Lawyer or Associate | Public Law

Location: Sydney

Contract Type: Permanent

MinterEllison is one of Australia’s largest independent law and consulting firms. With a heritage of almost 200 years, we are known for our excellence, and our authentic and enduring relationships with our clients, our people and our communities. Clients seek out MinterEllison to help them solve complex problems every day. We do this by our full-service legal offering and complementary consulting offering.

We offer opportunities to work on industry-leading mandates for top-tier clients, while being part of a high-performing and collaborative team that values excellence, diversity of thought, curiosity, and inclusion. We value our people and empower them to achieve their ambitions - with the support, trust and autonomy to grow their careers in meaningful ways.

At MinterEllison, we're leading the way with AI and other emerging technologies, powering innovation right across our firm. You will have the opportunity to engage with AI tools we've built, and other external AI tools, to enhance efficiencies and excellence internally and with our clients.

We support sustainable ways of working regarding how, when and where you work and offer a wide range of social, financial and health benefits (see www.minterellison.com/-/media//Minter-Ellison/Files/Careers/MinterEllison-Employee-Benefits-2025.ashx)

Our Team

MinterEllison’s Public Law Team provides legal services to a range of clients in Canberra, Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth. This role is based in our Sydney office and you will be working primarily with Sophie Lloyd and Tom Galvin, Partners, along with other members of our collaborative national team.

MinterEllison has a strong public law practice, including acting for Commonwealth clients in the federal courts and the Administrative Review Tribunal, and providing legal and strategic advice on a range of administrative law issues, including good decision making, statutory interpretation, privacy, and freedom of information.

The Role

In this role you will have responsibility for a range of administrative law and litigation work. You will manage a large litigation caseload of merits review (before the Administrative Review Tribunal) and judicial review matters (before the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia, the Federal Court of Australia and the High Court of Australia). This role involves a significant amount of solicitor advocacy at interlocutory processes, final hearings and appeals (as well as instructing counsel in more complicated matters).

About You

You will be a motivated, focused and enthusiastic Lawyer or Associate (1-4 years PQE) who is seeking a challenging and fast paced role within an outstanding national team.

We are looking for candidates who have public and administrative law knowledge, and experience in conducting litigation for government. Candidates with litigation experience working for the Department of Home Affairs, or other Commonwealth agencies will be highly regarded.

We welcome applications from candidates with:

• excellent technical and drafting skills;
• interest / experience in advocacy;
• great attention to detail;
• financial acumen;
• strong organisational skills, time management and the ability to work independently;
• ability to meet tight deadlines;
• client focus and demonstrated ability to form enduring relationships with peers, clients and industry experts;
• ability to provide pragmatic advice and solutions to clients;
• strong digital literacy and interest in emerging legal technologies; and
• resilience and a commitment to providing exceptional levels of service to our clients

How to apply

We encourage applications from people of all ages, abilities, cultural backgrounds, genders (including trans or gender diverse), LGBTQ+ people and those with carer responsibilities. We particularly encourage Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to apply.

We prefer to connect with people directly, so please submit your CV by clicking on the 'Apply' button. We encourage all applications, including if you do not meet all the criteria listed for the role. Your application will also enable us to consider you for other opportunities that may be available at MinterEllison.

If you are currently a MinterEllison employee, please apply through the internal careers page.

If you would like further information, require any adjustments throughout the recruitment process or for a confidential discussion, please contact Alexandra.Hussain@minterellison.com.