Senior Counsel

Senior Counsel — Melbourne-based Commercial Legal Practice Summary

• Role: Senior Counsel
• Location: Melbourne, Australia — you need to be commutable
• Work arrangement: Full-time employee role
• Compensation: AUD 200,000 + super

This is a Melbourne-based legal practice with a well-established and consistent client base, focused on commercially pragmatic, results-driven work across loan and mortgage origination, insolvency, debt recovery, litigation, and conveyancing.
You will need Australian work rights for this role. Sponsorship is not available.
What you'll do

• You'll lead complex, high-value matters across litigation, insolvency, commercial advisory, or lending, with real autonomy and accountability for strategy, quality, and outcomes.
• You'll run significant files end to end, including matters that are novel, sensitive, contested, or commercially high-risk.
• You'll draft, review, and negotiate complex legal documents such as pleadings, deeds of settlement, loan and security documents, and commercial agreements.
• You'll represent clients in negotiations, hearings, court proceedings, tribunals, and other dispute resolution forums.
• You'll act as a technical authority within your practice area, helping guide other lawyers on difficult issues and lifting capability across the team.
• You'll contribute beyond your own matters through precedents, technical guidance, training, compliance, client continuity, and practice growth discussions.

Who we're looking for You'll likely suit this role if you're a senior specialist who still enjoys leading complex matters hands-on.
Must-haves:

• Around 8-10+ years PQE, with strong experience in litigation and dispute resolution, insolvency, commercial advisory, lending, or a closely aligned practice area
• Deep specialist capability in at least one of those areas, with clear evidence of leading complex, high-value, or novel matters end to end
• Advanced drafting, negotiation, and advocacy skills across high-risk legal work
• The judgement to run significant matters with minimal oversight, while knowing when to test a view, seek input, or escalate risk
• Experience mentoring other lawyers and operating as a trusted technical authority within a practice

Nice-to-haves:

• Particular depth in debt recovery, insolvency and recovery, or lending and security matters
• Strong commercial judgement and an ability to balance technical legal positions with practical client outcomes
• Experience contributing to precedents, internal training, or broader practice standards
• An established professional profile or network within your specialist area

About the Company Melbourne-based legal practice with a well-established and consistent client base, focused on delivering commercially pragmatic and results-driven outcomes. The firm’s core areas of expertise include loan and mortgage origination, insolvency, debt recovery, litigation, and conveyancing.
How to apply Ploomo is supporting this process as the exclusive talent partner and is running a structured selection process on behalf of the company.
After applying, you will receive an email from Ploomo with further instructions, including a short online assessment designed to help us understand your thinking style and mindset. It takes around 15–20 minutes to complete. There are no right or wrong answers — the focus is on alignment.
To be considered for shortlisting, you will need to complete the assessment.
Please keep an eye on your inbox, including your spam or junk folder, and mark emails from @ploomo.io as safe so you do not miss any communication.
If you have any issues receiving the email or completing the assessment, please contact [email protected].