• Adelaide SA - Full-time - Senior Leadership Role
• Lead a specialist legal service that improves access to justice for women across South Australia

Women’s Legal Service SA is seeking an experienced and values-driven legal leader to join our Executive Team as Director of Legal Services.

This is a significant leadership opportunity for a senior legal practitioner who is passionate about access to justice, gender equality and delivering high-quality, trauma-informed legal services to women experiencing vulnerability and disadvantage.

Reporting directly to the Chief Executive Officer, the Director of Legal Services will provide strategic and operational leadership across WLSSA’s legal practice, including legal casework, community legal education, law reform, advocacy and strategic litigation. The role also holds responsibility for professional standards, legal practice risk, accreditation, quality assurance and the supervision and development of legal staff, placement students and volunteers.

About Women’s Legal Service SA

Women’s Legal Service SA is a specialist community legal centre providing women and their families with statewide access to justice in a holistic, empowering, culturally competent and confidential manner.

Our vision is simple but powerful: achieving justice for women.

Our work is guided by the values of respect, empowerment, leadership, excellence and teamwork.

About the role

As Director of Legal Services, you will:

• Lead and oversee WLSSA’s legal practice and service delivery.
• Provide strategic advice to the CEO and Executive Team on legal, policy and sector developments.
• Ensure compliance with professional, ethical, accreditation and risk-management obligations.
• Supervise and support Senior Solicitors and oversee the broader legal team.
• Strengthen legal practice systems, file review processes, quality assurance and service standards.
• Lead law reform, advocacy, policy submissions and strategic litigation initiatives.
• Develop productive relationships with courts, community legal centres, pro bono partners and other key stakeholders.
• Oversee community legal education and identify emerging legal needs and service trends.
• Support the professional development, performance and wellbeing of legal staff and volunteers.
• Contribute to organisational planning, funding opportunities, program reporting and budget management.

The position plays a key role in ensuring WLSSA’s legal services remain responsive, effective and aligned with the needs of women experiencing complex legal and social issues. The Director is also responsible for overseeing professional obligations, accreditation, audits, file reviews, complex case discussions and legal practice risk.

About you

You will be an accomplished legal practitioner and people leader with the judgement, resilience and strategic capability to lead a busy community legal practice.

You will bring:

• A current unrestricted Practising Certificate Category A.
• More than six years’ post-admission experience.
• Extensive experience delivering and managing legal services or a legal practice.
• Significant experience leading, supervising and developing employees and volunteers.
• Strong knowledge of professional obligations, legal practice risk and quality-assurance requirements.
• Highly developed communication, advocacy, negotiation and stakeholder-management skills.
• Demonstrated experience working with clients who have complex needs, including women affected by family and domestic violence.
• The ability to manage competing priorities and lead effectively in a dynamic and resource-conscious environment.
• Strong interpersonal, conflict-resolution and change-management capabilities.
• A current driver’s licence and willingness to undertake occasional intrastate and interstate travel.

Experience as a Principal Solicitor or Senior Solicitor within a community legal centre or similarly purpose-driven legal service will be highly regarded.

Why join WLSSA?

This role offers the opportunity to:

• Influence access to justice for women across South Australia.
• Lead a committed and multidisciplinary team.
• Shape legal service delivery, law reform and advocacy priorities.
• Build strategic partnerships across the legal, government and community sectors.
• Contribute to an organisation with a strong social justice purpose.
• Work as part of a collaborative and values-led Executive Team.

Employment conditions

• Employment type: Full-time, 1.0 FTE
• Location: Adelaide, with some travel across South Australia
• Term: 12 month Fixed-term converting to on-going  
• A six-month probationary period will apply.
• Appointment is subject to satisfactory police and relevant working-with-vulnerable-people screening requirements. 

Next Steps

To submit your application please click 'Apply Now' by the closing date.

For a confidential discussion about the position, please contact Lisa McClure, CEO: lisam@wlssa.org.au using the subject line: Director of Legal Services enquiry via EthicalJobs.

Women’s Legal Service SA values diversity and strongly encourages applications from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, people with disability and people with lived experience relevant to our work.