The Opportunity

We have a unique opportunity for a Senior Associate to join our growing Environment, Planning and Communities team in Perth.

In this role you will work closely with Partner Mel Debenham. Mel is a leading practitioner in environment, climate change, planning, native title and heritage law across the mining, oil and gas, energy, infrastructure, and industrial/environmental advisory sectors. Mel has been ranked as a leading lawyer in Native Title by Chambers Asia Pacific and is recommended by Doyle’s Guide for Planning and Environment Law.

As a Senior Associate, you'll play a pivotal role in our team, offering comprehensive project development, compliance, transactional, and strategic advice. Working with international, major Australian, and Government clients across diverse sectors and jurisdictions, you'll provide pragmatic and commercially astute solutions to environmental, social, and land access challenges.

Key responsibilities include providing the following:

Full land access and approval services, including in respect to environmental impact assessments and approvals, and the development and delivery of major projects strategy.
Cradle to grave advisory support on environmental laws, energy, resources and carbon regimes, Aboriginal cultural heritage, contaminated land and other regulation.
Native title and First Nations engagement advisory support, including in respect to development and delivery of engagement and participation strategy, negotiation of agreements, statutory consultation requirements and compliance with relevant legislation.
Pollution control and incident response, advice and representation in compliance and enforcement actions as well as third party appeal and challengess.
Transactional support in various contexts, such as M&A, project finance, and procurement.

Your role will involve both front-end and contentious work. In addition, you will have direct exposure and support to build your client management and business development skills. You will work within a highly collaborative and growing team, operating across practice groups and with a national focus, that will foster your career development.

You will benefit from exceptional learning opportunities working on 'first in the market' projects and with clients, who are at the forefront of ESG and energy transition.

To be successful in this role, you will have:

An Australian or New Zealand practicing certificate, with demonstrated legal experience in land access and acquisition, environment and planning, regulatory approvals, native title and/or indigenous cultural heritage.
A strong academic record, coupled with excellent legal skills and a practical mindset.
Demonstrated ability to comprehend complex legal matters.
A proactive approach and desire to be an integral member of our leading and supportive team.
Capability to work effectively within tight timeframes, both collaboratively and autonomously.
A hunger to learn and develop and be part of maintaining a market-leading practice.

What you can expect from us:

We're a world-leading international law firm with a global team of over 5,000 professionals. As the market leader in Australia, we are committed to high performance, collaboration, diversity, and digital innovation. We are client-centered, commercially driven, and renowned for our solution-focused expertise. We will align your growth with our ambitions.
We make your personal and professional growth our business. And as part of the team, our ambition is yours too. Wherever you are in your career: grow and help the firm grow with you.
We will provide opportunities to learn on the job as well as a mix of learning opportunities tailored to you. Daily experiences, supportive challenges, team collaboration, mentors, and structured learning opportunities help you to expand your knowledge and reach your goals. We value your well-being, both at home and work, and we place a strong emphasis on mental health. If you need support, you'll have it, and we'll empower you to harness your personal strengths, navigate uncertainty, embrace opportunities, and effectively manage things within your control.
For more benefits on offer such as our 26 weeks paid parental leave, holistic well-being fund, or home office allowance please click/copy this link into your browser: https://marketing.hsf.com/20/29354/landing-pages/hsf-benefits.pdf
Join us to be part of a human, bold, and outstanding team at Australia's market-leading law firm.

We encourage applications from individuals of diverse backgrounds, including but not limited to First Nations, LGBTIQA+ and neurodivergent individuals, as well as individuals of all ages, cultures, genders, and abilities. We're a safe, inclusive, and equitable workplace and celebrate the diversity of our people.

For more information or a confidential discussion, please reach out to Ashley Irving, Recruitment Manager at ashley.irving@hsf.com.

Team

Projects, Energy & Infra

Working Pattern

Full time

Location

Perth

Contract type

Permanent Contract

Diversity & Inclusion

At Herbert Smith Freehills you will be part of a diverse, innovative culture where high performance, client focus and highly engaged people are our differentiator. People at our firm come from a range of backgrounds and bring a wide variety of experiences and perspectives to their work with us. We strive to ensure that our inclusive environment means you feel valued and able to perform at your best by being your authentic self at work. We know that our future success not only depends on being innovative and progressive in the changing legal market but, most importantly, on our people feeling highly engaged in meaningful work.

We understand that you have commitments and personal interests outside of work and we strive to create a working environment based on mutual trust and respect, in which you can perform at your best whilst maintaining sustainable balance across your life.

Herbert Smith Freehills

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Senior Associate, Environment, Planning and Communities