Practice Manager/Special Counsel

We are seeking expressions of interest from applicants seeking a career development opportunity or a new challenge. This is a unique opportunity to work within our Avant Law team (VIC) and lead a Civil Practice Group to develop your leadership capability and management skills. We seek an applicant with experience in managing a civil medical negligence team in Victoria. 
 
This is a full-time permanent position based out of our Melbourne office with hybrid working arrangements.  
 

The key responsibilities include: 

• Managing the civil litigation team in accordance with the KPI’s, ensuring billing targets are met and high-quality legal services are provided by the civil team; 
• Provision and supervision of lawyers within the civil team and not in the civil team who have some civil files to deliver sustainable, timely and efficient legal services in order to achieve the best possible outcomes for both the membership and the member as well as reduction in cycle times, accurate reserve and reduction in external legal costs; 
• Coordination of resourcing and workflows within the civil team and ensuring the management of claims in accordance with agreed protocols, standards and procedures of Avant Law and professional and ethical standards with documented standards and procedures consistently applied; 
• Supervision, mentoring and development of the civil team (lawyers and paralegals) to enable career development for staff within the Avant Law team; 
• Support the delivery of medico-legal advisory service to Avant members by providing advice and assistance to members; 
• Conducting own civil file load, plus there is scope to also manage own non-civil matters such as professional conduct and coronial matters, allocating civil files to the team and supervising the management of civil claims to the Practice Group and ensuring compliance with professional, legal and ethical standards; 
• Advising and supporting the Head of Practice, Legal and as appropriate the Head of Avant Law and General Manager Civil on State legal trends, issues, reforms, significant cases and other developments relevant to the Practice Group.

To be successful in this role you will have: 

• 10+ years’ PQE ideal. 
• Experience in leadership or strong interest in the development of people leadership skills. 
• Defence medical negligence and insurance law experience ideal. 
• Demonstrated health law knowledge. 
• Proactive in developing relationships and understanding and balancing member, business and team requirements. 
• Excellent communication skills.
• Strong time management and multi-tasking skills. 

 
 
 Why work for Avant Law? 

• You would be working for Australia’s largest specialist medico-legal law firm. 
• You are guaranteed a pipeline of work from your instructing client, Avant Insurance, who are co-located. 
• You will get to work on a great variety and breadth of cases but with a focus on medical indemnity claims. 
• You will be working in an open and collaborative environment with access to the top specialist medico-legal solicitors in the country.
• Flexible working practices.  

 
We prefer to deal with candidates directly. For further information on this role, please contact Lisa Craddock, Talent Acquisition Business Partner on lisa.craddock@avant.org.au for a confidential discussion.

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