Senior Associate - Civil litigation and professional conduct (Brisbane)

Avant Mutual Group; Brisbane; Hybrid; AUD 150,000 - 230,000; Full time

Job summary

Avant Law in Brisbane is seeking a Senior Associate to join our team of purpose-driven lawyers defending medical practitioners. You will handle civil claims and professional conduct matters for doctors and medical practices, delivering high-quality legal services in a collaborative, non-billable-unit environment.

This permanent full-time role offers a hybrid work arrangement and opportunities to mentor junior solicitors, contribute to client-focused strategies, and advance your career within

Qualifications

• Post-admission experience in medical negligence litigation (5+ years) preferred.
• Experience with professional conduct matters.
• Tertiary legal qualifications completed and in good standing.

Responsibilities

• Independently manage a diverse civil litigation and professional conduct file load.
• Provide high-quality, member-focused legal services to Avant practitioners.
• Prepare and manage medical negligence claims and professional conduct matters.
• Respond to Ahpra, regulatory bodies and health commissions as required.
• Mentor junior solicitors and coordinate work within the team.
• Represent members in courts, tribunals and inquiries.
• Contribute articles for Avant newsletters and deliver legal presentations.
• Support the Legal Team Manager in supervising the Civil Law Team.

Skills

Medical negligence litigation

Civil litigation

Professional conduct matters

Mentoring juniors

Education

Relevant tertiary law degree

Job description

Avant Law is a national specialist law firm seeking a Senior Associate to join our Brisbane team of purpose-driven lawyers who are passionate about defending medical practitioners. You will act for doctors and medical practices in civil claims and professional conduct matters, including regulatory and disciplinary proceedings. If you are looking for a law firm without billable units and instead focussed upon collaboration, advocacy and making a difference for doctors, we want to hear from you.

This is an opportunity for an experienced lawyer (5+ PQE) to develop their career working for Australia’s largest specialist medical defence law firm that has been recognised for its wide range of expertise. This is a permanent full-time role with a hybrid work arrangement.

The key responsibilities include:

• Independently manage a diverse civil litigation and professional conduct file load of varying complexity, consistently meeting KPIs and billing targets while delivering high quality, member focused legal services to Avant Mutual.
• Deliver sustainable, timely and efficient legal services in order to achieve the best possible outcomes for both Avant and the individual practitioner member as well as a reduction in cycle times, accurate reserve and reduction in external legal costs.
• Prepare and manage medical negligence claims under the Personal Injuries Proceedings Act 2002 (Qld) and civil litigation files.
• Prepare and manage professional conduct matters including responding to Ahpra, the Medical Board of Australia, Office of the Health Ombudsman, Office of the Information Commission, Health Rights Commission, Coroner’s Court, Department of Health Disability & Ageing (Medicare) and various health quality commissions around Australia.
• Providing oral and written legal advice to Avant members and practices and Avant Claims Managers concerning professional conduct matters.
• Adhering to claims and solicitor protocols, contributing to the delivery of a superior and comprehensive legal service.
• Represent members in courts, tribunals, commissions and/or inquiries.
• Prepare written articles for publication in Avant’s member newsletters and other authorised publications, and deliver internal and external legal presentations as required from time to time.
• Assist the Legal Team Manager - Civil Law Team as requested in supervising and mentoring more junior Solicitors in the team and coordinating the work of the team.

To be successful in this role you will have:

• Demonstrated post admission experience (ideally 5+ years) in medical negligence litigation, preferably on the defendant side, and professional conduct matters.
• Extensive experience in civil litigation, and/or adjacent fields (e.g. personal injuries) with minimal supervision.
• Relevant tertiary legal qualifications.
• Eligible to hold an unsupervised practising certificate as a Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Queensland and the High Court of Australia.
• The ability to express ideas effectively with proven excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• High level of prioritisation, time management and self-management skills.
• The ability to mentor and support junior team members.
• Good computer literacy and competency to work in an electronic document management environment.

Why work for Avant Law?

• You would be working for Australia’s largest specialist medico-legal law firm.
• You will be working under the leadership of recognised experts in medical defence litigation and provided with mentoring.
• You are guaranteed a pipeline of work from your instructing client, Avant Insurance, who are co-located.
• You will work with event-based billing (goodbye 6 minute units and daily billable targets!)
• You will get to work on a great variety and breadth of medical negligence claims and professional conduct matters.
• Avant Law offers a defined career progression and promotion pathway.
• 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 offering hybrid working.
• Avant is Australia’s leading medical defence organisation with a proud heritage of protecting Australian medical professionals for over 130 years.

Avant now represents over 90,000 health practitioners and medical students across every state and territory, delivering market leading products and services to meet their professional, personal and practice needs. Building on this heritage, our vision is to be the most trusted professional partner in supporting doctors throughout their lives and careers.

As a mutual organisation, owned by members and run purely for their benefit, our members are at the centre of all we do. As well as providing products and services to our member, we play a broader community role by advocating for improvements in the healthcare system and in quality, safety and professionalism in medicine, through delivering education and research activities.

Equal Opportunity Employer

Avant supports doctors so they can serve Australia's diverse communities. Having diversity in our workforce brings valuable perspectives and strengthens our ability to support healthcare professionals.

We therefore welcome applications from people of all backgrounds, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, people from culturally diverse communities, LGBTQIA+ individuals, people with disabilities, and those with caring responsibilities.

Our inclusive workplace is somewhere everyone can succeed.

Ready to join us?

If you're passionate about supporting Australia's healthcare professionals, we'd love to hear from you.