government

gadens melbourne has developed a sound appreciation of the unique challenges and opportunities inherent in the provision of legal services to all levels of Government including:

• the efficient use of public resources including the provision of cost-competitive, high quality legal services;
• the role of public policy considerations in Government decision making;
• an understanding of procurement guidelines and processes;
• the need for the decision making process to be open and transparent;
• the important role of reporting and accountability;
• the interaction with Government's social justice policies, such as support for the provision of pro bono legal services and for briefing women barristers;
• the need to provide consistent advice across the firm and different government agencies;
• record management considerations;
• particular administrative law responsibilities and implications such as freedom of information, privacy, confidentiality, review of decisions, ombuds man etc;
• risk and reputation sensitivities;
• probity and competition in contracting; and
• the need to manage conflicts of interest.

gadens melbourne is currently appointed to the ATO’s Tax Technical Litigation legal panel as well as the Department of Veterans’ Affairs legal panel, and as such, is regularly exposed to the unique aspects involved with providing legal services to the public sector.

We also have extensive experience in providing legal services to a range of councils such as Moreland City Council, Mt Alexander Shire Council, Yarra City Council, Bayside City Council and many others. Additionally, our specialist school law team has years of experience in working with the various government and regulatory departments relating to independent education in Victoria and we currently provide administrative and public law legal services to a range of statutory bodies.

We represented a Victorian statutory authority before the 2009 Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission, providing assistance with the preparation of evidence during the early stages of the Commission's hearings; coordinating the provision of large volumes of materials pursuant to various summonses to produce issued by the Commission; providing strategic and technical advice to our client including the presentation of its case, the preservation of legal professional privilege and dealing with various FOI requests.

Our team of lawyers have up to date knowledge of new developments in the law affecting Government decision making processes. Using this knowledge, we are able to provide clients with detailed and comprehensive advice and recommend options and strategies to overcome Government issues.