Legal Assistant (Office Automaton)

Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys and the Office of the U.S. Attorneys•Roanoke, VA

10d

About The Position

The Legal Assistant supports Assistant United States Attorneys in the Civil Division by providing legal assistance and office support. Training may be provided as needed. Responsibilities increase in scope and complexity as training and experience progress. The role involves communicating with client agencies, members of the public, and the court; preparing and reviewing legal documents; supporting discovery, hearings, depositions, and trials; and managing case files, attorney dockets, and deadlines. The position is announced at GS-5, GS-6, and GS-7 levels, with qualifications varying by grade. At GS-7, applicants must be able to type at least 40 words per minute with no more than three errors on a five-minute sample. Applicants must be U.S. citizens or nationals, meet the applicable qualification requirements by the announcement closing date, and undergo pre-employment checks and a background investigation. A one-year probationary period may be required. Relocation expenses will not be authorized.

Requirements

U.S. citizenship or national status.
Meet the applicable qualification requirements by the announcement closing date.
Satisfactory pre-employment adjudication, including fingerprint, credit, and tax checks and drug testing; continued employment is subject to favorable adjudication of a background investigation.
Selective Service registration if applicable.
At GS-5: One year of specialized experience equivalent to GS-4, four years of education above high school, or a combination of qualifying experience and education. Specialized experience includes reviewing documents with legal implications for accuracy and completeness; typing and formatting correspondence and forms; maintaining file systems; and obtaining information from files or general reference sources.
At GS-6: 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 to obtain or verify information; and using automated software to produce legal reports, documents, correspondence, and related materials.
At GS-7: One year of specialized experience equivalent to GS-6, including preparing hearing or trial documents in proper format; verifying citations and statutory references; assisting with discovery, hearing, or trial preparation; and using software applications and legal and non-legal databases for reports, documents, factual research, brief indices, and courtroom presentations.
At GS-7, type at least 40 words per minute based on a five-minute sample with three or fewer errors; a typing test may later be required.
A probationary period of one year may be required if selected.
Academic degrees and coursework must be from appropriately accredited institutions; foreign education must be shown to be comparable to U.S. accredited education, with supporting documentation and English translations where needed.

Responsibilities

Field phone calls and emails from client agencies, members of the public, and the court regarding cases.
Draft legal documents, including complaints, answers, discovery pleadings, motions, and subpoenas.
Review and process document discovery according to federal rules and established procedures.
Proofread and cite-check legal briefs, discovery pleadings, and other legal documents.
Conduct non-complex research on litigation, statutes, regulations, and court cases to support attorneys in hearings and trial preparation.
Assemble exhibits and affidavits to support attorneys in depositions and trials.
Support attorney casework, including electronically filing pleadings, ordering transcripts, assisting with retention of expert witnesses, and performing other assigned duties.
Maintain attorneys’ dockets and organize case files, including opening and maintaining cases and closing them for disposition or transfer to a records depository.
Maintain calendars of internal and external deadlines.