Review of the Legal Office - Office of the Vice Chancellor
Terms of reference
Background
The University has identified in its strategic plan, ANU by 2020, the need for effective organisational structures and clear policies and procedures to underpin their activities. As such, it intends to interrogate its administration structures and its processes to ensure they are fit for their purpose.
The Legal Office is located within the Office of the Vice-Chancellor and provides a range of legal services to the University Executive, academic and administrative areas of the University. Its core responsibilities include provision of general legal advice, drafting and negotiating contracts, dispute resolution, litigation, and advice on intellectual property issues. In addition, the Legal Office also contributes to the governance of the University by interpreting legislation, overseeing the drafting of legislation and policy, staff education and sector engagement.
Purpose
- Assess the appropriateness of the nature and scope of services provided by the Legal Office in the context of the University’s Strategic Plan, the University’s operating environment and available resources;
- Consider the Legal Office fitness for purpose, that is, the quality, efficiency and effectiveness of services delivered to the University community;
- Assess the effectiveness of interaction between the principal users of the services of the LO in administrative and academic areas;
- Review the success of the Legal Office continuous improvement strategies and assess capacity of future strategies to deliver improvements to strategic priorities and services, and the overall contribution to the University’s culture of continuous improvement.
- Review the effectiveness of Legal Office management of its resources, including strategies for staff recruitment, retention and development (including workforce planning) to meet the core business needs.
- Consider the effectiveness of the Legal Office priorities and strategic planning processes and whether they support the goals in the University’s Strategic Plan.
The review will report to the Executive Director (Administration & Planning) and will be undertaken by Ms Saveria Dimasi, Director, Legal Services, The University of Melbourne, and Ms Julie Gorrell, Senior Projects Manager, Office of the Executive Director (Administration & Planning). The reviewers will engage with relevant stakeholders throughout the process.
The review will be undertaken during February 2012, including site interviews on 28 and 29 February, and will report no later than 23rd March 2012.
Making a submission to the review
The reviewers of the Legal Office, Office of the Vice-Chancellor, will conduct interviews with key personnel on the 28th and 29th of February 2012.
The reviewers would also welcome written submissions to the review.
If you would like to make a submission, could you note the following:
- There is no specific template, but please frame submissions around the Terms of Reference.
- Submissions should be no longer than 2 pages.
- Submissions are not confidential documents, and should not contain information that could be considered personal or private.
- To ensure inclusion in the review process, submissions should be emailed to admin.reviews@anu.edu.au by Friday, 17th February 2012.
- Information or enquiries about the review should be addressed to admin.reviews@anu.edu.au.
