Senior Associate

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.

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 national Public Law Team provides legal services to a range of Commonwealth and State clients in Canberra, Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth. This role is based in Sydney and primarily involves working with Partners Sophie Lloyd and Tom Galvin, as well as other senior members of the Public Law Team.

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

The Role

In this role you will have responsibility for a range of administrative law and litigation work. You will manage a large and diverse caseload of merits review litigation (before the Administrative Review Tribunal) and judicial review litigation (before the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia and the Federal Court of Australia). This role involves a large amount of solicitor advocacy at hearings and appeals (as well as instructing counsel in more complicated matters). The role also requires the supervision and review of the work of more junior staff and working with the Partners on client development and training.

About You

You will be a motivated, focused and enthusiastic lawyer who is seeking a challenging and involved role within an outstanding and collaborative national team.

We are looking for candidates who have public and administrative law knowledge (including information law) and experience in conducting litigation for government. Candidates with experience working for the Department of Home Affairs, as well as other Commonwealth agencies in merits and judicial review proceedings, will be highly regarded.

We welcome applications from candidates with:

• strong technical and drafting skills;
• experience in advocacy;
• great attention to detail;
• sound time management and the ability to work independently;
• experience in supervising more junior staff;
• ability to meet tight deadlines whilst also managing fee estimates;
• a client focus and demonstrated ability to form enduring relationships with peers, clients and industry experts;
• ability to provide pragmatic advice and solutions to clients; and
• resilience and a commitment to providing exceptional levels of service to our client base.

We are open to considering current Senior Associates and lawyers at other levels who are experienced in this specialised area.

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 Miriam.Harner@minterellison.com.