreements relating to intellectual property management, ownership and protection
• Review of funding and grant agreements with government and philanthropic funding bodies
• Negotiating, preparing and managing a range of contracts and agreements to facilitate commercial transactions including services and procurement agreements, IT and technology agreements, property agreements and employment agreements.
• Working with the Commercial Development and Innovation team on complex intellectual property, strategy and technology transfer matters between Garvan and external academic and commercial organisations (including drafting licencing and assignment agreements)
• Providing advice to internal stakeholders including research staff and the professional services team regarding interpretation of contracts in terms of rights and liabilities
• Providing advice in relation to the establishment of new Garvan entities or research centres.
• Working with GRF to provide legal services such as corporate sponsorship arrangements, fundraising agreements and agreements related to promotional initiatives.
• Assisting incoming and outgoing researchers transfer materials and intellectual property into and out of Garvan through drafting and negotiating IP Access Deeds.
• Managing external contracting arrangements including monitoring activities post-contract, renegotiations and variations/amendments.
• Assisting with management of legal compliance requirements to minimize risks for the Institute including monitoring changes in legislation and assessing their impact on Garvan.

Policies, systems and process

• Developing, reviewing and updating templates, clause, policies and procedures in relation to Legal Office activities and providing input into Garvan policies generally.
• Working with Legal Office management and organisational tools (e.g. contract management systems) and identifying and implementing process improvements to improve productivity and effectiveness and ensure the Legal Office is working in accordance with best practice.
• Coordinating and preparing approval documentation for Garvan executives and/or Board in accordance with Garvan’s Contracts Approval Process.

Staff mentoring and training

• Training and mentoring more junior staff including delegation and supervision of tasks for casual legal interns/students.
• Development and delivery of internal training programs where appropriate.

Management & internal reporting

• Assisting the Head of Legal in preparing any reports/advice required for the Garvan Board & Executive Team