Precedents Lawyer

Written By Harwood Andrews

Part-time | Two to four days per week | Geelong or Melbourne

About us

We are seeking an experienced lawyer to take dedicated responsibility for maintaining and improving the legal precedents used across the firm.

This part-time role, working between two and four days per week, is suited to a lawyer with excellent drafting skills, broad legal experience and an interest in knowledge management and legal technology. Working across all practice areas, you will help ensure our lawyers have access to accurate, practical and current precedents that reflect legal developments, best practice and the needs of the firm.

The opportunity

As our Precedents Lawyer, you will work closely with Principals, practice group leaders and lawyers to capture legal knowledge and develop clear, reliable and easy-to-use precedents.

Your responsibilities will include:

  • Drafting, reviewing and updating precedents, clauses, checklists, practice notes and supporting guidance.

  • Keeping precedents current with legislative, regulatory and legal practice developments.

  • Maintaining a central precedents register, including ownership, review dates, approval status and version history.

  • Coordinating structured review, approval, publication and archiving processes.

  • Applying consistent document naming, version control and quality assurance standards.

  • Identifying when specialist legal input is required and coordinating appropriate reviews.

  • Prioritising precedent development and updates according to legal risk, frequency of use, client impact and business need.

  • Providing regular progress updates on priorities, completed work, outstanding reviews and emerging risks.

  • Working with lawyers and business services teams to identify opportunities for document automation.

  • Testing automated documents for legal accuracy, completeness and usability.

About you

You will be an admitted Australian lawyer who is eligible to hold a current Australian practising certificate.

You will also bring:

  • Demonstrated post-admission legal experience and a broad legal background.

  • Excellent legal drafting, proofreading and document review skills.

  • Exceptional attention to detail and a commitment to producing accurate, practical documents.

  • The ability to work across different practice areas and recognise when specialist input is required.

  • Sound judgment when assessing legal risk, materiality and competing priorities.

  • Strong organisational skills and experience managing review cycles, approvals and multiple priorities.

  • An approachable and collaborative style, with the ability to build productive relationships with lawyers at all levels.

  • Clear written and verbal communication skills.

  • Confidence using Microsoft 365 and legal document management systems.

  • An interest in legal technology and document automation.

Experience in knowledge management, precedent development, document automation or legal operations will be highly regarded.

The position offers the opportunity to work across the firm, influence legal best practice and make a practical contribution to the quality, consistency and efficiency of our legal services.

If you are looking for a specialist part-time role where you can use your legal expertise to improve how lawyers work across the firm, we would love to hear from you.

Please submit your application via our website below. 

Harwood Andrews