Legal Assistant (Office Automation)

Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys and the Office of the U.S. Attorneys•Albuquerque, NM

17h

About The Position

The Legal Assistant (Office Automation) supports Assistant United States Attorneys in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Mexico by providing legal assistance and office support. The office prosecutes federal crime in the district and works with tribal, state, county, city, and foreign governments. Formal and/or on-the-job training may be provided as needed. Responsibilities increase in complexity as training and experience progress. The position involves preparing and processing legal documents, proofreading and cite-checking, conducting non-complex legal research, assisting with hearing and trial preparation, maintaining case calendars and records, arranging travel, and producing written materials with office software. The announcement describes qualification paths at the GS-5, GS-6, and GS-7 levels, including specific specialized-experience requirements; GS-7 applicants must also meet a typing-speed requirement.

Requirements

U.S. citizenship or nationality.
Satisfactory pre-employment adjudication, including fingerprint, credit, and tax checks, and drug testing; continued employment is subject to a favorable background investigation.
Selective Service registration, if applicable.
Federal employees must meet applicable time-in-grade requirements within 30 days after the announcement closing date.
Meet all qualification and eligibility requirements within 30 days after the closing date and before placement.
GS-5: One year of specialized experience equivalent to GS-4, four years of education above high school, or an eligible combination of education and experience. Specialized experience includes reviewing documents with legal implications for accuracy and completeness, typing and formatting correspondence and forms, maintaining file systems, and retrieving information from files or reference sources.
GS-6: At least one year of specialized experience equivalent to GS-5, including reviewing legal documents for completeness of factual information; retrieving and assembling information for hearings or trials; researching legal sources; and using automated software to produce legal reports and materials.
GS-7: At least one year of specialized experience equivalent to GS-6, including preparing properly formatted hearing or trial documents; verifying citations and statutory references; assisting with discovery and trial preparation; and using software and databases for legal documents, factual research, brief indexes, and courtroom presentations.
GS-7 applicants must type at least 40 words per minute on a five-minute sample with no more than three errors; a typing test may be required.
Academic degrees and coursework used to meet education requirements must be from an accredited institution or otherwise meet the stated foreign-education comparability requirements. Documentation must be in English or include an English translation.

Responsibilities

Examine, prepare, and process technical legal documents, including complaints, motions, orders, answers, pleadings, subpoenas, and libels.
Proofread and cite-check legal briefs, memoranda, and other legal documents.
Assist attorneys with trial preparation by conducting non-complex research on litigation, statutes, regulations, and court cases.
Assemble exhibits, affidavits, and other legal documents.
Assemble and organize files and records for disposition or transfer to a records depository.
Maintain calendars for assigned active cases; track filing, hearing, and trial dates; and schedule conferences and interviews.
Arrange travel, including preparing itineraries and securing transportation and hotel reservations.
Produce written documents and materials using a range of office software applications.