Legal Administrative Specialist

Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys and the Office of the U.S. Attorneys • Washington, DC

8d • Onsite

About The Position

The United States Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia's mission is to enforce the criminal laws of the United States and the District of Columbia, represent the interests of the United States in civil litigation, and respond to the public safety needs of the community by leading an effective, well-coordinated law enforcement effort that contributes to the overall goal of improving the quality of life in the District of Columbia. If selected for this position, you will join a well-respected team that is responsible for performing discovery assignments in civil cases, especially those provisions and amendments addressing electronic discovery (e-Discovery) and utilizing automated litigation software applications and other resources to organize, review, analyze and compile information for use by attorney's in the litigation of a variety of civil cases in the Civil Division, United States Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia.

Requirements

• You must be a United States Citizen or National to apply for this position.
• Males born after 12/31/59 must be registered or exempt from Selective Service (see http://www.sss.gov/).
• All Federal employees are required to have Federal salary payments made by direct deposit to a financial institution of their choosing.
• Initial appointment is conditioned upon a satisfactory pre-employment adjudication.
• This includes fingerprint, credit and tax checks, and drug testing.
• Continued employment is subject to a favorable adjudication of a background investigation.
• A probationary period may be required.
• If you receive a conditional offer of employment for this position, you will be required to complete an Optional Form 306, Declaration for Federal Employment, and to sign and certify the accuracy of all information in your application.
• Must provide resume and supporting documents (See required documents).
• Current or former Federal employees applying under merit promotion considerations must meet applicable time-in-grade requirements for consideration within 30 days after the closing date of this announcement.
• You must meet all qualification requirements within 30 days after the closing date of this announcement and before placement in the position.
• As needed, additional selections may be made using this announcement.
• To qualify at the GS-09 level, you must have: Specialized Experience: At least one year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-07 level in the Federal service (obtained in either the public or private sectors) performing 3 out of 4 the duties listed below: Analyzing legal decisions, case files, discovery, and evidence to identify legal issues; Conducting legal research and using automated litigation-support tools for trial preparation; Using automated litigation-support resources and technology to organize, analyze, and present information in federal cases; Preparing legal documents, including motions, orders, pleadings, subpoenas, briefs, and pretrial materials.
• OR Education: One of the following types of education in a related field (e.g., Criminal Justice, Computer Science, Law, Information Technology): a master's degree or equivalent graduate degree; OR 2 full years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to such a degree; OR LL. B or J.D., if related.
• Education at the graduate level must be in an accredited college or university and must demonstrate the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to perform the duties of the position.
• OR Combination of Experience and Education: Graduate level education can be used if, when combined, are equivalent to 100% of the qualification requirement. Only graduate level education in excess of the first full year can be used in this calculation.
• To calculate your percentage of graduate education, first determine the total number of graduate level hours that exceed 18 semester hours (or your school's definition of one year of graduate study), then divide the total number of your excess graduate semester hours by 18 (or your school's definition of one year of graduate study).
• To calculate your percentage of specialized experience, divide the total number of months of qualifying experience by 12.
• Now, add the two percentages together. The sum of the percentages must equal at least 100%.
• Experience refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work done through National Service programs (e.g., Peace Corps, AmeriCorps) and other organizations (e.g., professional; philanthropic; religious; spiritual; community, student, social).
• Volunteer work helps build critical competencies, knowledge, and skills and can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment.
• You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience.
• If your resume does not support your questionnaire answers, we will not allow credit for your response(s).
• For more information on the qualifications for this position, click here.
• Merit promotion applicants must meet applicable time-in-grade requirements to be considered eligible.
• One year at the GS-7 is required to meet the time-in-grade requirements for the GS-9 level.
• You must submit your SF-50 that shows Time-in-Grade eligibility and reflects your title, series, and grade.
• No award SF-50 will be accepted; recommended SF-50s include promotions and step increases (within grade increases).
• If you are claiming education as any part of your qualifications for this position, you must submit an official transcript, unofficial transcript, or a list including courses, grades earned, completion dates, and quarter and semester hours earned.
• All academic degrees and coursework must be completed at a college or university that has obtained accreditation or pre-accreditation status from an accrediting body recognized by the U.S. Department of Education.
• For a list of schools that meet this criteria, see https://www.ed.gov/
• If you are using education completed in foreign colleges or universities to meet the qualification requirements, you must show that the education credentials have been evaluated by a private organization that specializes in interpretation of foreign education programs and such education has been deemed equivalent to that gained in an accredited U.S. education program; or full credit has been given for the courses at a U.S. accredited college or university.
• Failure to provide such documentation with your application will result in lost consideration.
• For further information, visit: https://sites.ed.gov/international/recognition-of-foreign-qualifications/
• In addition, when reviewing applicant's transcripts, assumptions will not be made.
• Applicants MUST state which coursework is relevant.
• Payment of relocation expenses will not be authorized.
• To ensure the accomplishment of its mission, the Department of Justice requires each and every employee to be reliable and trustworthy.
• To meet those standards, all selected applicants must undergo and successfully complete a background investigation for a clearance as a condition of placement in this Moderate Risk position.
• This review includes financial issues such as delinquency in the payment of debts, child support and/or tax obligations, as well as certain criminal offenses and illegal use or possession of drugs.
• The Interagency Career Transition Assistance Plan ( ICTAP ) provides eligible displaced Federal competitive service employees with selection priority over other candidates for competitive service vacancies.
• If your agency has notified you in writing that you are a displaced employee eligible for ICTAP consideration, you may receive selection priority if: 1) this vacancy is within your ICTAP eligibility; 2) you apply under the instructions in this announcement; and 3) you are found well-qualified for this vacancy.
• To be well qualified, you must satisfy all qualification requirements for the vacant position and rate equivalent to the Highly Qualified or better category using established category rating criteria.
• Additional information about ICTAP eligibility, click here.
• The Career Transition Assistance Plan ( CTAP ) provides eligible surplus and displaced competitive service employees with selection priority over other candidates for competitive service vacancies.
• If your agency has notified you in writing that you are a surplus or displaced employee eligible for CTAP consideration, you may receive selection priority if: 1) this vacancy is within your CTAP eligibility, 2) you apply under the instructions in this announcement, and 3) you are found well-qualified for this vacancy.
• To be well qualified, you must satisfy all qualification requirements for the vacant position and rate equivalent to the Highly Qualified or better category using established category rating criteria.
• Additional information about CTAP eligibility, click here.
• Special Hiring Authorities for Military Spouse and Family Members: FedsHireVets - OPM.gov
• Reasonable Accommodation (RA) Requests : If you believe you have a disability (i.e., physical or mental), covered by the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 as amended that would interfere with completing the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments, you will be granted the opportunity to request a RA in your online application.
• Requests for RA for the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments and appropriate supporting documentation for RA must be received prior to starting the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments.
• Decisions on requests for RA are made on a case-by-case basis.
• If you meet the minimum qualifications of the position, after notification of the adjudication of your request, you will receive an email invitation to complete the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments, based on your adjudication decision.
• You must complete all assessments within 48 hours of receiving the URL to access the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments, if you received the link after the close of the announcement.
• To determine if you need a RA, please review the Procedures for Requesting a Reasonable Accommodation for Online Assessments: Procedures for Requesting a Reasonable Accommodation for Online Assessments .
• Candidates should be committed to improving the efficiency of the Federal government, passionate about the ideals of our American republic, and committed to upholding the rule of law and the United States Constitution.

Responsibilities

• Providing technical assistance to attorney's in facilitating the management of incoming and outgoing document discovery in accordance with electronic discovery and other procedural requirements.
• Assisting attorney's in trial preparation by organizing and processing voluminous case information for retrieval through automated means such as scanning, indexing and organizing documents in a database.
• Assists the Litigation Hold Coordinator in preparing and issuing litigation hold notices.
• Working with the Information Technology team to analyze automated litigation support functions and monitor system use and response time.
• Responsibilities will increase and assignments will become more complex as your training and experience progress.

Benefits

• A career with the U.S. government provides employees with a comprehensive benefits package.
• As a federal employee, you and your family will have access to a range of benefits that are designed to make your federal career very rewarding.
• Opens in a new window Learn more about federal benefits .
• Review our benefits
• Eligibility for benefits depends on the type of position you hold and whether your position is full-time, part-time or intermittent.
• Contact the hiring agency for more information on the specific benefits offered.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level