Legal Advisor – Auckland or Wellington (12-months fixed term) The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) is a highly specialised government department whose mission is to disrupt and deter serious complex fraud through prevention, investigation, and prosecution.
We take pride in the work we do to keep New Zealand safe from fraud and corruption.
We employ a clever team of lawyers, accountants, investigators, and electronic forensic, counter fraud and policy experts to do just that and, importantly, we have a small support team that enables them to focus on their work.
Numbering 80, we are a cohesive team with a strong sense of justice and a vibrant culture.
The SFO seeks a lawyer to join our Legal Services team based in Commercial Bay, Auckland CBD or our office in Wellington.
This is a salaried 12-month fixed term employment status position with full-time hours.
The role is fixed term to align with funding availability.
In this role, you will report to our Principal Legal Advisor and apply your technical legal knowledge to ensure that the Legal Services team provides effective legal support to our investigation and prosecutions teams.
You will also assist with providing legal advice or support to our Senior Leadership Team, Strategy and Prevention Team, and Corporate Services and Finance Team.
You will provide legal research assistance across a broad range of matters and assist in managing official information and privacy requests.
To be successful in this role, you will hold a current Practicing Certificate or can obtain one.
We imagine you are early in your law career.
Of greater importance is the nature of your experience.
You will have highly effective legal research and analysis skills and be able to communicate your findings and advice in plain English.
Our preference is that you have had exposure to, or at least an interest in, financial services law or financial crime investigations and prosecutions.
You will be collaborative and can quickly understand facts and complexities to form robust advice.
You are known for your thoroughness, dependability, and sound judgement, and retain these attributes when working within time constraints and on matters of significance.
At the SFO we value a 'growth mindset' and explore this attribute during our recruitment process and in our development discussions.
We believe possessing a growth mindset is a key contributor to success in the SFO environment.
We are a close and motivated team with a strong workplace culture.
We recognise that diversity and inclusion is important to our work.
We value the unique abilities and perspectives of our employees which allows us to continue to create a supportive environment that meets the needs of our people, our business, and the communities where we work.
We are a flexible organisation, guided by our Flexible Working Policy.
We offer an additional week of annual leave that covers the three usual workdays between Christmas and New Year plus two days to use at your discretion.
Each year we are allocated 20 days of sick leave, with no initial stand-down period, which can be accumulated to a maximum balance of 260 days.
The position description for this role is here… If you would like further information about this role and the SFO, you are welcome to email (email protected) If you wish to apply for this role, please submit your CV and cover letter (attachments titled 'First Name Last Name – CV or Cover Letter') via this link… DO NOT APPLY VIA THE SEEK APPLY BUTTON In this role you may be privy to information of national significance.
It is important that you are eligible to obtain and maintain the required level of NZ Government security clearance for this position.
The SFO, other government agencies, and probity organisations will complete comprehensive background checks.
Applications close 10am Friday 8 November 2024