Careers

Senior Asso­ciate | Plan­ning & Environment

Belong, Evolve, and Create

  • We care about you
  • Expe­ri­ence an excit­ing future with us
  • Attrac­tive earn­ing potential
  • High impact, pur­pose­ful work
  • A place to thrive

About the role

We are look­ing for a tal­ent­ed and moti­vat­ed Plan­ning & Envi­ron­ment Senior Asso­ciate to work close­ly with a Part­ner on a diverse range of mat­ters includ­ing approvals and oper­at­ing licences, devel­op­ment appeals, civ­il enforce­ment, judi­cial review, and inves­ti­ga­tions by reg­u­la­tors regard­ing breach­es of Acts.

Whilst your mul­ti-task­ing and excel­lent com­mu­ni­ca­tion skills will be a giv­en, we also require the following:

  • A min­i­mum of 6 years PQE in plan­ning and envi­ron­ment law
  • Demon­strat­ed expe­ri­ence with Class 1 and Class 4 Land and Envi­ron­ment Court matters
  • Demon­strat­ed expe­ri­ence writ­ing advice on mat­ters relat­ing to the Envi­ron­men­tal Plan­ning and Assess­ment Act 1979
  • Demon­strat­ed expe­ri­ence man­ag­ing junior staff 
  • Sol­id client and mat­ter man­age­ment skills
  • A strong grasp of gen­er­al com­mer­cial legal principles
  • Excel­lent com­mu­ni­ca­tion skills — both writ­ten and verbal
  • Abil­i­ty to man­age con­flict­ing priorities
  • Supe­ri­or prob­lem-solv­ing skills and a prac­ti­cal com­mon-sense approach

The role will pro­vide expo­sure to both advi­so­ry and lit­i­ga­tion work, with the oppor­tu­ni­ty to engage with a wide range of clients, from devel­op­ers, cor­po­ra­tions, gov­ern­ment depart­ments, and pri­vate indi­vid­u­als across a vari­ety of plan­ning and envi­ron­ment matters. 

Skills & Experience

To be con­sid­ered for this posi­tion, can­di­dates must pos­sess pri­or expe­ri­ence in a plan­ning and envi­ron­ment law and demon­strate an inter­est in lit­i­ga­tion. You will be a team play­er who takes on tasks with pride and enthu­si­asm, has excel­lent draft­ing skills and atten­tion to detail, is a good com­mu­ni­ca­tor and demon­strates a will­ing­ness to learn and take on respon­si­bil­i­ty. You will also have a pas­sion for build­ing strong client rela­tion­ships with expo­sure to busi­ness devel­op­ment and a desire to build your own pro­file, prac­tice and advance your career.

Cul­ture

Work­place cul­ture is every­thing to us, because when our peo­ple are hap­py, we know they will look after our clients and them­selves. Swaab is a place where peo­ple feel they can belong, evolve and cre­ate, and are reward­ed for their efforts. Your well­be­ing and that of all our team is a high pri­or­i­ty, and we work hard to main­tain our culture.

Ben­e­fits

In addi­tion to a com­pet­i­tive salary pack­age, you will also ben­e­fit from the following:

  • Salary con­tin­u­ance insurance
  • Per­for­mance-based finan­cial incen­tive scheme
  • Career pro­gres­sion
  • Gym/​wellness contribution
  • Excel­lent work­place envi­ron­ment and culture
  • Flex­i­bil­i­ty
  • Reg­u­lar team-build­ing and social events
  • Sup­port­ive team and firm
  • Pur­chased leave
  • Flu shots
  • EAP
  • Annu­al legal allowance
  • Yoga
  • Var­i­ous oth­er well­be­ing initiatives

About Swaab- A place where you can Belong, Evolve and Create

We are a mul­ti-award win­ning com­mer­cial and prop­er­ty law firm.

Estab­lished in 1981 we’re known for inno­va­tion and entre­pre­neur­ship. We work with fam­i­ly busi­ness­es, SMEs, cor­po­rates, high-net-worth indi­vid­u­als and gov­ern­ment clients. We hold a unique posi­tion in the mar­ket­place as a firm with both full-ser­vice Commercial/​Property and Fam­i­ly law offer­ings. Our suc­cess has been a result of putting our peo­ple and clients first by liv­ing our val­ues of com­mit­ment, integri­ty, excel­lence, gen­eros­i­ty of spir­it, uni­ty and inno­va­tion. Our strong and endur­ing cul­ture has been the result of devel­op­ing and nur­tur­ing long-term client relationships.

We are a mem­ber of Mer­i­tas, a glob­al alliance of inde­pen­dent, full-ser­vice law firms, and are its only Syd­ney-based mem­ber. This allows us to keep in touch glob­al­ly, pro­vide extend­ed ser­vices to our clients, and gives us the expo­sure and oppor­tu­ni­ty to work with inter­na­tion­al businesses.

How to Apply

If this sounds like an oppor­tu­ni­ty that you want to explore fur­ther, please apply now, direct­ing your appli­ca­tion to Angela Sharpe, Head of Peo­ple and Cul­ture. All appli­ca­tions will be treat­ed in strict confidence.

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